Queens Bus Redesign Discussion Thread

[Gotham Bus Co.]

6 hours ago, Q43LTD said:

The , where would it turn around in Five towns? 

Presumably the same way the Q7 is proposed to turn around.

[Q43LTD]

3 hours ago, Gotham Bus Co. said:

Presumably the same way the Q7 is proposed to turn around.

Yeah all those narrow streets west of Rockaway Blvd

[SubBus]

What is the exact reason for the and the basically flipping southern terminals?

[Gotham Bus Co.]

2 hours ago, SubBus said:

What is the exact reason for the and the basically flipping southern terminals?

Right now, Q27 serves three markets:  Flushing to QCC, SE Queens to Flushing, and SE Queens to QCC. For better or worse, the redesign assigns each of those markets to its own route (Q27, Q26, Q78 respectively). 

[Q43LTD]

Yet the is extended north to College Point to the current terminal. This like the and 75 combo.

[SubBus]

So is this final draft for the Queens redesign? I noticed some changes to some routes this time around....

Edited January 3, 2023 by SubBus

[checkmatechamp13]

5 minutes ago, SubBus said:

So is this final draft for the Queens redesign? I noticed some changes to some routes this time around....

The final draft will be released in 2023.

[Q43LTD]

Hopefully, the and stay separate just like the and should but we'll see

[NewFlyer 230]

On 1/5/2023 at 10:52 AM, Q43LTD said:

Hopefully, the and stay separate just like the and should but we'll see

Same I hope these routes stay separate because there is no need to combine routes that serve two different communities like that. I can understand if these combined routes were implemented during the night time hours (possibly 10pm-5am) to help improve connectivity at night but keep them separate during the day. 

I hope they keep the Q25 terminating at Jamaica LIRR instead of sending it down Merrick where it has no business going. The Q25 even with the addition of bus only lanes in Flushing & Jamaica still manages to bunch up on twos and threes on a Sunday morning and I just scratch my head at that. So sending it down Merrick Blvd will make it even worse. 

[Gotham Bus Co.]

1 hour ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

I hope they keep the Q25 terminating at Jamaica LIRR instead of sending it down Merrick where it has no business going. The Q25 even with the addition of bus only lanes in Flushing & Jamaica still manages to bunch up on twos and threes on a Sunday morning and I just scratch my head at that. So sending it down Merrick Blvd will make it even worse. 

That makes sense for reliability.

However, IF the Q25 has to run south of Downtown Jamaica, then it should be on Baisley (i.e. take over the proposed Q115) in order to provide a direct link between Rochdale and Queens College.

[Q43LTD]

4 hours ago, NewFlyer 230 said:

Same I hope these routes stay separate because there is no need to combine routes that serve two different communities like that. I can understand if these combined routes were implemented during the night time hours (possibly 10pm-5am) to help improve connectivity at night but keep them separate during the day. 

I hope they keep the Q25 terminating at Jamaica LIRR instead of sending it down Merrick where it has no business going. The Q25 even with the addition of bus only lanes in Flushing & Jamaica still manages to bunch up on twos and threes on a Sunday morning and I just scratch my head at that. So sending it down Merrick Blvd will make it even worse. 

Same for the ending at St Albans

[Transit Enthusiast]

On 1/5/2023 at 10:52 AM, Q43LTD said:

Hopefully, the and stay separate just like the and should but we'll see

The broad Q1 is fine as it is. 

All the Q1 needs to change is to get rid of the Queens Village section, since the Q36 already covers it.

 

The Q10 and Q64 are fine as they are.

All I would really do the Q64 is extend it to 188th Street and Harding, Fresh Meadows. So that it would cover the rest of Jewel, 73rd Avenue and help out the Q17 and Q88, and the QMs in Fresh Meadows.

The Q10 is fine as it is, and needs no additional changes.

[N6 Limited]

I think some are missing the point that these combined routes increase connectivity around the borough by expanding travel options, etc. Instead of having only one set of route combinations to travel somewhere, these proposals allow alternate route combinations to get to/from the same destinations.

 

[Via Garibaldi 8]

1 hour ago, N6 Limited said:

I think some are missing the point that these combined routes increase connectivity around the borough by expanding travel options, etc. Instead of having only one set of route combinations to travel somewhere, these proposals allow alternate route combinations to get to/from the same destinations.

 

That is actually NOT the plan of the  overall though.  Some routes may coincidentally overlap, but they want riders to use ONE bus line to maximize efficiency of each bus.  Basically network coverage decreases with these redesigns.

