Northern Blvd Rapid Riders

09/26/2022

On Friday night, I tried taking the Q66 from 82nd Street to Astoria. At 7:30PM, with hardly ANY traffic at all, the trip took close to 45 mins.
This is unacceptable and the MTA has to fix this problem.

05/07/2022

https://www.ny1noticias.com/nyc/noticias/noticias/2022/05/06/demandan-que-se-establezca-linea-rapida-de-autobuses-que-circule-por-el-northern-boulevard

La línea rápida de buses iría de Flushing a Manhattan.

04/22/2022

Save the date - Friday, May 6, 10 a.m. - Rally for Bus Rapid Transit on Northern Boulevard. Details to come.

04/05/2022

Let's bring bus rapid transit to Northen Boulevard, says City Council Member Shekar Krishnan.
Called Select Bus Service in New York, the speedy buses would also ease congestion and expand accessibility on the busy boulevard, Krishnan told the Queens Chronicle last week.
“Having express SBS bus service on Northern would be a game changer from both a bus accessibility standpoint and in reducing congestion,” he said.
Krishnan has been a supporter of SBS for some time, as have Assembly Member Jessica Gonazalez Rojas and state Sen. Jessica Ramos. The three are the city and state legislators representing the Northern Boulvard area in Jackson Heights.
What's more, there appears to be a solution to a potential obstacle to SBS - parking in bus-only lanes - something that is much less likely to happen when the bus-only lane is alongside the center median. See photo of such bus-only lanes in San Francisco.
Despite, the support of the local officials and Mayor Eric Adams recent call for major imrpovements in the New York bus service, an MTA official wrote in a chat yo me during last week's Queens Bus Redesign Zoom meeting that SBS service was not planned for the boulevard.
Northern Boulevard Rapid Riders, a JH group advocting SBS service, which I am a member, points out that Queens suffers from a shortage of subway service. Queens is the second biggest borough in population, just behind Brooklyn, but next to last in rapid transit, or subways service, followed only by Staten Island.
JH subways were already dangerously crowded prior to Covid and will not be able to accomodate new development occurring the length of Northern Boulevard. The biggest of those projects is the proposed Innovation QNS, a huge office/shopping/entertainment/residential (3,200 units) development - just north of Northern Boulevard at Steinway Street, which would overwhelm already jammed trains at nearby subway stops. www.silversteinproperties.com/innovation-qns.

www.qchron.com/editions/queenswide/councilmem, bers-talk-about-transit-woes/article_f1921b8b-469c-54c2-ba0e-32791ccc5c7b.html

03/31/2022

The MTA holds a briefing Thursday evening on its revised Queens Bus Redesign Plan that met with so much opposition more than two years ago.
This is a chance for us to help shape, not only transportation for our neighborhood, but also environmental sustainability because transit leaves a much lighter footprint than private auto use. So please register for and then attend this Zoom meeting from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. tomorrow. https://docs.google.com/.../1FAIpQLSdcdelS.../viewform
In Jackson Heights, we have an opportunity for two major improvements on Northern Boulevard - restoring full Q-66 service while reducing travel time, and introducing Select Bus Service, buses that are nearly as fast as the subway. The key to this is introduction of a bus lane, which the Redesign Report endorses:

"Northern Boulevard - In 2022, NYC DOT will build on its important pedestrian safety and transit improvement work on Northern Blvd. This work will include full removal of the curbside travel lane during rush hour from Broadway to 114th Street and the addition of painted curb extensions to shorten crossing distances for pedestrians."

An accompanying map shows Northern Boulevard to be one of four DOT Bus Priority Projects in Queens (See attached.)

The MTA request that you register to attend this meeting here. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdcdelS_3UvxcHlDwdXUw-jr8zk9o5YhxDnJaC_ZhyP6K88jw/viewform

This campaign to promote improved bus service on Northern Boulevard is sponsored by the Northern Blvd Rapid Riders. If you are interested in participating in this effort please shoot us mesage at our FB page.

03/30/2022

Please attend this bus redesign meeting tomorrow:

03/01/2022

Welcome!
Your support will bring faster and more environmentally sound transit to JH.
Reach us at [email protected]

02/23/2022

TELL CITY HALL YOU WANT FAST, GREEN TRANSIT
Answer survey below
Let NYC transportation officials know you want bus lanes on Northern Boulevard from Flushing into Manhattan. The NYC Streets Plan doesn't go far enough, only from Woodside to Corona. For more details, see the post with the map below this one.
PLEASE CLICK ON THE SURVEY BELOW.

02/16/2022

The odds seem better than ever for Northern Boulevard bus lanes and the creation of Northern Boulevard Select Bus Service. A 2019 city law called for creating at least 150 miles of bus lanes in NYC in the five years beginning with 2022. The image below is from a report required by that law and it proposes bus lanes from what apears to be Broadway in Woodside to roughly 100th Street in North Corona/East Elmhurst. (See below.)
We are proposing a more ambitious plan, one that would stretch from Northern Boulevard in Flushing, across the Queensboro Bridge to Manhattan. But this is a start.

02/13/2022

SOLUTION: SELECT BUS SERVICE IN JACKSON HEIGHTS & NYC
Climate change, worsened by over reliance on cars, is here. So is Covid-induced gridlock.
And that's on top of too little rapid transit for many parts of Queens, including north of Northern Boulevard.
To the rescue - a recent law that calls for creating 150 miles of bus lanes in our fair city over the next five years.
So let's bring Select Bus Service to Northern Boulevard, from Flushing into Manhattan over the Queensboro Bridge.
Check this story out.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/12/nyregion/nyc-bus-lanes.html?fbclid=IwAR3rN3mzMcTE53_PRBk0MtnUZBOABIQjkDoyGgHXy0UskBtVF644kMswPZE

Mayor Eric Adams has promised 150 miles of new bus lanes in New York City, but some drivers and businesses say they have created headaches in the past.