Robert Spire

The oldest equipment in the system are the 2005-07 MCI's at MTA Bus and the 2007 OG Orion VII buses.

And why is this trend taking place all of the sudden? I have a lot of questions.

Because the BMT 63rd Street tracks feed the express tracks. This avoids a merge.

Here's another idea that I have Eliminated. Bedford Park Boulevard to Euclid Avenue during rush hours. 145th Street to Euclid Avenue middays, evenings and weekends. Same as today late nights. Same as today. 168th Street to World Trade Center all times except late nights. Jamaica Center to World Trade Center via 53rd Street late nights. All stops at all times. Forest Hills-71st Avenue to Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue via 63rd Street all times. Express between Forest Hills-71st Avenue and 21st Street-Queensbridge, local between 21st Street-Queensbridge and Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue all times except late nights. Late nights local between Forest Hills-71st Avenue and Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue. Jamaica-179th Street to Church Avenue all times, local between Jamaica-179th Street and Church Avenue all times. Same as today except late nights extended to Bay Ridge-95th Street. Forest Hills-71st Avenue to Middle Village-Metropolitan Avenue via 53rd Street all times except late nights. Express between Forest Hills-71st Avenue and Queens Plaza, local between Queens Plaza and Middle Village-Metropolitan Avenue all times except late nights. Late nights same as today. Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard to Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue all times, local via Montague Street Tunnel between Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard and Forest Hills-71st Avenue all times. Same as today. Jamaica Center to Bay Ridge-95th Street all times except late nights, local between Forest-Hills-71st Avenue and Bay Ridge-95th Street bypasses 75th Avenue and Briarwood. 96th Street to Brighton Beach via Manhattan Bridge weekdays only. Express between 57th Street-7th Avenue and Brighton Beach.

They released the first draft plan on December 30th in 2019.

The via 63rd to Queens only works if you have no 6th Avenue service and only have the by perhaps cutting the and back to 57th Street.

Even Chinatown is starting to be swallowed up due to gentrification.

Capacity that didn't exist before December 16, 2001 and capacity which was formerly used by the before.

The was appreciated even back then. The real issue is that Manhattanites don't want express buses, people driving cars, they want people from elsewhere scuttling in like rats. Every other local would be too complex unless you have a diamond bullet or something.

There's also not enough cars for #6minuteservice or better which Riders Alliance has been clamoring for the entire subway service.

But insisting on using the express train to do so is. Also many Brooklynites were upset at the loss of service and if the comes back full time in Queens, it might be too politically popular to pull back. I also believe that over time, more Manhattanites want Manhattan to themselves, they want to limit the number of "outsiders" welcome there. So if they want to mess around with the outer reaches of the outer boroughs like Queens, let Manhattanites find out.

It forces people to use the local services and given that the local services are both 6th Avenue via 63rd Street, there's less of an operational headache. Queens Plaza is rather quiet for an express stop anyways, especially compared to 71st Avenue or Roosevelt. I'd have the be full length. The politicians in gentrified Brooklyn have been demanding the MTA show the some love for years now! I'm finally about to show the some love and then some!

The thing is QBL riders have this mentality that they HAVE TO be on the express train. That's part of why the was sent via 53rd rather than 63rd Street. Also express buses and the LIRR diverts many people from the subways from Woodhaven Boulevard to Jamaica that are Manhattan bound. The lack of yard access for the would be solved if the and the used the same equipment. I also proposed the not running overnight and instead having the run to Astoria late nights as it does now, you can have the last trains of the day be trains and the first trains be trains or any put in trains to run as trains to Astoria to address the lack of yard access. Now that the 11th Street connection wouldn't be used and the and would both be on 63rd Street. The and having Queens Plaza to itself and merging to run on the Express track wouldn't be a big deal.

How is that different than local trains dropping off a whole bunch of people at Roosevelt Avenue or Queens Plaza right now?

Maybe the should be local in Brooklyn again like it was until the late 90s and the should just be 168-WTC?

De-interlining might also help long term. A more controversial permanent suggestion once the 63rd Street work is finished might be to do this: Queens Boulevard Express to Jamaica Center all times except late nights with select rush hour trains to 179th Street. Late nights is Queens Boulevard Local to Jamaica Center. Queens Boulevard Local to Forest Hills-71 Avenue all times except late nights. Both and run via 63rd Street. Queens Boulevard Express to Jamaica-179th Street all times except late nights. Late nights is Queens Boulevard Local to 179th Street. runs between 96th Street and Coney Island as Broadway Express all times except late nights skipping 49th Street with the . Late nights runs between Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard and Coney Island as Broadway Local via tunnel. runs between Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard and Bay Ridge-95th Street all times except late nights.

