Residents push for better bus service

Dozens of people from across Queens descended on IS 77 in Ridgewood on Monday night, each with their own vision of how to improve public transportation in the city.

The occasion? The second of six Department of Transportation workshops across the five boroughs, aimed at garnering public feedback for the agency’s Citywide Transit Plan, expected to be released in the fall.

Split into groups of four or five, attendees heard brief presentations from DOT representatives about the purpose of the evening before diving into what improvements they want to see.

The exercise consisted of placing stickers on maps detailing one’s commute to and from work, filling out a survey and ranking transit-related problems straphangers see nearly every day in order of most pressing.

Many of the tables saw wide-ranging discussions between the DOT officials and the residents, with the table featuring Community Board 5 member Ted Renz and his son, David, spending a solid chunk of time talking about bus service in central Queens in the area of Woodhaven Boulevard.

Citing the Q38 in Middle Village, which makes repeated stops in quick succession along Penelope Avenue, the younger Renz said eliminating a few stops would make the bus — which operates between Corona and Maspeth — run faster and get people to their destinations quicker.

“There’s no need for a bus stop every block,” Renz said. “Between Woodhaven Boulevard and 80th Street, there are three Q38 bus stops between those two intersections. It’s four blocks, if that. You don’t need that many stops.”

The elder Renz noted that congestion on the Q11, Q21, Q52 and Q53 buses along Woodhaven Boulevard could be alleviated if the vehicles were articulated — with two passenger compartments instead of one — similar to the Q44, which connects Jamaica and the Bronx running predominantly along Main Street.

“We should be looking at where we should bring articulated bus lines to,” he said. “The 11, 21, 52 and 53 could all be articulated.”

When it comes to more long-term planning, a suggestion put forth involved possibly expanding the subway system into eastern Queens, a proposal Laurelton resident Frederick Wells concurred with.

“Maybe start off with the F train to Bellerose and improve the eastern Queens bus network, start with that” Wells said. “Then, we can expand the E to Cambria Heights or the Z to Rosedale.”

An ardent supporter of the Rockaway Beach Rail Line’s proposed reactivation, Wells said he would also like to see select bus service increased throughout the city to give riders a myriad of transit options.

The city plans to use the Citywide Transit Plan, which originated from 2015 legislation introduced by Councilman Brad Lander (D-Brooklyn), to define priorities for enhancing reliability and planning for future upgrades.

Queens is the only borough to receive two public workshops, the second of which is scheduled for Feb. 22 at 6 p.m. at Elmhurst Hospital Center.