More rejection blowback to the bus routes of yes

QNS 

 With the MTA’s Queens Bus Network Redesign project in its final stages, Community Board 11 in Northeast Queens voted down a motion endorsing the proposal as it currently stands.

At their meeting on Monday, Apr. 1, board members and local residents said their main problem is with the changes to the Q13 and Q31 bus routes in Bayside. In particular, Bell Boulevard, a popular commercial corridor for shopping and dining which is part of the bus routes, would see a significant reduction in bus service if the plan goes into effect as is. 

Despite the concerns, the board’s transportation committee decided to approve the plan given the vast improvements that the MTA made based on community input from initial drafts. 

But at the end of the meeting, where issues with the bus redesign plan were one of the main topics of discussion, the motion to recommend the plan failed to pass in a vote of 19-14. 

The MTA’s initiative to rehaul the city’s largest bus system first launched in 2019 with the goal of providing faster and more convenient service to see an increase in ridership. The process was paused due to the pandemic until it was restarted in 2021. After rounds of drafts based on community input, the final plan was published in Dec. 2023. 

Throughout the review process, community boards have analyzed the proposed route adjustments within their districts, attended detailed presentations by MTA representatives, and voiced their concerns.

“We’ve been working on this… for years,” said CB11 Transportation Committee Chair Victor Dadras. “I will say that we had lots of issues. The MTA to their credit, did extensive work based upon the comments they received, not just from us, but from the community.”

However, the board members were unable to overlook their two primary concerns and thus could not align their vote with the transportation committee’s recommendation. Their concerns were reinforced by members of the Bayside Village Business Improvement District, local civic groups and transportation advocates.

They collectively cited their disapproval with the reduction in service along Bell Boulevard, which could hurt both local businesses and the consumers. They also cite the proposed increase in distance between stops as a major drawback of the plan overall. 

The existing Q31 runs between Bay Terrace and Jamaica along Utopia Parkway. And under the new plan, 84 stops will be removed along Bell Boulevard, 47th Avenue, 48th Avenue. While the route will be extended by slightly more than a mile, the average distance between stops is increasing from 762 feet to 1,224 feet. 

Increased spacing between stops under that new plan has been a chief concern among critics of the plan who say it would be a burden for those with mobility issues such as elderly and disabled riders. But the MTA says that it will allow them to speed up service by cutting out stops they say are underutilized. 

The Q13, which goes from Fort Totten to Flushing, will still run along Bell Boulevard but 6 stops in each direction will be removed. Along the entire route, the average distance between stops will almost double from 688 feet to 1,146 feet under the new proposal. 

“We’ll have no way to get to the shopping and restaurants on Bell,” said board member Jena Lanzetta, who is also President of the Northwest Bayside Civic Association. “We need to go back to the drawing board and I will not be voting for this.”

MTA plan cuts bus service and calls it frosting

  

MTA

Highlights of Proposed Final Plan

Improved All-Day Frequent Network

• Queens’ bus improvement plan expands the already widespread existing all-day frequent network. All-day frequency allows riders the freedom to board the bus throughout the day without worrying about a schedule. There are 29 routes that provide 10 minutes or better service from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays.
• The project expands the reach of the all-day frequent network to 68.9% of the borough, or to an additional 200,000 Queens residents.
• There are 28 routes that have either increased frequency or expanded hours of operation. Key streets throughout the borough would see frequency increases, including Guy R. Brewer Boulevard, Merrick Boulevard, portions of Northern Boulevard, and Union Turnpike.

More Direct Routing, Faster Travel

• Rush Routes quickly connect riders between outer borough neighborhoods and denser hub areas, including subway and rail stations or bus terminals (e.g. 165 St Terminal). There are 27 Rush routes that pick-up passengers locally on one end and then have greater stop spacing to improve travel times to the other end of the line, stopping at major transfer points and key destinations.
   
• Increased bus stop spacing speeds up buses and improves reliability for customers. Bus stops in the Proposed Final Plan respond to public feedback on the New Draft Plan. 83% of riders will continue to use the same stop that they do today.

