WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES JANUARY 16, 2020 23
Ridgewood-area residents share
their concerns over bus redesign
BY MAX PARROTT
MPARROTT@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
At Community Board 5’s meeting
on Jan. 9, Ridgewood-area commuters
vented their concerns over MTA’s
draft plan of the Queens Bus Network
Redesign.
Like the residents of Jackson
Heights who recently created an
online petition to protest the elimination
of routes they see as vital to
the neighborhood, members of the
Glendale, Maspeth and Middle Village
communities expressed their
concerns over several local lines that
are being cut.
“We don’t have great public transportation
in Glendale, and the one
bus that goes to the express train
is now being eliminated — the Q23,”
said Kathy Masi.
Masi went on to suggest that the
community board make a concerted
effort to weigh in on the plan, and
encouraged its members to show up
at the district’s scheduled MTA meeting
Jan. 21.
One parallel to Jackson Heights
involved the residents’ fears about
the loss of bus lines that demographics
like seniors and people with
disabilities rely on exclusively for
accessible transportation.
A criticism that has emerged from
the unveiling of the redesign is that
its objective seems to be to take
commuters to the closest subway,
presuming residents are physically
able to take the that form of transit.
In reality, only about a quarter of
subways stations across the city have
elevators.
Maryann Lottanzio, a resident of
Maspeth, took the floor to state her
concerns about the elimination of
the Q18, a route that starts in Grand
Avenue in Maspeth and travels up
northwest to Astoria, hitting the 61st
Avenue Woodside station.
“You can take the Q18 to 61st, you
can take an escalator. If the escalator
is broken you got an elevator there,”
said Lottanzio.
She pointed out that the Q18 passes
several large co-ops on 65th Place
inhabited by a large percentage of
seniors and families, whose children
take the bus to school in Astoria.
Transit Committee Chair John
Maier said that the elimination of local
routes like the Q18 is a trade off of
the MTA’s revenue neutral approach
to the redesign. In other words,
when the plan increases service in
one neighborhood or incorporate
new destinations, it cuts service
from elsewhere. He said that the Q18
should be looked at, but suggested
the circuitous path might explain
why it was cut.
“A lot of what I think we’re missing
in Maspeth, Middle Village and
Glendale is some of that local service
is getting taken away that would take
us north. I’ve already heard people
very concerned about the Q47,” Maier
said.
Maier said that the committee was
in talks to get an MTA representative
at its February meeting.
To view the plan, visit new.mta.
info/queensbusredesign.
BY MARK HALLUM
MHALLUM@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
The MTA is opening the potential
floodgates of public feedback to
further improve the Queens Bus
Network Redesign after the initial
release – while welcomed – came
with plenty of criticism.
Two new dates have been added
to the calendar of public workshops
and outreach campaigns that will
ultimately guide the agency in modernizing
the anachronistic layout
of bus routes and wait times in the
county.
“The Queens bus redesign is a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to
completely redraw the bus network
in ways we know will work better for
everyone and for our customers to
have a say in what bus service will
look like in Queens,” Byford said in
a Sunday announcement. “Queens
customers know how important
buses are and how they can be used
to serve the neighborhoods better,
which is why we absolutely need our
customers’ help reimagining how
public transit serves Queens.”
But activists sounded off with one
main criticism: headway between
buses would still mean lengthy wait
times such as on the Q60 bus along
Queens Boulevard, between Manhattan
and Jamaica.
“There is lots to unpack and while
I see some good changes and ideas
some of this is rubbish. For instance
the Q60, will retain awful headway
times – 15 minutes during the day
add 20 minutes on weekends is an
invitation to people to use a car (their
own or Uber),” said Peter Beadle, an
attorney in Forest Hills.
Transit advocate and LaGuardia
Community College professor Joby
Jacob said the plan was an improvement,
but overall the MTA missed
out on some perceived opportunities
and will rely on the city Department
of Transportation to make many of
the improvements possible.
According to the MTA, Queens’
bus routes go back to the days of
the trolley and private bus companies
that used to serve residents
around the turn of the century. The
spoke-and-wheel designs of routes
sprawling to and from the hubs of
Flushing, Jamaica and Long Island
City “severely” limit the mobility of
modern commuters, the authority
said.
Outreach will take place in stations
listed below where commuters
will be invited to learn about the
redesign and attend workshops, also
listed below:
• Tuesday, Jan. 21, 6-8 p.m. (Greater
Ridgewood Youth Council, 59-03
Summerfield St., Ridgewood)
• Wednesday, Jan. 22, 6-8 p.m.
(Queens Flushing Library, 41-17 Main
St., Flushing)
• Thursday, Jan. 23, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
(SUNY Queens Educational Opportunity
Center, 158-29 Archer Ave.,
Jamaica)
• Tuesday, Jan. 28, 6-8 p.m. (Queens
Borough Hall, 120-55 Queens Blvd.,
Kew Gardens)
• Wednesday, Jan. 29, 6-8 p.m.
(J.H.S. 202 Robert H. Goddard, 138-30
Lafayette St., Ozone Park)
• Thursday, Jan. 30, 6-8 p.m.
(Langston Hughes Library and Cultural
Center, 100-01 Northern Blvd.,
Corona)
• Tuesday, Feb. 4, 6-8 p.m. (Jacob
Riis Settlement, 10-25 41st Ave., Long
Island City)
• Wednesday, Feb. 5, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
(RISE/Rockaway Waterfront Alliance,
58-03 Rockaway Beach Blvd.,
Far Rockaway)
• Thursday, Feb. 6, 7-8:30 p.m.
(Rockaway YMCA, 207 Beach 73rd
St., Arverne)
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Queens residents can speak out
on MTA bus network redesign
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