4 THE QUEENS COURIER • JANUARY 23, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
MTA exec tries calming residents at bus route workshop in Jax Hgts
BY MARK HALLUM
mhallum@schnepsmedia.com
New York City Transit
President Andy Byford took
questions and comments from
all sides Wednesday night in
Jackson Heights as residents
barely gave transportation offi -
cials room to breathe during a
workshop on the controversial
Queens bus redesign project.
Rather than sending representatives
Bus service revisions
slated for April
BY MAX PARROTT
mparrott@schnepsmedia.com
As part of its quarterly bus schedule review
process, the MTA is proposing to implement
bus schedule changes on 41 bus routes
in April 2020. Seven of those changes are
occurring on Queens lines.
Th e agency called for slight service increases
on the Q13, Q15, Q36, Q38 and Q56 and
slight decreases on the Q58, Q76 and Q88.
Th e changes to peak morning service on
weekdays are as follows:
Increases:
Q13’s headway will go from 6.5 to 6 minutes.
Q15’s headway will go from 6 to 5.5 minutes.
Q36’s headway will go from 8 to 6 minutes.
Q56’s headway will go from 12 to 8.5 minutes.
Decreases:
Q58’s headway will go from 4.5 to 5 minutes.
Q76’s headway will go from 5 to 6 minutes.
Q88’s headway will go from 4 to 5 minutes.
The changes to midday service will change
the Q38’s headway from 20 to 15 minutes.
These bus schedule revisions were
scheduled to be presented to the NYC
Transit and Bus Committee of the MTA
Board on Jan. 21.
to take the heat,
Byford showed up in person
and was greeted with an
array of gripes from bus riders,
and pleas that several busy bus
routes on the chopping block
in the draft bus redesign plan.
Th e workshop space contained
within the “Rumpus Room” of
the Southridge Senior Center
was so packed, one attendee likened
it to riding a Queens bus at
rush hour.
Th e complaints voiced ranged
from stops being set farther
apart, to lines that may be completely
wiped from the Queens
slate — such as the Q49, the Q32,
the Q33 and the Q66. But Byford
and the MTA stressed that “nothing
is set in stone” with the bus
redesign plan.
“What we’re off ering the
opportunity for you to do —
and you don’t have to take this
up — is we’re saying, tell us
what you like about the existing
network. Tell us what you
don’t like and what we should
be aiming to do is leave in place
what you like and improve what
you don’t like,” Byford said over
shouts of protest. “But if we
don’t have conversations like
this, I’m not a mind-reader, I
don’t know. So it may well be
there’s some stuff that’s sacrosanct,
that may not want to
change.”
An MTA spokesman further
explained that the perception of
important lines being eliminated
was the result of an incorrect
oversimplifi cation. Routes will be
redrawn and renamed, but service
will remain where there is
demand.
Of all the routes concerning
Jackson Heights, residents made
appeals to Byford over the fate
of the Q49 and the Q53. Th e
Q49 goes to the main hub at
82nd Street — Jackson Heights,
an essential connection to subway
lines and other buses; the
Q53 is a Select Bus Service route
running between Woodside and
Rockaway Beach.
“Th ey want to send the Q49
to all the local stops with no elevator,
no express train, no escalator,”
Jim Burke said. “At the
main hub we have the E, the F,
the R, the M, Little India, Little
Colombia, the gay bars, everything.
So that’s what we’re fi ghting
for.”
Assemblyman Michael
DenDekker claimed the new
bus plan would cut seniors in
Southridge off from the rest
of the community and direct
them to a subway station that is
not ADA-accessible. Although
only a draft plan and one of 10
workshops where the MTA will
be accepting feedback for the
final plan, DenDekker complained
the agency was not
listening to the community’s
needs.
“Seniors can’t go to the
train anymore because all of the
replacement bus routes that
they have will take the buses
to the 90th Street – Roosevelt
Avenue station, which has no
elevator. So it’s not a good plan
for this community,” DenDekker
said. “We’re trying. I’m glad
Byford came, I’m glad my
community turned out in force
to tell the MTA how bad this
plan is for each and every one
of them.”
Photo by Mark Hallum
NYC Transit President Andy Byford was converged upon by a crowd in Jackson
Heights from all sides regarding bus redesign draft plan.
Additional workshops scheduled for Bayside and Bellerose
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
Following criticisms
about the lack of bus redesign
meetings for northeast
Queens residents, the
MTA announced it would
hold additional workshops
in collaboration with elected
offi cials.
On Jan. 17, officials
confi rmed that the MTA
scheduled two meetings in
Bayside and Bellerose for
Feb. 20 and 27, respectively.
When the agency originally
unveiled its draft plan
in December, it failed to
schedule any for residents
east of Flushing. Residents
in these areas lack train
access and buses are oft en
their only form of public
transportation.
Th e fi rst workshop is
on Th ursday, Feb. 20, at 7
p.m. at Korean Community
Services (203-05 32nd
Ave.); the second is on
Th ursday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m.
at Cross Island YMCA
(238-10 Hillside Ave.)
“Overhauling Queens
bus service will have a huge
impact in Queens, where
in most places, buses are
the only form of public
transportation available,”
said Senator John
Liu, member of the Senate
Transportation Committee.
“Th e draft plan proposes
signifi cant changes to local
and express bus services in
Northeast Queens offi cials announced two additional bus redesign workshops for February
our community, and many
people have already voiced
their understandable dismay
over service cuts.”
Liu added that the new
bus plan needs to follow
several guiding principles
in order to be fair and eff ective
for Queens residents
who take public transportation
regularly.
“In the end, the new bus
plan must increase the
number of residents taking
buses, not drive people
back to driving, and we will
demand practical and common
sense revisions to the
draft plan. Th e MTA can
start with a revenue neutral
approach system wide,
but in Queens and especially
in areas like northeast
Queens where subways and
other transit options don’t
exist, there must be a signifi
cant net gain and additional
investments in bus
service, especially in light of
impending congestion pricing,”
Liu said.
Earlier this month, residents
Photo courtesy of Councilman Vallone’s offi ce
also complained
about an element of the
MTA’s draft plan which proposed
cutting express bus
service for many Queens
riders. In response to this,
officials including Liu,
Councilmen Paul Vallone
and Barry Grodenchik,
Congress members Grace
Meng and Tom Suozzi and
Assembly members Nily
Rozic and Ed Braunstein,
urged residents to sign a
petition to the MTA and
Andy Byford.
The petition stated
that thousands of northeast
Queens riders rely
on the QM2, QM3, QM6,
QM20 and QM32 express
buses to get to and from
Manhattan.
“Regardless of potential
low ridership levels at
non-rush hour times, residents
of northeast Queens
require reliable express
buses for their everyday
needs. Cutting service is
denying mobility to a part
of the city that is in great
need of better options. Th is
is unacceptable,” stated the
petition.
Vallone said that his
offi ce gets continuous complaints
from constituents in
northeast Queens who are
concerned with the proposal
and “slashes to express
bus service.”
“In northeast Queens,
where there is no subway
access and limited public
transportation options for
commuters, the MTA should
be increasing and improving
bus service, not creating
a more desolate transportation
desert,” said Vallone. “I
am pleased to have worked
with my fellow elected offi -
cials to bring the MTA to the
neighborhood for a public
workshop with our northeast
Queens residents, who
rely on our city’s bus network
every day and deserve
a seat at the table. I am hopeful
for revisions to this plan.”
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