Better Connections

• The redesign fills in gaps in the bus network and establishes new connections with other bus routes, subway lines, the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), and improves accessibility throughout Queens by connecting to more Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-accessible subway stations.
• Improving connections maximizes the opportunity of taking advantage of discounted fare options like the LIRR’s CityTicket, which is a discounted ticket riders can use to travel within city limits for $5 during off-peak hours and $7 for peak hours.
• New and modified routes expand the reach of the bus network, making it easier for interborough travel. For example:
  • The Q98 proposed route connects Myrtle-Wyckoff Ave (on the Brooklyn-Queens border) and downtown Flushing, Queens via Horace Harding Expressway. The new route complements the existing Q58, and provides connections to the 7LMR subway lines, 9 other bus lines and the LIRR Flushing-Main St station.
  • The QM65 is a new express route connecting Southeast Queens from Laurelton and Rochdale to downtown Manhattan.

Simplified Service

• As introduced in the New Draft Plan, all Express routes are being standardized to use the “QM” route label, instead of some using “QM” while others use “X.”
• Route labels for the Local network have been simplified so that customers better understand where their bus is traveling before they board.
  

 Counterpoint by Commuter Advocates Passengers Unite:

 

The Department of Transportation Alternatives gets excoriated for Ridgewood Reservoir bus route that eliminates more essential bus routes

 QNS

Following the December 2022 release of the MTA Brooklyn Bus Network Redesign proposal, which would eliminate several stops in Ridgewood on the B38 and B13 lines, Queens Community Board 5 (CB5) is drafting a letter to the Department of Transportation (DOT) to voice their opposition to the changes. The bus redesign plan and letter were discussed at Wednesday’s CB 5 transportation and public transit meeting, held at 61-23 Myrtle Ave.

According to the MTA, their bus redesign proposal for the B38 would eliminate service to Stanhope Street, Woodward Avenue, Starr Street, Metropolitan Avenue and Grandview Avenue. Meanwhile, their proposal for the B13 would travel through the Ridgewood Reservoir and Cypress Avenue.

“A good number of people in that portion of Ridgewood along the 38 used that bus in that area, including students from Grover  Cleveland High School,” said Gary Giordano, district manager of CB 5.

Along with Grover Cleveland High School, other important stops in Ridgewood will be cut off in the MTA bus redesign proposal.

“Well, with the B38, it serves a high school, a pretty large public park and two cemeteries, and the route goes up and down the hill, which a lot of people aren’t gonna be able to walk,” said Christina Wilkinson of the Juniper Park Civic Association.

Wilkerson also stated that eliminating service to Liberty Park along the B13 would be unfair to residents living in the area.

“Well, first of all, removing an entire bus line from Liberty Park, they’re also removing part of the Q39, which goes to Liberty Park so that that whole neighborhood won’t have any bus service, it seems like,” Wilkinson said. “I don’t think that’s fair. I think residents should have bus service in that area.”

She also said that adding a bus stop at the Ridgewood Reservoir would be difficult because of the speed bumps on the road.

“It’s going to be difficult to place a bus stop there, and it’s gonna be difficult to place a bus line along that route because it has speed bumps and the roads are restricted to passenger cars only,” Wilkinson said.

Queens bus redesigns town hall tomorrow night

  

This will be live and on zoom.

MTA plans to kill two bus routes in the name of transit equity

Queens Chronicle

Two bus redesign Zoom meetings held last Thursday and Monday included proposals for changes to several lines throughout East and Southeast Queens. The meetings were among the last in a series held by the MTA and focused on Community Districts 12 and 13.

The Q1 bus had major proposed changes that were relayed by Tori Winters, the principal transportation planner for the MTA. The bus route currently starts in Queens Village on Springfield Boulevard and Jamaica Avenue and ends at the 165th Bus Terminal in Jamaica, though some buses leave the terminal and end at Bellerose at Braddock and Jamaica avenues, instead of returning back to Queens Village.

