Emily Smith
Passengers board the Q14 bus in Elmhurst, Queens.
On Hoffman Drive in Elmhurst, Queens, where bus riders had been waiting for upwards of 45 minutes for the Q14 bus, the line of passengers extended for a block and a half, earlier this October.
“People get tired of waiting and they walk for one hour,” rider Yang Lama, 35, said.
The Q14 is a creation of the Queens Bus Network Redesign, which was completed by the M.T.A. after a six-year planning process. It was implemented over the summer, in two phases, one on June 29, which included the creation of the Q14, and the other on Aug. 31. According to the Queens Bus Network Redesign page on the M.T.A. website, the plan intended to decrease travel times and increase bus frequency.
But bus riders who used to ride the Q38 bus line to travel through Middle Village, Elmhurst, Corona and Rego Park are not happy since the route was split into two to create the Q14.
“In the beginning it was fine, but it’s getting worse and worse,” said Tashi Tsering, 46, as translated by Lama.
Charlton D’Souza, president of the public transportation advocacy group, Passengers United, said the redesign has increased reports of bus bunching, which happens when multiple buses on the same line get delayed in traffic and end up one behind another.
D’Souza said that elderly and disabled people are especially affected by the bus route redesign. They are being asked, in many cases, to walk longer distances to their bus stops, due to stop removals and changes, “only for three buses to come together, and then there’s no bus for 45, 50 minutes.”
“They don’t live in our communities,” he said of M.T.A. planners. “They don’t understand our communities.”
Tsering said that he had been waiting for 45 minutes for the bus, and then, moments later, three Q14 buses appeared within five minutes.
The M.T.A. said, “The original loop configuration saw limited end-to-end travel,” which led to their decision to split the route.
Metropolitan Avenue and Mount Olivet Crescent bus stop, serving the Q38 bus, a block from Hess-Miller Funeral home, owned by Anthony Martino.
Funeral home owner, Anthony Martino, said that the M.T.A. has also removed stops along the remaining Q38 line, one which is in front of his business.
“We have two or three blocks in every direction where people utilize this bus stop,” said Martino.
The M.T.A. decided to keep a stop a block away instead. This stop sits in front of a cemetery, on the side of a busy, four-lane avenue. “At night, you wouldn’t want to be standing on that corner by yourself,” said Martino.
Donna Giordano, 68, used to ride the Q38 bus regularly to visit her daughter. She said she’s had to change her bus route completely. She said, “What used to be a 15-minute trip, is now an hour.”
Giordano used to board the Q38 bus on Metropolitan Avenue, where it would take her up Fresh Pond Road to Eliot Avenue and drop her off only a block and a half from her daughter’s home. Now, the Q38 only runs up and down Metropolitan Avenue, and riders have to walk the two blocks up Fresh Pond Road, to catch the Q14, which will bring them to the stops on Eliot Avenue.
“The M.T.A. may not think that two blocks is a lot, but it is a lot when you’re a senior citizen,” Giordano said.
The M.T.A. said that they weren’t able to connect the routes due to limited layover space and congestion on Fresh Pond Road. They said, “Bringing the routes even closer together would require coordination with the city.”
The last borough to get a redesign from the M.T.A. was the Bronx, in 2022. According to the Bronx Bus Network Redesign Six Month Evaluation, residents only received weekday speed increases of 4% on changed routes, and 2% borough-wide.
The M.T.A. is set to evaluate the changes in Queens over the next six months. They said the evaluation will “inform potential adjustments.” Still, residents are worried about the coming winter months. Lama said, “Now it’s winter time we hope there will be change.”
The Brooklyn Bus Route redesign is in its planning stages. Looking ahead to that project, D’Souza said, “Get ready, and fight like hell.”
