The MTA is finally moving to overhaul the Queens bus network that largely runs along defunct trolley routes and has hardly changed since the 1950s.
MTA head Janno Lieber said Tuesday the agency is moving forward with a redesign of the borough’s bus routes, part of a long-delayed effort to speed up transit service across the city.
Lieber said the changes would make it easier for bus riders to connect to subway lines in the borough. MTA officials did not specify when the changes are expected to be implemented, but noted the agency’s board is required to sign off on them. A spokesperson said the board would vote on the changes in “the next couple of months.”
“Buses are the engines of equity and it’s especially true in Queens,” Lieber said at a press conference announcing the changes. “They are the way that people in working and middle-class neighborhoods get around to access the rest of the city for jobs, for education and health care.”
For the last five years, MTA officials have proposed various redesigns to the Queens bus network, only to have their plans derailed by the COVID pandemic and community opposition. The agency also came out with proposal to overhaul the borough’s bus routes last December, but local politicians like state Sen. John Liu sent transit officials back to the drawing board, arguing the plans would actually reduce service for many riders.
Lieber said the latest proposal calls for increased frequency and expanded hours of operation for 20 bus routes that will target major corridors like Union Turnpike and Merrick Boulevard.
The proposed redesign also includes 25 new rush routes designed to connect riders in Queens to the rail system, which Lieber called a “game changer” for commuters.
The plan would also eliminate some bus stops in the borough to speed up service, but MTA officials declined to specify how many. The agency also declined to say exactly how many routes would be altered by the redesign, how many new ones would be added and how many would be nixed altogether.
Lieber said the MTA held more than 70 outreach events about the redesign in the past year, and the MTA is planning another town hall ahead of the agency’s final vote on the plan.
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