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10 years later. The state of Q44/20 bus service in Queens


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A happy 10th anniversity to the start of modern Q20/44 Main Street bus service in Queens :cool:. 10 years ago this summer(late June 1999)the (MTA) decided to make drastic changes to the Q44 making it similar to the Q11/Q53 Woodhaven/Cross Bay bus route. The change was making the Q44 a limited stop express in Queens 7 days a week between the Supthin/Hillside (F) line station and 20th Avenue/Parsons in Whitestone.

The primary reasons for the changes was twofold. The first was to accomdate growth of the Q44 which saw as much as a 75% increase in ridership following the end of '2-fare zones' in July 1997. The Second was most important to improve the terrible bus bunching problems when the '44' got stuck in traffic on Whitestone Bridge.

 

Prior to the summer of 1999, the Q44 was the only bus route along main st between Hillside Ave and Roosevelt Ave. In addition weekdays the Q44 'short turn' route along most of the now existing Q20 line, start/ended at 14th Avenue.

 

To make up for loss of Q44 local service, the Q20 which was only a weekday shuttle bus between College Point/14th Ave and Main St/Roosevelt (7) station before June 1999, became a full time 7 day a week line.

 

So feel free guys to please talk about any aspect of the current Q44/Q20 service and if any changes you like to see? Thanks

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Get rid of that tight turn from Main to Roosevelt. That area is mobbed with pedestrians and the turning bus blocks traffic on Main St for an unfairly long time. (the green lights are staggered there).

 

I dont ride the Q44/20 that much in recent years since i moved from the 'city' to comment on that but i still wonder why the (MTA) changed the routing in Downtown Flushing though myself.:confused:

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as a resdident of briarwood i take the q44/20 and i think the service is good the only problem i have is the there are two q44s for every 20 and u can never get a seat on the q44 but i think the service change 10yrs ago was good because with the q44 running down 150st the resodents on that side of briarwood had three buses along wit the 25/34 and the residents on the qns blvd side had only the q60 and wit briarwood becoming more populated on the qns blvd side additional bus service was needed and the service now is pretty good and reliable

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If they elimate the parking on Main St in Flushing, Q44 LTD could become SBS because according to Jamaica Bus Study at BRT Meeting, bus takes 40 minutes to travel bet. Jamaica & Flushing, also create bus lane on Whitestone Bridge-Whitestone Expressway. Q44 SBS should expand to White Plains Rd/Pelham Parkway.

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as a resdident of briarwood i take the q44/20 and i think the service is good the only problem i have is the there are two q44s for every 20 and u can never get a seat on the q44 but i think the service change 10yrs ago was good because with the q44 running down 150st the resodents on that side of briarwood had three buses along wit the 25/34 and the residents on the qns blvd side had only the q60 and wit briarwood becoming more populated on the qns blvd side additional bus service was needed and the service now is pretty good and reliable

 

As someone why lives in area would a rush hour bus say between Supthin-Archer and the Bronx via the Van Wyck be succesful?

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The Q44 is so slow, it takes about 15 minutes just to get out of Jamaica, it crawls along Sutphin, it makes 10,000 stops on Main Street even though its a limited. Most of the time people can't get on after Archer & Sutphin because its too packed. The Q44 needs artics bad.

 

I don't enjoy taking the Q44 and I have to start taking it again in September :mad:.

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The Q44 is so slow, it takes about 15 minutes just to get out of Jamaica, it crawls along Sutphin, it makes 10,000 stops on Main Street even though its a limited. Most of the time people can't get on after Archer & Sutphin because its too packed. The Q44 needs artics bad.

 

I don't enjoy taking the Q44 and I have to start taking it again in September :mad:.

 

Guys would SBS work on the Q44/20 coordior?

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Guys would SBS work on the Q44/20 coordior?

 

I don't see why not...probably have the Q44 +SBS operate between Queens and the Bronx and the Q44 operate in Queens only via local. But the Q44 would probably need artics for this.

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Guys would SBS work on the Q44/20 coordior?

 

The Q44 would be perfect for +SBS, the Q20/44 is the 8th busiest bus route in the city.

 

+SBS Stops:

Merrick & Archer

Parsons & Archer

Sutphin & Archer

Sutphin & Hillside

Main & Queens

Main & Union

Main & Jewel

Main & Reeves

 

I don't know what would come after that because I get off at Reeves Ave.

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The Q44 is so slow, it takes about 15 minutes just to get out of Jamaica, it crawls along Sutphin, it makes 10,000 stops on Main Street even though its a limited. Most of the time people can't get on after Archer & Sutphin because its too packed. The Q44 needs artics bad.

 

I don't enjoy taking the Q44 and I have to start taking it again in September :mad:.