[MysteriousBtrain]

1 hour ago, N6 Limited said:

I think some are missing the point that these combined routes increase connectivity around the borough by expanding travel options, etc. Instead of having only one set of route combinations to travel somewhere, these proposals allow alternate route combinations to get to/from the same destinations.

 

Which becomes moot when you have to crawl through heavy transit hubs especially with the couple routes extended through Jamaica.

Edited January 10, 2023 by MysteriousBtrain

[IAlam]

12 hours ago, N6 Limited said:

I think some are missing the point that these combined routes increase connectivity around the borough by expanding travel options, etc. Instead of having only one set of route combinations to travel somewhere, these proposals allow alternate route combinations to get to/from the same destinations.

 

11 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

That is actually NOT the plan of the  overall though.  Some routes may coincidentally overlap, but they want riders to use ONE bus line to maximize efficiency of each bus.  Basically network coverage decreases with these redesigns.

11 hours ago, MysteriousBtrain said:

Which becomes moot when you have to crawl through heavy transit hubs especially with the couple routes extended through Jamaica.

The ability to ride through major hubs today is definitely lacking especially in places like Flushing and Jamaica. But there's also a bigger divide between routes east and west of the Van-Wyck/Corona Park. It's extremely difficult to get between Eastern Queens and Western Queens without a transfer at a hub in most cases. Also with how big these transfer hubs are there's also a big issue with transferring within them. The walk from the Q58 to the Q28 can take up to 10 minutes on really a busy day. In Jamaica because you cannot connect between many routes and they also have these weird transfer privileges in place.

Quote

APPENDIX II Bus Routes With Special Transfer Privileges (continued) Queens
Page 67 of PDF (65 of Doc)

1) Toward Flushing (Northbound), Toward Little Neck Parkway (Northbound), and Toward 27 Avenue (Northbound). Boarding passengers with valid transfers on Northbound , and buses are entitled to an additional transfer valid for two hours from time of issue, to continue their trips, as follows:

Valid transfer from any of the following routes at Merrick Blvd and Archer Av
Jamaica Center
Jamaica Center
Jamaica Center
Jamaica Center
Jamaica Center

Entitled to transfer to any of the following routes at Hillside Av and 169 St
243 St or Queens Village
Belmont Park
257 St & Jamaica Av or Little Neck
268 St & Hillside Av
Hillside Av & 153 St  (I am genuinely confused as to why this route is here because it intersects with all of the ones above, but this is how it's shown on the doc.)


2) Toward Archer Avenue (Southbound), Toward Sutphin Boulevard (Southbound), and Toward Sutphin Boulevard (Southbound). Boarding passengers with valid transfers on Southbound , , and buses are entitled to an additional transfer valid for two hours from time of issue to continue their trips, as follows:

Valid transfer from any of the following routes at Hillside Av and 169 St
165 St Terminal
165 St Terminal
165 St Terminal
LIRR Jamaica Sta


Entitled to transfer to any of the following routes at Merrick Blvd and Archer Av
Linden Blvd & 235 St
Green Acres Mall or Francis Lewis Blvd
Sayres Av & 180 St
Queens Village or 113 Dr 
130 Av or Springfield Blvd
147 Av or Green Acres Mall

That being said there are still many combos that don't make the most sense ie the Q15/Q19, Q48/Q50. As time goes one I'm more open to accept a Q10/Q64 than those. Oddly enough I think one route that could've massively helped the community would've been a Corona to College Point direct route which the could've provided many one seat rides to the people who take the  in the morning to connect with the Q25/Q65. To be honest it might have been better to do that than keeping those as North/South through routes as almost the entire bus turns over at Flushing. 

[checkmatechamp13]

12 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

That is actually NOT the plan of the  overall though.  Some routes may coincidentally overlap, but they want riders to use ONE bus line to maximize efficiency of each bus.  Basically network coverage decreases with these redesigns.

You are right that one of the things the MTA mentioned was consolidating routes to make it easier to predict ridership patterns and figure out how much service to schedule along a given corridor. 

12 hours ago, MysteriousBtrain said:

Which becomes moot when you have to crawl through heavy transit hubs especially with the couple routes extended through Jamaica.

It depends if there was a direct route before. For example, how would somebody get from Queens Village to South Jamaica? They'd probably have to pass through Jamaica anyway, and at least they have a one-seat ride. 

