Petition Lambasts MTA's Proposed Express Bus Cuts In NE Queens

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — Northeast Queens commuters are pleading with the MTA to backpedal its proposed cuts to express bus service under its draft of a new bus map for the borough.

More than a thousand people have signed on to a petition started by City Council Member Paul Vallone to protest the MTA's proposal to reduce rush-hour service between Manhattan and northeast Queens and eliminate express bus service on weekends.

Supporters include City Council Member Barry Grodenchik, U.S. Reps. Grace Meng and Tom Suozzi, State Sen. John Liu and Assembly Members Ed Braunstein and Nily Rozic.

"The first major overhaul of our bus network in a century should improve — not slash — service to our already transit-starved neighborhood," the petition reads.

Under the MTA's proposal, the QM2, QM20 and QM32 express buses would be replaced by the QMT163, a bus route running from Beechhurst to Midtown Manhattan, and the QMT103, which would travel between Bay Terrace and the southernmost tip of Manhattan.

It's all part of a draft released Dec. 31 for the MTA's plan to completely redraw Queens' network of 107 bus lines that serve more than 714,000 weekday riders.

The transit authority's final proposal will come out by summer 2020, but officials say there is no planned date when it will go into effect.

The draft plan also calls for eliminating weekend express bus service between northeast Queens and Manhattan, a proposal Vallone's petition compares to "denying mobility."

"Regardless of potential low ridership levels at non-rush hour times, residents of Northeast Queens require reliable express buses for their every day needs," the petition reads. "Cutting service is denying mobility to a part of the city that is in great need of better options."

In a Friday briefing with reporters, MTA officials attributed the weekend express bus service cuts to years of ridership data showing the service got little use.

"We're carrying very few riders per trip, especially considering how expensive it is for us to operate express buses," Mark Holmes, chief officer of operations planning for MTA Bus, told Patch. "Having said that, that does not mean are not in a position to go back and review some of the decisions made when we developed our draft plan."

Bayside residents will get a chance to hear more about the MTA's draft and provide feedback at a public workshop scheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 20 at Korean Community Services.

Riders may also share feedback using this online form.