Q44 SelectBusService?

[Mysterious2train]

http://www.nyc.gov/html/brt/html/routes/flushng_jamaica.shtml

 

 

Bus trips between Downtown Flushing and Jamaica are very slow and long. At times, in fact, riders find that it is faster to take the subway into Manhattan and back out to Queens than it is to take the buses that run along either of the three connecting corridors: Main Street, Kissena Blvd/Parsons Blvd, and 164th Street. As part of the “Bus Rapid Transit” (2006) and the “Bus Rapid Transit: Phase II” (2009) studies, the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) worked closely with residents and stakeholders to identify challenges to bus service and to discuss the ways in which Select Bus Service could improve service for the more than 90,000 daily riders travelling along the three corridors. Today, the DOT, in partnership with the Metropolitan Transit Authority , is collecting and analyzing complex sets of data and engaging in a community process to plan for Select Bus Service as a means of bringing faster, more reliable service to Queens.

 

Yes, I too backtrack into Manhattan when I'm trying to go from Flushing to Jamaica. 

 

 

 

Public Workshops and Open Houses

Public workshops provide an opportunity for neighborhood stakeholders, residents, and bus riders to engage with one another and the project staff to develop plans for the corridor that best suit the needs of the community. DOT and MTA will host public workshops and work with the community to develop plans for bus stop locations, SBS features, and design of the corridor.

Public workshops for Flushing to Jamaica Select Bus Service will take place this fall, 2014.

[MTA Dude]

Yeah. That's a problem. You can drive twice as fast on Queens Blvd and Broadway than on these streets.

[bobtehpanda]

Maybe DOT will look into making the Q44 route limited in the Bronx since there's adequate local service in the area.

 

I want to see DOT's solution to Main St between Franklin and Northern, Kissena between Main and Holly, and the general clusterf*** that is the Flushing end of the Q65.

 

It says they're looking at improvements to all routes doing that, not just the Q44, so the title is a bit misleading.

 

Where's my Hillside SBS?

[Mysterious2train]

I know they're calling it "Flushing-Jamaica Select Bus Service" but it seems kind of inevitable that the Q44 will be the only one with SBS, no?

[MTA Dude]

The Q25 needs SBS for the "pay before boarding" feature. Why can't they run articulated buses? The only good it does for me is create a super express for me from Rose to Holly.

[FamousNYLover]

The Q25 needs SBS for the "pay before boarding" feature. Why can't they run articulated buses? The only good it does for me is create a super express for me from Rose to Holly.

Q25's 127th St is very narrow 2-way street similar to narrow 2-way street in Isham St in Inwood section of Manhattan.

[biGC323232]

Interesting

[realizm]

Maybe DOT will look into making the Q44 route limited in the Bronx since there's adequate local service in the area.

 

I want to see DOT's solution to Main St between Franklin and Northern, Kissena between Main and Holly, and the general clusterf*** that is the Flushing end of the Q65.

 

It says they're looking at improvements to all routes doing that, not just the Q44, so the title is a bit misleading.

 

Where's my Hillside SBS?

I anticipate problems with the NYDOT and their attempts at rezoning particularly with Flushing if they decide to go ahead with a SBS route there. It may not be a serious problem on Hillside Avenue let say, if it becomes a Select Bus Service. But Main Street in the commercial district? I cant envision this even happening. I wish the NYDOT and the MTA the best of luck on that one.

[Cait Sith]

I know they're calling it "Flushing-Jamaica Select Bus Service" but it seems kind of inevitable that the Q44 will be the only one with SBS, no?

 

It would only make sense for the Q44 to be SBS. The Q25/65 can stay LTD.

 

The Q25 needs SBS for the "pay before boarding" feature. Why can't they run articulated buses? The only good it does for me is create a super express for me from Rose to Holly.

 

The Q25 doesn't need it, it doesn't get slammed as hard as the Q44.

[Q43LTD]

If the Q44 gets SBS, I wonder what the stops will be in the Bronx, since that's its only local section...

[bobtehpanda]

I know they're calling it "Flushing-Jamaica Select Bus Service" but it seems kind of inevitable that the Q44 will be the only one with SBS, no?

 

Not really. It depends on what they end up doing with the Main St corridor between Franklin and Northern.

 

In fact, I wouldn't be very surprised if they turned Main St into the first "SBS ticket hub", where all buses in Flushing are paid for using the SBS pay machines so that they can pump as many buses as they can through Flushing.

[nuyorican]

Flushing is a disaster people and cars do whatever they want. Cars turn were there not supposed to turn. Cars parked in bus stops. The light at Union Turnpike is 20 seconds for main st. traffic way to fast and backs up everything on main st. to 78th or 75th ave. The 44 also goes all the way out to queens blvd instead it should make the left at the grand central then a right onto 150th st and right at hillside and your at sutphin blvd. 

 

Bus only lanes on Kissiena blvd from Horace Harding into Flushing.

Bus only lanes on Main St. from Horace Harding to Northern Blvd

Buses only on Roosevelt from Union St. to Price St. like downtown Brooklyn.

[FamousNYLover]

Flushing is a disaster people and cars do whatever they want. Cars turn were there not supposed to turn. Cars parked in bus stops. The light at Union Turnpike is 20 seconds for main st. traffic way to fast and backs up everything on main st. to 78th or 75th ave. The 44 also goes all the way out to queens blvd instead it should make the left at the grand central then a right onto 150th st and right at hillside and your at sutphin blvd. 

 

Bus only lanes on Kissiena blvd from Horace Harding into Flushing.

