MTA Announces Plans To Redesign Queens Bus Network

QUEENS, NY — Queens' sprawling bus network will get a massive overhaul.

The MTA on Monday announced a yearlong project to redesign the network of 107 bus lines that move more than 714,000 weekday riders throughout Queens.

The transit authority will work with the NYC Department of Transportation to alter redundant or indirect bus routes and change the spacing between bus stops, according to a presentation shown to the Queens Borough Cabinet on Monday.

The MTA will also collect public feedback on Queens' current bus service and ideas for changes they'd like to see through an online form and a series of open houses, which kick off in May.

The agency aims to finish a draft of the redesign in November 2019 and release the final plan in April 2020.

“The Queens bus network has not substantially changed in decades and the people of Queens deserve better. I’m immensely proud to begin the process of bus network modernization in the city’s largest borough,” New York City Transit President Andy Byford said. "Bus network modernization is absolutely critical to the continued success of Queens and I look forward to being a part of it."

New York City's buses have suffered from declining ridership and fare-beating, with one in five bus riders skipping the fare, according to New York City Transit President Andy Byford.

But the struggling bus system is a particularly urgent issue in Queens, where many live out of the subway system's reach.

The borough's buses crawl at an average speed of 8.9 miles per hour, and ridership dropped 2.5% from 2016 to 2017, the MTA says. Many Queens buses follow old trolley routes, according to the MTA, so they no longer make sense for modern-day travel needs.

The bus redesign project is part of the MTA's Fast Forward plan, a sweeping initiative launched in May 2018 to overhaul the city's subway and bus systems.

"We strongly encourage all Queens bus riders to take an active role in planning the new network so that bus service best meets their needs," transit advocates from the Bus Turnaround Coalition said in a statement.

"We are eager to work closely with the MTA and elected officials to make the Queens bus network redesign a success and model for smart policy that delivers for millions of New Yorkers."