[Q43LTD]

9 hours ago, IAlam said:

The ability to ride through major hubs today is definitely lacking especially in places like Flushing and Jamaica. But there's also a bigger divide between routes east and west of the Van-Wyck/Corona Park. It's extremely difficult to get between Eastern Queens and Western Queens without a transfer at a hub in most cases. Also with how big these transfer hubs are there's also a big issue with transferring within them. The walk from the Q58 to the Q28 can take up to 10 minutes on really a busy day. In Jamaica because you cannot connect between many routes and they also have these weird transfer privileges in place.

That being said there are still many combos that don't make the most sense ie the Q15/Q19, Q48/Q50. As time goes one I'm more open to accept a Q10/Q64 than those. Oddly enough I think one route that could've massively helped the community would've been a Corona to College Point direct route which the could've provided many one seat rides to the people who take the  in the morning to connect with the Q25/Q65. To be honest it might have been better to do that than keeping those as North/South through routes as almost the entire bus turns over at Flushing. 

How come the isn't included? The is understandable since it intersects all the Jamaica Center routes except the directly. 

[IAlam]

7 hours ago, Q43LTD said:

How come the isn't included? The is understandable since it intersects all the Jamaica Center routes except the directly. 

🤷‍♂️, nothing about that transfer privilege makes sense to me in the first place, it's a a short walk between all those routes anyways. Maybe you can make an argument for the LTD buses but even then with the bus way it doesn't make sense for those buses to divert off of Archer anymore. 

Regardless my point was more focused on how it's difficult for traverse through Queens via these hubs due to routes not connecting, and through routes not having optimal paths. If the same logic applied in a Hub like Flushing I should be getting a free transfer from the Q58 <-> Q20/44 <-> Q13,16,28. But even that feels dumb, the Q17/30/31 extra transfer doesn't really help with connectivity in Jamaica either. The connections and through buses at hubs should make more sense based on the communities needs. 

[N6 Limited]

7 hours ago, Q43LTD said:

How come the isn't included? The is understandable since it intersects all the Jamaica Center routes except the directly. 

What did you think of the QT73 from the original draft?

[Q43LTD]

2 hours ago, N6 Limited said:

What did you think of the QT73 from the original draft?

I wasn't too fond of it. Laurelton has a direct route to Flushing, but not Jamaica. However, I am ok with the  proposed Q73 and 78 routes. 

[N6 Limited]

On 1/11/2023 at 7:15 PM, Q43LTD said:

I wasn't too fond of it. Laurelton has a direct route to Flushing, but not Jamaica. However, I am ok with the  proposed Q73 and 78 routes. 

To be fair, Lauralton also had the Linden Blvd and Merrick Blvd Routes to Jamaica. 

The previous draft seems to indicate that the Springfield /Bell Blvd (QT71) Route was going to originally go to Green Acres.

I wonder if they planned to swap the terminals and have the Bedell St route (QT43) go down to Rockaway Blvd instead. 

[Q43LTD]

On 1/12/2023 at 11:49 PM, N6 Limited said:

To be fair, Laurelton also had the Linden Blvd and Merrick Blvd Routes to Jamaica. 

The previous draft seems to indicate that the Springfield /Bell Blvd (QT71) Route was going to originally go to Green Acres.

I wonder if they planned to swap the terminals and have the Bedell St route (QT43) go down to Rockaway Blvd instead. 

 

The first page says Green Acres. But the map and stop listing have it ending at JFK Depot. It's a possibility, for the QT43 go down Rockaway but that would have redundant with their proposed QT62

[N6 Limited]

8 hours ago, Q43LTD said:

 

The first page says Green Acres. But the map and stop listing have it ending at JFK Depot. It's a possibility, for the QT43 go down Rockaway but that would have redundant with their proposed QT62

I meant the QT71 and QT43 probably had swapped terminals before the draft was released.

[B35 via Church]

On 1/5/2023 at 10:52 AM, Q43LTD said:

Hopefully, the and stay separate just like the and should but we'll see

The Q1 can kick rocks for all I care... The other routes, yeah, agreed.

On 12/27/2022 at 9:55 AM, SubBus said:

What is the exact reason for the and the basically flipping southern terminals?

On the PDF here, it never states why they have the proposed Q27 ending in Oakland Gardens...

As far as the proposed Q26 running down to Cambria Hgts, it says verbatim: "Service on Springfield Bl south of 69 Av would be provided by the proposed Q26 “Rush” route, giving riders from the Cambria Heights and Queens Village areas a faster connection to the 7 Train in Flushing."