Boro lawmakers, transit advocates rally for
revised MTA Queens Bus Redesign Draft Plan
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
The Queens delegation of elected
officials, along with transit advocates
and community members, are banding
together against the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority (MTA) and
demanding a revised inclusive and comprehensive
Queens Bus Network Redesign
Draft Plan, which has received
negative public feedback.
The lawmakers stood on the steps
of Borough Hall at 120-55 Queens Blvd.
on Friday, Jan. 31, to send a clear message
to the MTA: “The Queens Bus Network
Redesign Draft Plan doesn’t work.”
“When you look at this plan and
every corner of Queens that has held
public hearings, this plan has united
all of Queens,” Councilman Donovan
Richards said. “The MTA has come
back to us with a flawed plan that only
decreases service. To get from southern
Queens to northern Queens, it’s mission
impossible right now.”
After releasing its draft plan to redraw
the Queens Bus Network for the
first time in 100 years when they were
converted from the old trolley lines at
the turn of the 20th century or consolidated
from private bus companies that
began serving Queens in the 1910s, the
MTA had announced a series of workshops
throughout the borough for public
feedback.
The transit agency has increased
its efforts to an “unprecedented level of
outreach,” adding more public feedback
meetings in the coming months in an attempt
to mollify Queens bus riders.
The new system will better serve customers,
shorten commute times, speed
up buses, increase inter-modal connections
and provide more frequency and
choices to travel within the borough and
to Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx,
according to the MTA.
“This plan was designed to include
the least amount of folks as possible,”
Councilman I. Daneek Miller said. “The
forums were held simply as informational
Queens lawmakers and transit advocates rally for a revised Queens Bus Redesign Plan at Queens Borough Hall in Kew Gardens.
instead of tables and they asked
for ideas. Well, if you’re just a bus rider
and don’t understand the nuances and
planning and headways that go into it,
then your ideas are just ideas.”
Miller added, “We’re not opposed to
an improved new bus network, connectivity
and transportation equity, absolutely
not. Certainly, this is an opportunity
to fix the system that is old, that
is antiquated, and suppresses Queens
and makes it an outer borough. We want
a system that connects us, that is safe,
efficient and moves the people too and
from in a manner that they deserve, and
so, they haven’t done that.”
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.28 COM | FEB. 7-FEB. 13, 2020
Photo: Carlotta Mohamed/QNS
Meanwhile, other elected officials
such as Councilmen Barry Grodenchik
and Robert Holden reiterated the changes
that will impact transit-starved communities
in their district, as well.
“We understand that this is a work
in progress, but we’re not seeing the
progress,” Grodenchik said. “They
want us to get out of our cars, but 90
percent of the households in my district
have a car. There’s a reason for that, it’s
because the mass transportation in my
district is terrible. They’d like to come
into Forest Hills, go into Flushing and
downtown Jamaica by bus, but it’s not
convenient and timely, and the plan
does not advance it.”
Some Queens residents who were optimistic
about the Queens Network Bus
Redesign Plan have changed their tune
after viewing the draft plan.
“I thought we’d get better buses. The
SBS is faster and better, and instead this
plan cuts that bus service that so many
people rely on … I was very upset,” said
Jim Burke, a resident of Rockaway
Beach, who takes the select bus service
(SBS) to Jackson Heights. “One of the
most important things they forget is
that we have a large elderly population.
You’re removing their independence
and taking away their freedom, as you
are with the mothers of kids and parents
with strollers, and the same thing with
our mobility impaired population.”
Forest Hills resident Grace Pellicano,
77, who relies on a Roll-Aider due
to health issues where she cannot walk
for a long time or distance, said she depends
heavily on the Q23.
“I take my granddaughter to school
in the morning at P.S. 144, shop for my
medical supplies and to visit my family,”
Pellicano said. “I use the Q23 for unlimited
distance between Continental and
Queens Boulevard up to Metropolitan
Avenue. I also use it to get to my volunteer
job at the library. The bus ride is
just a few minutes and it’s up a hill and a
distance for a disabled elderly person to
struggle with.”
Without the Q23, Pellicano said, she
would have to take an Uber or Lyft service
to visit her family and to go shopping
on Metropolitan Avenue.
Richard David, resident and district
leader of the Democratic Party in South
Ozone Park and Richmond Hill, said
the plan needs to be more communitycentric.
“This plan makes it worse. For example,
the Q112, there are three stops in 40
blocks and that’s insane. I don’t think it
speeds up the bus traffic because there
is still traffic on the roads,” David said.
“With Queens coming together, we have
a chance to actually get the MTA to be
a little bit more responsive to the community,
historically they have not cared
about this community, about Queens.”
Reach reporter Carlotta Mohamed by
e-mail at cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
or by phone at (718) 260–4526.
A study of emergency care involving victims
of severe brain trauma is to be performed in this area.
Northwell Health, Neurosurgery is conducting a research study to learn if either
of two strategies for monitoring and treating patients with severe traumatic brain
injury in the intensive care unit (ICU) is more likely to help them get better.
Because head injury is a life threatening condition requiring immediate treatment,
some patients will be enrolled without consent if a family member or
representative is not rapidly available. Before the study starts, we will consult
with the community. We welcome your feedback and questions. For more
information or to decline participation in this study, please visit boost3trial.org or
contact our study staff at
516-666-3183
Primary Investigator: Dr. Ullman and Dr. Ledoux
Study Coordinator: Salome Elia Reddy
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