Public Has Final Opportunity to Comment for the Record on Proposed Final Plan
Members of the Public Can Attend In Person at Helen Marshall Cultural Center at Queens Borough Hall or Watch Livestream
Largest Bus Network Redesign in the Nation Will Increase Bus Frequency, Provide More Direct Routes, Improve Connections to Subway and LIRR to Improve Reliability for Nearly 800,000 Riders
View Tonight’s Public Hearing
View Redesign Proposed Final Plan to Transform Bus Service in Queens
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today, July 24, at 5:00 p.m. will hold a public hearing for the Queens Bus Network Redesign Proposed Final Plan. The plan is the largest redesign the Authority has undertaken to date. Officials took a fresh look at Queens’ 113 bus routes that serve nearly 800,000 bus riders, to enhance bus reliability, speed buses up, provide better connections and simplify service plans.
Bus riders will get a final chance to comment for the record on the Proposed Final Plan and offer feedback before planners make revisions to proposals and present the Proposed Final Plan Addendum to the MTA Board. Members of the public can submit written statements until 8:00 p.m. on Friday, July 26. Comments received after that date and time will be reviewed but will not be included in the official hearing record.
This hearing is the culmination of nine months of outreach. Following the release of the Proposed Final Plan in December 2023, for faster and better bus service, the project team participated in over 70 engagements to collect feedback from Queens bus riders and stakeholders through online and in-person events.
“By redesigning the Queens bus network, we will deliver better bus service with faster, more frequent trips and increased connections to nearly 800,000 daily riders,” said NYC Transit Interim President Demetrius Crichlow. “This is personal for me - I rode the Q5 to and from work in Southeast Queens for years and I know how much Queens relies on its buses. I am confident this redesign will give Queens the modern bus network its riders deserve.”
“We took a fresh look at the 113 bus routes that currently run to find ways to shorten commute times, speed up buses, increase connections and frequency in a borough where residents rely on buses more than most,” said NYC Transit Senior Vice President of Buses Frank Annicaro. “We still want to hear from the experts, the riders, before we present a Proposed Final Plan Addendum to the Board that serves Queens riders of today and tomorrow.”
“More than half of Queens residents rely on mass transit, and a good portion rely on the bus,” said NYC Transit Chief of Operations Planning Christopher Pangilinan. “As Queens has grown and changed over the years, travel patterns and the needs of our riders have changed as well. Working in close collaboration with the community, this plan uses successful strategies from previous redesign plans to create a network that best serves Queens. These strategies include increasing frequency, providing more direct routes, and spacing out bus stops with better connections to the subway and the Long Island Rail Road.”
Queens is the third borough to receive a network redesign, following the successful Bronx Local Bus Redesign Network, which was implemented in June of 2022. The Bronx redesign streamlined trips with more direct routing that took advantage of transit priority street designs, adjusted closely spaced bus stops, and allowed the MTA to effectively redistribute resources to meet real-time travel patterns of current and future bus customers. All these changes resulted in increased customer satisfaction in travel times, reliability and overall service.
The MTA hosted 23 in-person outreach events in Queens like open houses, pop-ups, and Mobile Sales pop-ups, 22 community board presentations, and 28 briefings with elected officials, labor partners, and community stakeholders. This latest round of outreach supplements the scores of outreach events (in-person and virtual) that were held throughout the preceding phases of the project.
The Proposed Final Plan balanced the feedback received from all stakeholders, while applying network redesign strategies to improve the bus network such as balancing bus stops, expanding connectivity, simplifying service, and in partnership with New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT), identifying streets where future bus priority treatments would have the greatest impact for Queens bus riders – proposing an adaptable framework to meet travel patterns of current and future bus customers.
How to Register for the Public Hearing or Comment on the Plan
The formal comment period for the Proposed Final Plan will conclude Friday, July 26. Members of the public who wish to speak at the hearing on Wednesday, July 24, remotely via Zoom, or telephone, are required to register in advance by:
Registering online at https://new.mta.info/transparency/public-hearings/2024-qbnr-hearing
Calling the Public Hearing Hotline at (646) 252-6777.
In person. Same-day registration will be available the day of the hearing. Registration begins at 5:00 p.m. and closes at 6:30 p.m.
Speakers will be provided two minutes to speak.
Comments may also be submitted online or via mail to: MTA Government & Community Relations, 2 Broadway, D16.94, New York, NY 10004. All written statements must be submitted by 8:00 p.m. on Friday, July 26. Comments received after that date and time will be reviewed, but will not be included in the official hearing record.
American Sign Language and CART Captioning Services will be available. For more information, see https://new.mta.info/2024-qbnr-hearing.
The project team will review all comments and make final adjustments to the plan, which will be reflected in the Proposed Final Plan Addendum. Lastly, the plan will be presented to the MTA Board for a vote at a later date to be announced.
Learn More About the Proposed Bus Service Enhancements
The public is encouraged to visit the Queens Bus Network Redesign project webpage and see individual route profiles to learn more about their bus route and of any proposed changes. The route profiles provide a helpful summary of proposed changes, frequencies, and a map clearly outlining the new and existing routings, and portions where service is either discontinued, shortened or extended.
For a more tailored learning experience, the MTA launched the Future Trip Planner in December 2023, which allows customers to input a start and end location to see an overview of their trip with the bus route changes in effect. Comments can be submitted via the online form and on the interactive Remix map, both found on the project webpage.