Running the via 63rd Street would make the merge with the south of 63rd Street rather than the current 34th Street setup now. The way I'd have it would be like this Queens Boulevard Local via 63rd Street and Broadway Express all times except late nights; late nights runs to Astoria via 60th Street Astoria Local via 60th Street and Broadway Local all times except late nights; late nights replaces shuttle between Bay Ridge and Lower Manhattan Queens Boulevard Express via 53rd Street all times except late nights; late nights Queens Boulevard Local via 63rd Street 6th Avenue Local to 57th Street all times except late nights

I forgot to add one thing I'd have the run between Middle Village-Metropolitan Avenue and 57 Street/6 Avenue all times except late nights.

The way you can make the on the Queens Boulevard Line work both operationally and politically might be like this: Queens Boulevard Express via 53rd Street all times except late nights. Late nights Queens Boulevard Local via 53rd Street and Queens Boulevard Local via 63rd Street. runs between Forest Hills-71st Avenue and Church Avenue via Crosstown Line at all times. runs between Forest Hills-71st Avenue and Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue via Queens Boulevard Local, 63rd Street and Broadway Express bypassing 49th Street all times except late nights. Late nights runs between Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard and Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue as Broadway local via Montague Street tunnel like it does now. runs between Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard and Bay Ridge-95th Street as Broadway local and all trains become trains so there's no reduction of service, you can even try to add service to Brooklyn since they would now be all trains. This would be all times except late nights. During late nights would be extended to Bay Ridge-95th Street to replace the current shuttle. I would also boost express bus service between Queens and Manhattan to compensate for the loss of a subway line between Queens and Manhattan. That would be politically beneficial as well.

The going back on the Queens Boulevard Line would be something that would be politically hard to claw back today if they brought it back. Question is, are we willing to have less trains run into Manhattan in order to make room for the ?

I actually never thought the subway is a fortified bear trap to catch farebeaters. If anything the subways are the "marquee" mode of public transit the MTA operates. Notice how when the NYCT president is mentioned in the media, they're called "the subway chief" or "head of the subways" or "train daddy" in the case of Byford. Buses have always been second fiddle and it seems as if MTA is forced to have a bus network that they don't want to have. I mean much of the history of buses in NYC is NYCTA or MTA being forced to pick up bus operations that failed or the city didn't want to oversee or have any responsibility for.

If you tap with OMNY in the subway, you pay $2.90, you transfer to a bus, it's a free transfer. You purchase an unlimited ride because you have to use the subway anyways, bus transfers are included. Subways will have to have fare payment infrastructure no matter what, this is something recognized with how they've reimagined station agents. Fare evasion is also tied to crime in the subway system and a lot of anxiety about using transit stems from the subway system. OTOH with buses, we had several months of fare free local buses in 2020 and that glass ceiling has been broken, especially now with 5 free local routes and the Q70 being free. I mean, fare free local buses means less staff needed to deal with money and fares and less dwell time at bus stops. I can see how MTA decides trying to have fares on local buses is worth more trouble than they get in fares on local buses.

Eventually what is eventually going to happen IMO is that the entire local bus system will officially be made free. Look at the fare free promotions in Westchester, look at the 5 free pilot bus routes, look at how express buses are cashless and how pre pandemic MTA was going to evaluate local buses being cashless. If you think about it, most people who use MetroCards eventually use the subway system anyway and the MTA gets their money there. With free bus to subway transfers, the actual fare paid per ride has gone down considerably. If the MTA is going to switch everyone over to OMNY and have fare capping, which may even replace an unlimited ride option, while keeping free bus to subway transfers, and possibly not accepting coins on the local buses, might as well make the local system free at that point. The moment all local buses become free, IMO that's the moment NYPD will crack down hard on subway fare evasion.

I wonder if it has to do with Manhattan losing one depot because of the 126th Street Depot closure?

That the issue about driving vs. transit that has come up over the past several years isn't if one drives a car or encourages people to drive a car, that means they're anti-transit. You can be pro-transit and pro-car at the same time. It's just that what's really going on in society at large in recent years isn't pro-car or anti-car, it's attacking the individual ownership of cars, Ubers and Lyfts flooding the streets while being backed by venture capital money, while Vision Zero was brought to NYC is no accident IMO. Public transit should be improved for the people who have to rely on public transit. I'm not arguing that, I agree with you. MTA is in public transit because they have to be, I'm pretty sure they'd rather be in the real estate business. Where I do see things going is *oh, go take Uber* or *oh, go take Lyft* and I think that's worse than people choosing to buy their own car. Lyft who owns Citibike even admitted in an article, they want Citibike riders to go into their cars, and you know what, Citibike serves to draw people away from the subway and local buses. What I also find troubling about Citibike, and this is worth noting because there are advocacy groups that want Citibike to be subsidized, is the same group of people that hate express buses for drawing people away from the subway and costing a lot of money have no problem with Lyft doing the same thing with their cars and with Citibike.