DOT allows bus lane parking on weekends

From the Queens Chronicle:

The Department of Transportation will allow motorists to park in the curbside Select Bus Service lanes on Cross Bay Boulevard from Liberty Avenue to the Belt Parkway at all hours on Saturdays, area elected officials announced Thursday.

"Today is a perfect snapshot of how government should work," state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach) said in front of C-Town Supermarket located at 107-66 Cross Bay Blvd. in Ozone Park. "Business owners, residents and others complain to their elected officials about a Select Bus Service that started in November and wanting change and change occurs. And we're thankful the DOT listened to our concerns and did the change."

Parking in the lanes was previously not allowed from 7 to 10 a.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. Monday to Saturday, with buses and cars making right turns being the only vehicles allowed in the space.

The DOT on Wednesday changed the signs to let motorists know parking is now permitted all day Saturday, following pushback from business owners along the strip who said business was negatively impacted.

Rose, the manager of C-Town, said her store lost 10 to 15 percent of its Saturday customers since the restriction was put in place in November — when SBS launched on Woodhaven and Cross Bay boulevards.

SBS negatively impacting local businesses

Photo from Queens Chronicle

From the Queens Chronicle:

Rose, a manager at the C-Town Supermarket on Cross Bay Blvd. in Ozone Park, is usually busy helping her customers find what they’re looking for.

But lately, she’s been talking about the bus lanes right outside her business rather than what’s on sale.

“I was speaking to a customer just now about it,” said Rose, who didn’t want her last name published. “Nobody knows what to do right now. The customers are getting confused. They don’t know when they can park or when they’re going to get a ticket.”

Not only that, but the curbside bus lanes — installed as part of the Select Bus Service project for Woodhaven and Cross Bay boulevards — have led to a decline in the number of people shopping at the supermarket, located at 107-66 Cross Bay Blvd.

And that’s impacting the bottom line.