The proposed new route would start at Bellerose, eliminating the main starting point in Queens Village and all but one Springfield Boulevard stop (Springfield Boulevard and Hillside Avenue) and 12 stops on Hillside Avenue, but it would take over the Q6 route and extend to the JFK Cargo Plaza in South Ozone Park by skipping the terminal and going through Downtown Jamaica and then down Sutphin Boulevard. The route would keep the 179th Street and Hillside Avenue F-train stop and it would also pass by the E, J, Z train stop on Jamaica Avenue and the Jamaica Long Island Rail Road on Archer Avenue. The proposal would more than double the weekday peak service frequency of the bus from 10 minutes to 4 minutes, and nearly double the off-peak frequency from 15 to 8 minutes.

“We will be replacing the two routes with one higher-frequency route,” Winters said about the Q1 in a slideshow presentation. “Local service along Springfield Boulevard will be provided by the proposed Q78. The Rockaway Boulevard segment of the existing Q6 would now be served by the proposed Q7.”

The proposed Q45 would take over the Q36 route and the Hillside Avenue portions of the Q1 that would be axed and start at the Little Neck LIRR. The route would conclude in Jamaica on Archer Avenue and Sutphin Boulevard, expanding its train service connections to the E, J and Z lines, the Long Island Rail Road and AirTrain similar to the Q1.

The Q75 is a newly proposed route that would go from Jamaica to Queensborough Community College via 188th Street and Horace Harding Expressway, replacing the Union Turnpike to Jamaica Avenue stops along the Q17 and taking over the Q30’s primary role as a route to the Bayside school. The Q31 bus would pick up the Q30 line’s Utopia Parkway stops.

The suggested Q82 would replace the Q36 service along Hillside Avenue and combine with sections of the existing Q110 that goes along Hempstead Avenue to get to the UBS Arena in Elmont. Instead of servicing 212th Place in Queens Village, the route will serve Hollis Court Boulevard, and any existing Q36 stops east of 213th Street would be picked up by the Q57.

“The new Q82 route would mostly run nonstop alongside Hillside Ave.,” said Winters. “The service will no longer provide a route to Jamaica Ave., as the existing Q36 does.”

Buses with suggested minor changes include the Q44, which would maintain most of its route in Jamaica on Merrick Boulevard and Archer Avenue, but instead of concluding its route at the Bronx Zoo, it would go to Fordham Avenue Plaza at Fordham University; the Q43 in Jamaica, which would make less frequent stops as it extends farther out to Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Glen Oaks; and the Q2, which would maintain its route though shifts in where it would stop between the 165th Street Bus Terminal and Elmont were proposed.

23 Slowdoo

 

New York Times

 

Just beyond the reach of New York City’s frenetic, round-the-clock subway, people in a slice of western Queens wait — and wait — to board one of the borough’s slowest buses.

Many of the 2.3 million New Yorkers who live and work in Queens aren’t served directly by the vast network of trains that keeps the nation’s biggest metropolis moving. The borough, the city’s second most populous, has less subway service relative to its size and population than the other four.

So hundreds of thousands of people here plan their lives around the only mass transit choice they have: the buses that lumber along traffic-choked streets.

One of those buses, the Q23, is among the slowest in the city. For the past four years, it has consistently traveled more slowly than the citywide average of about 8 miles per hour — about the speed some people can run — bogged down by an awkward path and riders who swarm two stops that connect to the subway.

It was slower than nearly all of the 76 other buses in Queens in April, and it ranked dead last in the borough in January, when it traveled at 6.5 miles per hour.

 

The Q23’s route curls around the Tudor-style houses and lush yards of Forest Hills, then cuts through the bustling heart of multicultural Corona before turning west toward the edge of Queens to head to its last stop, near La Guardia Airport.

“Each section has its own little demon,” John Breeden, who has driven city buses for 11 years and counts the Q23 among his routes, said as he sat behind the wheel on a spring afternoon. “You need patience.”

More New Yorkers ride buses in this borough than in any other. On a given weekday before the pandemic, 680,000 people took a bus in Queens, making up about 32 percent of the city’s overall weekday ridership of 2.2 million.

