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Posted by
Gold_12th
on Thu Apr 3 14:29:52 2014
edf40wrjww2msgDetailB:detailStr fiogf49gjkf0d The Q10 line, which runs from Kew Gardens to JFK Airport, will soon be served exclusively by long, articulated buses, according to the MTA — irking some residents who say that the new vehicles will clog the neighborhood's narrow streets.
The transit agency says the larger buses are necessary to handle the busy route. But some Kew Gardens residents say the new buses will create additional traffic problems where even the main thoroughfare — Lefferts Boulevard — has only one lane in each direction.
Moreover, the bus stops had to be adjusted to accommodate articulated buses, which were introduced last year, leading to the elimination of several parking spaces, residents said.
“The articulated Q10s are a disaster,” said Andrea Crawford, Community Board 9’s Transportation Committee chairwoman, who lives in Kew Gardens. “They have taken our parking spots and the [bus] drivers have problems making turns.”
Business owners said that the changes have affected them, too.
Pincus Rosenblum of Rosenblums’s Grocery said that he lost two parking spaces in front of his store, which has been a “tremendous strain” on his business.
He said fewer customers are able to shop there, and it's harder for delivery vans to unload their products.
MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz said in an email that “the Q10 is the highest volume local route MTA Bus operates with an average weekday ridership of 25,000.”
He added that, “The average weekday ridership on NYC routes is approximately 12,000, so there is heavy demand on the Q10 and we have added the articulated buses to meet that demand."
The route connects the E and F subway lines in Kew Gardens and the A line in Ozone Park, and according to the MTA, the Q10 line is often used by "an increasing number of customers going to the airport."
Ortiz also said the fact that Lefferts Boulevard has only one lane in each direction is irrelevant.
“Articulated buses are no wider than a traditional 40-foot bus, and while articulated buses are longer (to accommodate more customers), they are actually easier to maneuver than a 40-foot bus,” he said.
But residents said additional articulated buses on the Q10 line will bring new problems, including taking more space along Kew Gardens Road, where bus drivers stop and wait before beginning their next route.
“We are not a bus terminus and we are not 2nd Avenue,” Crawford said. “It will create traffic jams on Kew Gardens Road.”
Grace Anker, a resident and the owner of a local pottery studio, said long buses lining up along Kew Gardens Road could also affect the parents who drop their kids off at nearby P.S. 99.
“It seems like they are only thinking about” other neighborhoods, Anker said. “But what about us?”
But some commuters said they like the longer buses.
"There is more room and they fit more people," said Zaleena Mohamed, who takes the Q10 every day from Kew Gardens to 109th Street in South Ozone Park. "My concern is rather that more buses should be making local stops."
http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20140321/kew-gardens/plan-use-longer-q10-buses-irks-kew-gardens-residents
MTA’s plans to tweak the Q10 bus route and fleet have gained little traction in Kew Gardens.
Community Board 9’s Transportation Committee invited Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials to its Tuesday meeting after lambasting the MTA’s plans to have all three Q10 bus routes — the regular, the limited and the “short trip” that ends before JFK Airport — stop on Kew Gardens Road between 80th Road and 82nd Avenue as a bid to turn the residential strip into a bus terminal.
They also railed against stocking the Q10 fleet with articulated buses — often called double or accordion buses because of their extended length — which neighbors said take away parking spots, clog traffic and struggle to turn on tight street corners.
“We’re a very small community. We’re a village. We’re not a throughway or a terminus,” said Renee Levine, who lives on 82nd Avenue near Kew Gardens Road, noting that traffic already threatens the balance of the neighborhood. “The traffic in the morning coming down my block extends from Austin Street all the way down. They’re lined up.”
Albert Lai, director of service design and operation design at MTA, came with revised plans for the Q10 route, which runs from John F. Kennedy International Airport up to the civic center of the borough on Queens Boulevard.
Lai said the MTA currently planned to have buses travel up Lefferts Boulevard, turn left onto Kew Gardens Road, drop off passengers near 80th Road, rest for up to 10 minutes between shifts and head up to Queens Boulevard, where new riders would board the bus. The Q10 would then travel along 82nd en route to Kew Gardens Road and Lefferts Boulevard. Lai said this setup would alleviate congestion concerns raised by the community while also easing the commute for riders, who would no longer have to wait for various Q10 buses on Kew Gardens Road and Queens Boulevard.
“Passengers would be waiting along the same thoroughfare so they could see which buses are coming and make a more knowledgeable decision on the bus they’re going to get on,” he said.
CB 9 Transportation Committee Chairwoman Andrea Crawford said the revisions made sense, but requested that the MTA do more research and make tweaks after residents worried about buses traveling near PS 99 or overwhelming the northern stretch of Lefferts Boulevard.
The MTA agreed to return to CB 9, but noted that it intended to alter the route as quickly as possible.
But MTA officials said transitioning to articulated buses in April remained a necessity because Q10 buses were overcrowded. Joseph Raskin, assistant director of MTA government-community relations, said the Q10 was the third most popular bus line in the city.
Crawford said she requested ridership statistics after noticing several nearly empty articulated buses, but never received them.
“There’s got to be a different solution,” she said. “Besides the fact that they’re the old, dirty, stinky buses that we got rid of ... they’re taking away parking spots and the merchants are losing business because of it.”
The MTA estimated roughly seven parking spots were lost when bus stops were enlarged to accommodate articulated buses.
http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2014/13/qnsblvdbuses_tl_2014_03_28_q.html
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