Central Queens riders have been paying a premium fare to stand shoulder to shoulder on their morning bus into Manhattan. On June 24, their council member decided to make the MTA prove what, if anything, it has done about it.
Council Member Phil Wong filed a Freedom of Information Law request demanding the agency turn over its internal data on overcrowding and service on the QM25, QM34 and other express bus routes that serve Ridgewood, Maspeth, Middle Village, Glendale, Rego Park and Elmhurst, according to QNS, which reported the filing.
The FOIL escalates a fight that had stalled for months. Wong joined Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, state Senator Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr., and Assemblymembers Andrew Hevesi and Jenifer Rajkumar earlier this year in pressing the MTA over crowding on the QM25, QM34 and nearby express routes, coverage first reported by the Queens Chronicle, per QNS. The coalition asked the agency to review ridership data, restore trips it had previously eliminated, evaluate service gaps and consider adding peak-hour buses to meet demand. Riders had been reporting long waits, jammed buses and standing the whole ride into Manhattan.
According to QNS, New York City Transit answered in March that it was “monitoring ridership and service levels” and would keep evaluating conditions on the routes. Nearly four months later, riders told QNS that little, if anything, had changed.
“Central Queens residents are tired of being treated like an ATM,” Wong said in a statement reported by QNS. “At the same time, commuters are paying a premium fare for express bus service that continues to leave riders standing, waiting, and squeezed onto overcrowded buses. In February, we brought these concerns directly to the MTA. In March, they told us they were monitoring the situation. It’s now almost July and residents are still reporting the same problems. If the MTA has spent months monitoring these routes, the public deserves to see the data and understand why nothing has changed. That’s why I filed a FOIL request, because the MTA has no answers.”
The request seeks records showing whether the buses are as packed as riders say. Per QNS, it seeks passenger load data, ridership statistics, capacity utilization figures, overcrowding reports, pass-up data, reliability metrics, service planning documents and internal communications tied to the QM25, QM34 and other express routes serving the Central Queens neighborhoods. Pass-up data is the record of how often a bus is too full to stop for waiting riders. The FOIL also asks for the criteria the MTA uses to decide when an express route warrants more service.
Wong said he will keep pressing the MTA for answers and pushing for expanded express service across Central Queens, as confirmed by his district office to QNS.
Featured image: Photo courtesy of the District Office of Council Member Phil Wong