Many blue-collar workers rely on the Q23 to reach their jobs, and its frequent delays can derail their commutes and make them late to work. Some riders set out hours early to compensate. When buses are slow, people put off basic needs such as medical care, according to a May 2020 study published in the American Journal of Public Health. They spend longer in harsh weather, and their quality of life suffers because of lost time.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the city’s public buses, wants to speed them up in Queens, in part by getting rid of stops and adapting to modern traffic patterns, making routes straighter and more direct.

“Most of the subway system was built when Queens still had farmlands,” said Janno Lieber, the M.T.A.’s chairman and chief executive.

“Now we have to make the bus system do a lot of the work in Queens that the subway system does for so many other parts of the city that got more heavy rail, because of when they were developed,” he said.

The authority released a draft plan to redesign the borough’s bus network in March, and it is soliciting community input through June.

Critics of the plan say it would not solve problems like drivers who don’t follow the rules, dining sheds that make narrow streets even tighter, and construction jobs like the one that blocked Ms. Mora’s route.

“Realistically, there’s not much you can do,” Mr. Breeden said. “It’s very populated over there. And then you add in the churches, then you add in the deliveries, and the people’s entrepreneurship out there — it’s always going to be crowded.”

The Department of Transportation Alternatives petition for a bus route to the Ridgewood Reservoir is based on bald faced lies

(From the Department of TransAlt website.)

Ridgewood Reservoir Needs A Bus Stop

The historic Ridgewood Reservoir is a 50-acre natural oasis that serves diverse communities on the border of Brooklyn and Queens. Despite its beauty, ecological importance, and open access, the Ridgewood Reservoir, which is proximate to some of the poorest areas in New York City, is impossible to reach by public transportation.

The Ridgewood Reservoir needs a direct bus stop for New Yorkers to enjoy its benefits. 

The reservoir is ill-served by current public transportation options. The closest subway station is the J train at Norwood Avenue, a mile away. The closest bus stop is the Q56 at Jamaica and Shepherd Avenues, a half-mile from the reservoir. Our greenspace currently serves as a cultural and ecological treasure solely for New Yorkers who can drive to it.

With more transportation options, our reservoir will be accessible to all New Yorkers to enjoy its many health benefits. This includes a multi-use path for walking, biking and running, bird watching and flowers, as a quiet respite from the city, and more!

So the Department of TransAlt wants to screw around with a Queens bus line so it could make a stop by here. I'll let Crappy explain why this is full of gaslighting bullshit and will do more harm than good (the good being that will mostly benefit the bike and public space scientology cult):

"Why lie? The B13 is maybe 300 feet from the north entrance. Maybe work on making that area by the Jackie safer instead of ruining someone’s commute by taking a bus out of the way. I’ve never heard of a bus line being routed to serve a park feature rather than the park itself.

 It’s more that there is a heavily used parking lot where they want a bus stop and all the Caribbean and Dominicans using it destroy the narrative that only white people use cars.

 When Bloomberg announced it was going to be a destination park the gentrifiers started sniffing around. Then he dropped it and so did they. Except for these turds, who are trying to monetize the park for their benefit.

 The community board there was circulating a letter from MTA which showed that it would take the bus well off the route and lengthen commutes considerably, and if they used it as an end of line type of thing it was impossible to turn the bus around.

 On top of that, the two buses that run there are Brooklyn routes and these dopes are sending out instructions to testify about the Queens bus redesign."

 

What's really funny is that there are routes where you can easily get there by bike from the Queens side, isn't that what this damn think tank bike lobby exists for, so why annoy everyone?

Consternation about city bus transportation

QNS 

Residents of Community District 5 heard a local breakdown of the new Queens Bus Network Redesign, with some locals expressing their concerns over the proposed plan during Wednesday night’s virtual workshop hosted by the MTA.

The May 4 workshop is part of the MTA’s three-month-long public feedback period before the agency finalizing the proposal. 

The MTA released a new draft plan for the Queens bus network in March after halting the 2019 project at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The revision offers a total of 85 routes for the borough, with 20 new routes and other extensions, shortenings and consolidations to improve efficiency; there are currently 82 bus routes in Queens. The plan will take away a total of 1,685 stops.

In an effort to shorten the commuting time, the MTA wants to space stops further apart, from about 850 feet to 1,400 feet. This could save 20 seconds of travel per stop, according to officials.

