6 DECEMBER 30, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
MTA to release Queens bus network redesign draft in early 2022
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Aft er Metropolitan Transportation
Authority leaders gave the
fi nal sign-off on the redesign
of the Bronx’s bus network, transit
offi cials revealed they will roll out a
revised draft plan for an overhaul in
Queens early next year.
MTA offi cials plan to publish a “totally
redone” proposal for bus routes in
the “World’s Borough” some time in the
fi rst quarter of 2022, in other words
by the end of March, aft er the agency’s
sweeping earlier proposal faced backlash
from locals during heated public
meetings just before the pandemic.
“What you’re going to see is a totally
redone draft plan in Queens,” said interim
New York City Transit President
Craig Cipriano during a press conference
aft er MTA’s monthly board meeting
on Dec. 15.
MTA halted eff orts to remake its bus
routes borough-by-borough during the
pandemic and the Queens proposal already
had a draft plan before the pause.
The prior plan describes the Queens
network as a “confusing labyrinth”
combining old trolley lines and routes
run by competing private bus companies
predating the MTA.
Bus ridership in Queens was on the
decline before the pandemic, shrinking
by 5.4% during 2014-2019 from 728,872
to 689,702 average weekday riders, as
A bus passes through Jamaica Avenue in Queens. File photo by Todd Maisel
speeds slowed to 8.7 miles per hour.
The old plan proposed to wipe the
slate clean and introduce a whole new
bus network with straighter and simplifi
ed routes and stops spaced further
apart, but locals balked at the elimination
of some routes at public meetings
before the plans were put on hold.
More than 11,000 people have sent
in comments about the previously
proposed changes to the borough’s
sprawling bus network, according to
Cipriano.
“The core piece of redesign eff orts is
listening to our customers and other
stakeholders, electeds, and you’re
going to see that with the Queens redesign,”
he said.
MTA’s acting chairperson and CEO
Janno Lieber — who has promoted
better buses as an “engine of equity,”
due to the people movers disproportionately
serving lower-income communities
of color — said it was crucial
to hear out Queens residents.
“There’s no place that buses matter
more than Queens, because the history
of the city,” Lieber said. “It has 2.3
million people but a lot less subway
service than other parts of the city so
bus redesign, Queens, really important
and it deserves full attention in the
months to come.”
MTA revived the borough redesigns
in August starting with the Bronx,
which was the fi rst borough to get a
redesign approved by the Authority’s
21-member board Wednesday since the
agency overhauled the Staten Island
Express Bus routes back in 2018.
The agency will start working on the
northern borough’s 46 routes in the
summer of 2022, redrawing 16 of them
and adding two new ones, while collaborating
with the city’s Department
of Transportation — which controls
the streets — to paint red bus lanes on
high-traffi c corridors.
Offi cials plan to ax about 20% of stops
in the Bronx, and one advocate said
straphangers will likely have to sacrifi
ce stations in Queens too in exchange
for faster trips.
The plan for the next borough,
Brooklyn, was at an earlier stage pre-
COVID and Cipriano said the agency
will keep staff focusing on Queens for
now.
BP Richards sponsors scholarship competition for Queens high school seniors
BY BENEDETTA TOMMASELLI
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards
announced on Monday, Dec. 13, that he will be offering
African American Heritage Scholarships to
high school seniors interested in pursuing postsecondary
education.
“Our borough’s high school seniors are bright,
talented and ready to take on the world,” Richards
said. “It is great that our African American Heritage
Scholarships allow us to help several graduating
seniors aff ord to attend college. There is no better
way to celebrate African American history than by
working to give the youth of today a better chance
to get ahead.”
The scholarships will be awarded to the student
during Black History Month by the borough president’s
African American Heritage Committee.
High school seniors who are Queens residents will
be able to apply for the African American Heritage
Scholarship by submitting a completed application
and an offi cial high school transcript by 5 p.m. on
Monday, Jan. 10, 2022.
The winner will be notifi ed by Tuesday, Feb. 1,
2022. They will receive monetary awards they can
use to cover expenses related to their post-secondary
studies and will be recognized during Richards’
Black History Month celebration on Wednesday,
Feb. 23, 2022.
In last year’s competition, eight students in total
were each granted a $1,000 scholarship.
Students who are interested in applying can do
Photo via Getty Images
so by completing the application form at queensbp.
org/AAHCScholarshipApp and by sending their
transcripts by email to sanderson@queensbp.org
or by fax to 718-286-3134.
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