14 THE QUEENS COURIER • FEBRUARY 6, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Queens lawmakers, transit advocates rally for revised bus redesign
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
Th e Queens delegation of elected offi -
cials, along with transit advocates and
community members, are banding together
against the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority (MTA) and demanding a revised
inclusive and comprehensive Queens Bus
Network Redesign Draft Plan, which has
received negative public feedback.
Th e lawmakers stood on the steps of
Borough Hall at 120-55 Queens Blvd.
on Friday, Jan. 31, to send a clear message
to the MTA: “Th e Queens Bus Network
Redesign Draft Plan doesn’t work.”
“When you look at this plan and every
corner of Queens that has held public
Carlotta Mohamed/QNS
Queens lawmakers and transit advocates rallied
for a revised Queens Bus Redesign Plan at Queens
Borough Hall in Kew Gardens.
MTA adds more public feedback meetings over bus redesign proposals
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Th e MTA’s proposal to completely
redraw the Queens bus map has been met
with such intense blowback from commuters
and elected offi cials that the agency
has announced more public feedback
meetings across the borough in the coming
weeks.
Th e draft plan that was released on New
Year’s Eve has been so poorly received
that the MTA will increase its eff orts to
an “unprecedented level of outreach” in
an attempt to mollify Queens bus riders.
“Our citywide network redesign is a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to redraw
each borough’s bus map to make it work
better and for us to engage directly with
our customers for their feedback on how
to improve service,” Acting MTA Bus
Company President Craig Cipriano said.
Th e 19 additional public workshops
and presentations added by the MTA
were released around the same time
Queens bus riders and council members
rallied against the draft plan at Borough
Hall.
“I understand that the MTA has a
daunting task in redesigning the entire
bus network in Queens County and
citywide, and I appreciate its eff orts,”
Councilman Robert Holden said. “It is
important to remember that this plan is
a draft with no set implementation date,
and all of us Queens residents must provide
as much feedback and opinions as
possible so that we can work together
with the MTA to fi nd the best fi nal plan
imaginable.”
Th e MTA is adding additional community
board and civic association meetings.
“Fast, safe, frequent and effi cient bus
service is crucial in northeastern Queens,
which lacks easy access to the subway,”
state Senator John Liu said.”In order to
get this important long-overdue redesign
right, bus riders and the public at large
should take every opportunity to provide
input on the draft plan. In turn, the
MTA must thoughtfully and clearly consider
that input and incorporate elements
wherever optimal. As with any major
overhaul, some riders will be better off
while others will feel worse off . Th e MTA
must engender public trust and confi -
dence through earnest diligence and honest
transparency.”
To view the draft plan and see the full
schedule of public workshops and presentations
visit the MTA’s Queens Bus
Redesign website.
“Queens bus network is long overdue
for an overhaul that can provide reliable,
accessible service for transit riders,”
Assemblywoman Nily Rozic said. “Over
the next few months I look forward to
engaging with riders and NYC Transit
to deliver a fi nal plan that meets Queens’
transit needs.”
Critics charge that the redesign is away
for the cash-starved MTA to cut costs
by slashing service and Councilwoman
Karen Koslowitz said Andy Byford stated
that the plan was devised within the
“restrictions of fi scal constraints” before
he abruptly resigned as NYC Transit president.
Transit advocates agree that there
must be improvements to the Queens
bus system.
“Th e current Queens bus network is
plagued by slow speeds and unreliable
service, it has to change. Routes that have
barely changed since the middle of the
last century don’t align with where people
live and work today,” TransitCenter
Communications Director Ben Fried
said. “”With the release of its draft redesign
of the Queens bus network, the
MTA has put forward an ambitious yet
pragmatic plan to overhaul Queens bus
service. Aft er reviewing the plan, we
believe it has the potential to substantially
improve bus performance and transit
access for Queens residents.”
hearings, this plan has united all of
Queens,” Councilman Donovan Richards
said. “Th e MTA has come back to us with
a fl awed plan that only decreases service.
