WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES DECEMBER 26, 2019 21
MTA offi cials gives ‘sneak peek’ of
Queens bus network redesign plan
MTA offi cials Craig Cipriano, Mark Holmes and Lucille Songhai presenting their bus network redesign draft plan at the Queens Borough Hall on Dec.
16. Photo: Angélica Acevedo/QNS
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
AACEVEDO@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
MTA NYC Transit offi cials paid a
visit to Queens Borough Hall to present
a “sneak peek” of what will be a
transformative redesign plan for the
borough’s bus network, as President
for MTA Bus Company and Acting
Senior Vice President of New York
City Transit (NYCT) Department of
Buses Craig Cipriano said.
At a Dec. 16 Queens Borough
Board meeting, the MTA’s Department
of Buses Chief Officer Mark
Holmes gave a brief presentation of
the redesign draft plan. The draft
is based on the issues they heard
and studied from their community
outreach earlier this year — which
are all outlined in their Existing
Conditions Report that was released
in September.
The main issues Holmes touched
on in the current bus system were
the borough’s historically tangled
107 routes, repetitive bus routes,
bus stops that are too close to each
other, overcrowding, slow bus speeds,
decline in ridership (especially for
the express buses to Manhattan during
off -peak hours and weekends),
and inefficient inter-borough connections
(particularly in northeast
and southeast Queens).
To fi x this, the MTA has proposed
several alternatives, including a new
grid of routes for a simplifi ed network
that allows for easier transfers and
fewer redundancy, fewer turns and
bus stops for faster travel time, and
more service between Brooklyn, the
Bronx and Manhattan.
Holmes stressed throughout the
meeting that the MTA wants to start
completely from scratch with a “blank
slate approach,” for their Queens redesign
project — unlike that of their
Bronx and Staten Island projects.
“This is a complete and utter redrawing
of the bus network,” Holmes
said.
According to an MTA spokesperson,
the Bronx and Staten Island projects
are a few months ahead in the process
and can serve as an example of what
Queens’ redesign will look like. The
spokesperson added that the Bronx
and Staten Island’s projects will
diff er from what they plan for Queens
though, being that their networks
weren’t as circuitous.
The conference room was packed
with the Borough Board members
and Council members or their representatives,
and was lead by Deputy
Borough President Sharon Lee.
Lee thanked the MTA offi cials for
giving them a fi rst look at the draft
plan, and added that they take into
consideration several other issues,
such as the other overhaul projects in
the borough like LaGuardia Airport’s
AirTrain.
“We are the biggest borough here in
Queens with over 108 square miles, a
lot of ground to cover, a lot of which
do have that subway desert that we
talked about and that will be relying
on the surface level of transportation
options that you’ve outlined,” Lee
said.
Council Members I. Daneek
Miller, Adrienne Adams and Barry
Grodenchik were some of the most
outspoken during the Q&A portion
of the meeting, stressing that Queens
needs more inter-borough connectivity
than with the outer boroughs,
among other concerns.
Assistant Director of NYC Transit
Government Aff airs Lucille Songhai
mentioned that the MTA promises
to visit all 14 community boards and
other civic associations in order to let
the community know their plans and
get their feedback.
They also want to push people to
use Remix, an app that allows customers
to explore the proposed new
system and leave comments about
specifi c routes and stops.
Some community board chairs
questioned their ability to visit
every single community board and
civic association, to which Songhai
responded that the MTA “will spare
no expense or staff ” in order to do
so.
The offi cial Queens bus network
redesign plan will be released as a
book (the Bronx book was more than
300 pages long with detailed profi les
of each bus route, for instance) on
Dec. 30th, which will then begin
another round of public review and
comment.
The offi cial redesign plan will be
released in spring 2020.
link
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