 

Id love to know what time you people ride this line cause I drive it and its not as packed always as you claim. Good luck YOU WILL NEVER see artics on the 44. They dont fit in CS depot and the union members turned down the MTA for the lousy 25 cents more to drive them per hour

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Id love to know what time you people ride this line cause I drive it and its not as packed always as you claim. Good luck YOU WILL NEVER see artics on the 44. They dont fit in CS depot and the union members turned down the MTA for the lousy 25 cents more to drive them per hour

 

I ride it during the morning rush hour and 1 to 2 hours before the evening rush hour, it is always packed.

 

They could retrofit CS or wait until JAM gets replaced or split it with WF.

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The Q44 would be perfect for +SBS, the Q20/44 is the 8th busiest bus route in the city.

 

+SBS Stops:

Merrick & Archer

Parsons & Archer

Sutphin & Archer

Sutphin & Hillside

Main & Queens

Main & Union

Main & Jewel

Main & Reeves

 

I don't know what would come after that because I get off at Reeves Ave.

It is the 20th Busiest bus route in terms of riders

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When you combine the Q20 & Q44 it equals the 8th busiest route, I don't know why they were separate in the first place though.

 

Infamous are you against the Q44 having limited stop service 7 days a week? Or should the entire Main St bus line both local and Limited just be called the Q44?

 

FYI. Forgot to add another reason for the Q20/44 merger besides the reasons mentioned ealier was to provide a 1-seat ride between then brand new College Point Shopping Center and Downtown Jamaica.

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Infamous are you against the Q44 having limited stop service 7 days a week? Or should the entire Main St bus line both local and Limited just be called the Q44?

 

FYI. Forgot to add another reason for the Q20/44 merger besides the reasons mentioned ealier was to provide a 1-seat ride between then brand new College Point Shopping Center and Downtown Jamaica.

 

I was talking about the riderships stats for the 2 routes being seperate lol.

 

The Q20 & Q44 could be separate or just make it one route with 3 branches.

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I was talking about the riderships stats for the 2 routes being seperate lol.

 

The Q20 & Q44 could be separate or just make it one route with 3 branches.

 

 

Personally while i think the Q20/44 route name should stay the same, i agree with you (Infamous) the MTA should consider it '1' line for stats purpose since other than the Q44 going to/from Bronx, it basically the same line. Ditto IMO for the (MTA) to have ridership data the same for the Q11/21/53 3-head monster lol along Cross Bay/Woodhaven Blvd line as well.

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Personally while i think the Q20/44 route name should stay the same, i agree with you (Infamous) the MTA should consider it '1' line for stats purpose since other than the Q44 going to/from Bronx, it basically the same line. Ditto IMO for the (MTA) to have ridership data the same for the Q11/21/53 3-head monster lol along Cross Bay/Woodhaven Blvd line as well.

 

Yeah I could only imagine how much ridership the Q11/21/53 has. I wonder why the (MTA) doesn't have the stats for MTA Bus routes.

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No to get too off topic but i read recently the MTA and NYC Dot plan for next 2 years for more SBS service. The S78/79 Hylan coordior in SI is on the list and the Q20/44 is not?:confused:

 

What a joke. No offense to S78 or my SI friends but SBS should be made based on need(ridership data)and nothing else.

Other than the Verrzano traffic is a piece of cake on Hylan compared to Queens Main St. The Limited peak hour service should just be assigned for the S79 for now instead.

I agree Infamous the Main St line in Queens should get SBS next after the M15, but it maybe several more years before it starts on the current Q44/20 route.;)

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Personally while i think the Q20/44 route name should stay the same, i agree with you (Infamous) the MTA should consider it '1' line for stats purpose since other than the Q44 going to/from Bronx, it basically the same line. Ditto IMO for the (MTA) to have ridership data the same for the Q11/21/53 3-head monster lol along Cross Bay/Woodhaven Blvd line as well.

 

Wow again you guys know everything.

Its is a "1" line for stats.

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merging the 44 with the 20a and b is a bad idea because for one the 20 ends on college pt blvd and the 44 ends in the bronx so it si physically impossible number 2 main st needs all the service it can get and having two different bus lines alleviates the crowding of the 44 a little and as in several occasions when the 44 is tied up on the whitestone u still have the q20 on main st and as far as a bus lane certain parts of main st are to narrow for the sbs specially when it turns off queens blvd onto main st and after union tpke going toward flushing

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I dont ride the Q44/20 that much in recent years since i moved from the 'city' to comment on that but i still wonder why the (MTA) changed the routing in Downtown Flushing though myself.:confused:

 

nope one reason too much traffic on the van wyck -whitestone expressway its probably quicker going down main then union then parsons to the bridge the van wyck is a parking lot with all the commercial traffic going to jfk and coming form jfk

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