To get from southern Queens to northern
Queens, it’s mission impossible right now.”
Aft er releasing its draft plan to redraw
the Queens Bus Network for the fi rst time
in 100 years when they were converted
from the old trolley lines at the turn of the
20th century or consolidated from private
bus companies that began serving Queens
in the 1910s, the MTA had announced a
series of workshops throughout the borough
for public feedback.
Th e transit agency has increased its
eff orts to an “unprecedented level of outreach,”
adding more public feedback meetings
in the coming months in an attempt
to mollify Queens bus riders.
Th e new system will better serve customers,
shorten commute times, speed
up buses, increase inter-modal connections
and provide more frequency and
choices to travel within the borough and
to Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx,
according to the MTA.
“Th is plan was designed to include the
least amount of folks as
possible,” Councilman I.
Daneek Miller said. “Th e
forums were held simply
as informational instead
of tables and they
asked for ideas.
Well, if you’re just
a bus rider and
don’t understand
the nuances and
planning and headways
that go into it,
then your ideas are just
ideas.”
Miller added, “We’re
not opposed to an
improved new bus
network, connectivity
and transportation
equity, absolutely not.
Certainly, this is an opportunity to fi x the
system that is old, that is antiquated, and
suppresses Queens and makes it an outer
borough. We want a system that connects
us, that is safe, effi cient and moves the people
too and from in a manner that they
deserve, and so, they haven’t done that.”
Meanwhile, other elected offi cials such
as Councilmen Barry Grodenchik and
Robert Holden reiterated the changes that
will impact transit-starved communities
in their district, as well.
“We understand that this is a work in
progress, but we’re not seeing the progress,”
Grodenchik said. “Th ey want us
to get out of our cars, but 90 percent
of the households in my district have
a car. Th ere’s a reason
for that, it’s because the
mass transportation in
my district is terrible.
Th ey’d like to come
into Forest Hills, go
into Flushing and
downtown Jamaica
by bus, but it’s not
convenient and
timely, and the
plan does not
advance it.”
Some Queens
residents who
were optimistic
about
the Queens
Network Bus
R e d e s i g n
Plan have
changed their tune aft er viewing the draft
plan.
“I thought we’d get better buses. Th e SBS
is faster and better, and instead this plan
cuts that bus service that so many people
rely on … I was very upset,” said Jim
Burke, a resident of Rockaway Beach, who
takes the select bus service (SBS) to Jackson
Heights. “One of the most important things
they forget is that we have a large elderly
population. You’re removing their independence
and taking away their freedom,
as you are with the mothers of kids and parents
with strollers, and the same thing with
our mobility impaired population.”
Forest Hills resident Grace Pellicano,
77, who relies on a Roll-Aider due to
health issues where she cannot walk for
a long time or distance, said she depends
heavily on the Q23.
“I take my granddaughter to school in
the morning at P.S. 144, shop for my
medical supplies and to visit my family,”
Pellicano said. “I use the Q23 for unlimited
distance between Continental and Queens
Boulevard up to Metropolitan Avenue. I
also use it to get to my volunteer job at the
library. Th e bus ride is just a few minutes
and it’s up a hill and a distance for a disabled
elderly person to struggle with.”
Without the Q23, Pellicano said, she
would have to take an Uber or Lyft service
to visit her family and to go shopping on
Metropolitan Avenue.
Richard David, resident and district
leader of the Democratic Party in South
Ozone Park and Richmond Hill, said the
plan needs to be more community-centric.
“Th is plan makes it worse. For example,
the Q112, there are three stops in 40 blocks
and that’s insane. I don’t think it speeds up
the bus traffi c because there is still traffi c on
the roads,” David said. “With Queens coming
together, we have a chance to actually get
the MTA to be a little bit more responsive to
the community, historically they have not
cared about this community, about Queens.”
Carlotta Mohamed/QNS
As Queens commuters joined elected offi cials gathered to protest the MTA’s bus redesign proposals,
the agency announced more public outreach will be done.
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