Bus only lanes on Main St. from Horace Harding to Northern Blvd

Buses only on Roosevelt from Union St. to Price St. like downtown Brooklyn.

It not just car drivers. I saw city bus operators making illegal turn from Main St to Roosevelt Av.

 

Occasional, I see car drivers making illegal turn more often from Main St to Roosevelt Av.

[Fresh Pond]

It not just car drivers. I saw city bus operators making illegal turn from Main St to Roosevelt Av.

 

Occasional, I see car drivers making illegal turn more often from Main St to Roosevelt Av.

Correct me if I'm wrong (I haven't been to Flushing recently to remember), but doesn't the Main/Roosevelt intersection ban turns EXCEPT for buses?

[bobtehpanda]

It not just car drivers. I saw city bus operators making illegal turn from Main St to Roosevelt Av.

 

Occasional, I see car drivers making illegal turn more often from Main St to Roosevelt Av.

 

 

Correct me if I'm wrong (I haven't been to Flushing recently to remember), but doesn't the Main/Roosevelt intersection ban turns EXCEPT for buses?

 

The turn is legal for buses. I'm also pretty sure that turns are only banned for cars off of Main. Someone clarified it for me earlier and I don't remember the details too well.

[realizm]

Not really. It depends on what they end up doing with the Main St corridor between Franklin and Northern.

 

In fact, I wouldn't be very surprised if they turned Main St into the first "SBS ticket hub", where all buses in Flushing are paid for using the SBS pay machines so that they can pump as many buses as they can through Flushing.

 

I am also looking at this from a monetary perspective, the same point. The pending SBS project will have to be paid for. Flushing as a SBS ticket hub (as you stated) would be ideal for the fare collection needed for post activation operation costs as well as needed construction costs depending on how the areas are zoned out by the DOT, if thats how it works. (Not that well versed on surface transit so I am thinking about plans for how the MTA plans to pay the Second Avenue Subway as a distant parallel).

[Gotham Bus Co.]

The turn is legal for buses. I'm also pretty sure that turns are only banned for cars off of Main. Someone clarified it for me earlier and I don't remember the details too well.

 

Actually, NYCDOT banned all turns from Main Street into Roosevelt for everybody — especially buses — back in 2010. The purpose was to speed up traffic by forcing passengers to ride past the subway and then walk back.

[bobtehpanda]

I am also looking at this from a monetary perspective, the same point. The pending SBS project will have to be paid for. Flushing as a SBS ticket hub (as you stated) would be ideal for the fare collection needed for post activation operation costs as well as needed construction costs depending on how the areas are zoned out by the DOT, if thats how it works. (Not that well versed on surface transit so I am thinking about plans for how the MTA plans to pay the Second Avenue Subway as a distant parallel).

 

Most of our bus lanes, bike lanes, and pedestrian improvements are paid for with state or federal money. I don't really doubt that MTA will be able to pull this off, particularly because all the SBS projects have been on the cheap side and the ridership on every upgraded route has been extremely high.

[nuyorican]

If they want to speed up service between Jamaica and Flushing how about the Q44 running via the Van Wyck Expy from Hillside ave to College Point Blvd then going up College Point Blvd till Roosevelt Ave and then back to Regular route. Maybe once they finish the kew gardens interchange traffic won't be so bad on the Van Wyck.

[qjtransitmaster]

If they want to speed up service between Jamaica and Flushing how about the Q44 running via the Van Wyck Expy from Hillside ave to College Point Blvd then going up College Point Blvd till Roosevelt Ave and then back to Regular route. Maybe once they finish the kew gardens interchange traffic won't be so bad on the Van Wyck.

And what will serve main? An upgraded and extended Q50?

http://www.nyc.gov/html/brt/html/routes/flushng_jamaica.shtml

 

 

 

Yes, I too backtrack into Manhattan when I'm trying to go from Flushing to Jamaica. 

You don't have to backtrack to Manhattan to get there quicker just get off at Jackson heights and use the & from the  

[realizm]

You don't have to backtrack to Manhattan to get there quicker just get off at Jackson heights and use the & from the

Technically the Q17 or the Q65 for example is actually faster, takes a much shorter route if traveling crosstown in Queens since the E, F and 7 are all Manhattan-centric routes and will take you out of the loop for a bit if you are in Jamaica trying to get to Flushing.

[Gotham Bus Co.]

Instead of wasting time and money with "meetings" and "outreach" and "alternatives," they should just tell us now what they've already decided to do.

[Hound]

Actually, NYCDOT banned all turns from Main Street into Roosevelt for everybody — especially buses — back in 2010. The purpose was to speed up traffic by forcing passengers to ride past the subway and then walk back.

No turns from 7 am to 7 pm-except buses.

[Q43LTD]

That's from Roosevelt to Main...

[NewFlyer 230]

Since using the Q44/Q20 more often I have noticed that ever since the Q44 received artics more people go for the Q44 than the Q20. Drivers will tell you that there is a Q20 and it empty but people think the Q44 is much faster.Sometimes the Q20 beats the Q44 because the 44 is picking up the people and it results in the Q20 always being empty except during rush hours and above Roosevelt Ave.

What causes the buses to run slow is the people themselves and how they driver. They changed up many bus stops and turns because people kept getting killed over there but that is usually because the people walk when they are not suppose to and doing that slows traffic down. When they double park to deliver or wait for something slows the traffic down. Police should really be out there making sure traffic continues to move and give tickets out for walking on the red. They started doing it in Manhattan why not Flushing Queens.