Sunday, August 21, 2011

Goodbye, Q45; hello Q47

From the Times Newsweekly:

Currently linking commuters between Glendale and Jackson Heights, the Q45 bus line may soon be merged with another route and extended northbound to terminate at LaGuardia Airport, according to MTA Bus Company plans provided to the Times Newsweekly.

In an Aug. 4 letter sent to Community Board 5 District Manager Gary Giordano, MTA Bus Company president Darryl C. Irick stated that the agency will combine the Q45 and Q47 bus routes into one line operating between LaGuardia Airport’s Marine Air Terminal and The Shops at Atlas Park in Glendale as soon as this September.

Both the Q45 and Q47 lines terminate at the 74th Street-Roosevelt Avenue subway station, connecting riders to the E, F, M, R and 7 trains. The Q47 line runs northbound through local streets in Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst to the Marine Air Terminal, while the Q45 rolls through Woodside, Maspeth, Elmhurst and Middle Village en route to Atlas Park.

The MTA Bus Company plan would combine both lines and routes under the Q47 label (the Q45 name will be retired), with some changes around Jackson Heights and the 74th Street-Roosevelt Avenue station. According to Irick, the plan would reduce bus layovers and provide “improved north-south transit access through the western portion of Queens, currently underserved by direct north-south transit service.”

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think this idea stinks!!!!!

Anonymous said...

why do you think that? There's now only one bus connecting LaGuardia Airport to Queens ---- there will be two. How can that stink?

Anonymous said...

There are four now - the Q33, Q48 and M60 go to LaGuardia in addition to the Q47. Look at a bus map.

Anonymous said...

I forgot the Q33... The M60 primarily connects LGA to Manhattan (hence the M). You didn't answer my question - how does more connectivity to the airport stink?

Anonymous said...

And you forgot the Q48. The Q47 doesn't serve the main part of the airport so connectivity hasn't been improved. It's nothing major to combine the Q45 and Q47, either.

The M60 may come from Manhattan, but it stops in Queens and it does link with the Astoria line and the Queens bus routes that it intersects. Plus, it runs into the main terminal. As such, it's a lot more valuable to Queens than the Q47, even if it's combined with the Q45.

Anonymous said...

Longer route horrible service....thats how

And who takes a bus to the airport?

Anonymous said...

Lots of people - the M60, Q33 and Q48 are very well-used.

Anonymous said...

The signs are badly marked at the 74th bus depot, people keep getting on the Glendale bound bus thinking it is going in the LGA direction.
They have to jump off at 69th and Roosevelt and pay all over again.

There are 2 bus stops at the bus depot saying Q47.

Anonymous said...

I've been on the so called q45 or 47 or what ever they call themselves these days . Most of the people get of before Eliot ave in Middle Village and the bus is mostly empty to Atlas Park . People use the 29 if they want to go to the mall. Thanks a bunch for reading my two cents , that probably all it's worth.