The new bus route is focused on reliable service and faster travel, according to the MTA representatives presenting the plan during Wednesday night’s virtual workshop. However, some residents who live in the district — which covers Ridgewood, Glendale, Middle Village and Maspeth — argued that some of the adjustments will completely upend their commute.  

One resident, Melissa Ferrara, mentioned that she chose to send her kids to McClancy Memorial High School in Elmhurst because the Q47 provides a simple commute with no transfers.

“Rerouting this will cause them to take two to three buses which will add tremendously to their commute,” Ferrara said. 

The proposed Q47 routing would be realigned at its southern end to serve 69 Street in Maspeth instead of 80 Street. It would also terminate at Metropolitan Avenue and Fresh Pond Road, serving the M Train at the Middle Village Station.

MTA Representative Ryan Zatlin said that some proposed bus routes will deviate from typical routes and make “specialized school trips.”

“This proposal to realign the route to 69th Street was around our strategies of straightening routes and providing direct connections, in this case to the M Train and Metropolitan Avenue,” Zatlin said. “However, the proposal may not satisfy the needs of everyone, and that’s what we wanted to hear today.”

Here we go again: MTA holds hearings for redesigning bus routes in Queens

 

 

Remember the last time they tried this a few years ago? Citizens yelled at Andy Byford and practically helped drive him out of town because of how screwed up they were. Engage by filing this form for the routes that affect you and here are the dates.

 

#1: W March 30 - Citywide /Boroughwide Groups

#2: Th March 31 - Northwest (CBs 1, 2, 3, 4)

#3: Tu April 5 - Southwest (CBs 5, 6, 9, 10)

#4: W April 6 - Northeast (CBs 7, 8, 11)

#5: Th April 7 - Southeast (CBs 12, 13, 14)

School buses continue to leave students and parents hanging

NY Daily News 

A “cataclysmic” failure of New York City school bus transportation has left scores of city kids without buses for days or weeks — and some desperate families still waiting for a pickup more than a month into the school year, parents and advocates say.

Years of dysfunction compounded by the logistical challenges of restarting in-person classes amid the pandemic and a nationwide driver shortage have pushed transportation conditions in the city to a record low, according to families and school bus watchdogs.

“The busing situation in this city is cataclysmic,” said Amaranta Viera, the mother of a first-grader with autism who was without a bus for nearly a month after classes started on Sept. 13.

Some students legally entitled to school buses because of disabilities still have not been assigned a route. Others have a route, but no driver, matron or paraprofessional to pick them up. And some kids whose buses do show up are facing erratic pickups or hours-long rides, according to experiences shared with The Daily News.

“The problems are boiling over this year with kids missing not just hours, but days and weeks of school,” said Sara Catalinotto, the head of the advocacy group Parents to Improve School Transportation.

DOE officials said there are roughly 550 students who still need bus routes, a slight increase over the approximately 500 kids without routes at this time in 2019 and 2018 but still a small fraction of the 150,000 total kids who take school buses. Officials claimed all kids who were registered by the first day of classes now have a route.

But advocates say the number and severity of complaints pouring in this year are noticeably greater than in years past.

Catalinotto said she heard from eight families just last week who still don’t have a school bus, and 15 since the beginning of the year, compared to zero and three such complaints in 2019 and 2018. Another parent advocate who began compiling bus grievances at the beginning of the year got 58 hits, with half complaining of a no-show bus. The city’s Panel for Education Policy solicited bus complaints from parents for a recent meeting and got roughly 60 emails in three days.

“Typically by now, the bus issues would die down a lot, but not this year,” said Lori Podvesker, the education director of the special education advocacy group INCLUDEnyc and a member of the Panel for Education Policy.

The DOE also pointed to a 63% reduction in the number of calls to the Office of Pupil Transportation hotline compared with fall 2019, from roughly 6,400 calls per day in 2019 to 2,400 calls per day this year.

But parents say calling the OPT’s hotline is a lesson in futility because they either can’t get through or are directed to contact their schools or bus companies — discouraging them from trying again.