28 FEBRUARY 6, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Parents and community activists were concerned that the MTA’s bus redesign draft plan will aff ect their children getting to school.
Photo: Angélica Acevedo/QNS
Parents express concern that MTA’s bus redesign
may eliminate service for their kids to get to school
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
AACEVEDO@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
More than 300 bus riders
crammed into the Queens
Public Library at Langston
Hughes on Thursday, Jan. 30, for the
MTA’s bus network redesign workshop
in Corona.
Residents of the northwestern
neighborhood took the chance to
give MTA offi cials’ their feedback on
the proposed plan, including a group
of concerned parents who protested
the redesign as a whole. They argued
that the current plan will cut service
of vital lines where their kids take
buses to and from school.
“We are here because the MTA
wants to redesign the buses and we
do not want the redesign,” Martha
Sanchez, a Corona community activist
and parent, said in Spanish. “I
want better service. More buses and
improved service, but I do not want
the redesign.”
The group held signs that read
“I.S. 145 Joseph Pulitzer School needs
Q49 and Q66,” “my local bus is my
home,” and “save our buses.” Sanchez
explained that her children rely on
buses like the Q23, Q66 and Q49 in order
to get to and from school safely.
A Community Education Council
(CEC) 24 spokesperson pointed out
that the Q29 (which currently connects
Jackson Heights, Elmhurst,
Rego Park, Middle Village and
Glendale) will be eliminated in the
current plan, and will aff ect several
schools, including P.S. 89Q, P.S./I.S.
49Q, Newtown High School, and Cathedral
Preparatory School.
According to the MTA’s current
bus redesign route profi les, the Q23,
Q29 and Q49 buses will be eliminated
but similar stops and services will
shift to the QT10, QT11, QT58, QT74,
QT82, with headways of eight to 12
minutes.
But parents and CEC24 maintain
that eliminating buses isn’t
acceptable.
In response to the MTA’s message
that fewer lines does not mean less
service, Sanchez said that, “People
may think that, but the people who
are really going to be hurt are the
people who live here.”
The Jan. 30 workshop was meant
to take place in the library’s auditorium
from 6 to 8 p.m., but given the
amount of people who showed up, it
was extended another half an hour. In
order to streamline the process, the
MTA had 30-minute shift s between
groups of about 10 people per table
(there were 12 tables). Sanchez and
her group of more than 20 Spanishspeaking
parents and children were
among the last groups of the night.
They all had to gather around one
table with one Spanish-speaking MTA
facilitator. Tim Minton, the MTA’s
communication director, attended the
workshop and explained that there
were three Spanish translators that
night, but two had to leave when the
workshop was meant to end (which
was originally at 8 p.m.).
While the group expressed concerns
about bus routes getting eliminated
or service cutbacks, one person
was particularly louder about their
frustrations and ended up speaking
over the MTA facilitator at the table
to the point where the facilitator had
to take a step back and regroup. But
the facilitator went back to fi nish
talking to the group and took down
notes with their issues.
Aft er their talk, Sanchez said that
there should’ve been more Spanish
speakers and more patience because
parents are “very upset.” Another
parent added that they have been
spreading the word about the redesign
themselves, because most people
aren’t even aware of the changes.
Councilman Francisco Moya attended
the workshop and told QNS
that he encourages his constituents
to tell the MTA what they want so the
fi nal plan refl ects their needs.
He said that the current redesign
plan is “fl awed,” and doesn’t take into
consideration seniors, people with
disabilities, and the neighborhood’s
transit deserts. He added that it’s communities
of color, like Corona, who
are usually aff ected the most by cuts
and changes.
“To eliminate buses and say
that it’s to create more ridership is
just a farce,” he said. “Losing MTA
President Andy Byford recently
makes me worrisome of where we
are headed with this … But I think
what you’re seeing here — and it
should be clear to the MTA by the
line that is literally out the door for
every one of these events — is that
these bus lines are the lifeblood of
this community.”
The Corona native added that while
the workshops “are a good fi rst step,”
they “need to do more.”
“I think they’ll agree that it was a
very poor rollout in how they did
this without even consultation, or
talking to the elected offi cials in the
community about what was going to
happen,” Moya said.
Minton, on the other hand, said that
the current outreach process is very
democratic and the transit agency
will continue to consider feedback
even aft er the fi nal proposed Queens
bus network redesign plan is out —
which can be expected sometime in
the fall, and won’t be implemented
until 2021.
The MTA announced on Friday
more than 20 additional dates
for workshops and meetings in
Queens, after receiving the most
amount of feedback for their bus network
redesign plans to date. Staten Island
was the fi rst borough to undergo
the MTA’s bus redesign, followed by
the Bronx. They announced the new
meetings around the same time that
a bus rally for a better and more
inclusive plan led by many Queens
lawmakers at Borough Hall.
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