MTA officials announced more details on Monday about the borough’s upcoming bus network redesign, saying Queens commuters will soon have faster and more reliable public transportation.
The overhaul, which took about five years to design and incorporated extensive feedback from the Queens community, will roll out in two phases starting June 29. MTA officials said the first phase will include 16 new routes and 67 route changes for the 800,000 daily riders who use the system.
Phase 2 will kick off on Aug. 31 and feature one new route and 37 altered routes. Demetrius Crichlow, the MTA’s NYC Transit president, said all the route changes will be featured “interactively” on the agency’s website at mta.info.
“You can actually look at our website and see how your route has changed and how you should be adjusting your commute to make sure you have the best, seamless transportation,” Crichlow said.
MTA officials said Queens residents will soon see new bus stop signs throughout the borough, which they said will help alert commuters to the upcoming changes.
The agency is working with the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) to make the signage updates.
“We’re working hand-in-hand with our partners at DOT to make sure we change the bus-stop signage at all locations in advance of the changes,” Crichlow said. “So you’re going to start seeing those things start to roll out.”
New ‘rush routes’
The upcoming overhaul features 124 new routes, including 94 local and 30 express lines, more overnight service, and “rush routes” that aim to speed up commutes for bus riders living in neighborhoods with limited access to public transit.
MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said the agency is also investing $34 million a year more in service funding to help increase frequency and more direct connections.
“We’re going to be working to move people very quickly from the neighborhoods right to Long Island Rail Road stations and subway stations,” Lieber said.
Many Queens bus riders and transit groups are looking forward to the redesign and have applauded the MTA’s efforts to add more rush routes to make travel to subways and commuter stations faster and easier.
“Riders across Queens, the most bus-dependent county in the country, will benefit from a network redesign that will make buses faster, safer, more reliable, and more frequent,” Brian Fritsch, associate director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA, said. “This includes the addition of rush routes, which will make travel to the LIRR and subways better and faster for residents in subway deserts. We expect the plan to continue to adapt and change as field testing turns into actual experience and look forward to its implementation over the course of the summer.”
Other bus riders have expressed concern about the overall redesign.
“To the MTA: Don’t shove the Queens Bus Network Redesign proposed final plan addendum down our throats,” bus rider David Kupferberg said at a recent public meeting at MTA headquarters. “These are nothing but glorified service cuts. The project must be delayed until it is done right.”
Lieber said that the plan is not going to make all 2.4 million Queens residents happy at the same time, but stressed the “enormous” public input that was considered for the final redesign that was approved by the agency’s board on Jan. 29.
“I think that this is going to improve things for faster and more reliable service. Let’s all give it a chance,” he said. “We have to give the whole thing a chance to play out.”
Lieber added that the agency will look for opportunities to tweak the redesign over time.
