MTA CEO Janno Lieber heralded the “golden age of mass transit” in Queens after what he described as “huge improvements” to the borough’s bus network during an inspection of the MTA’s LaGuardia Bus Depot in East Elmhurst Thursday afternoon.
Lieber on July 16 joined MTA officials including Executive Vice President of Buses Frank Farrell and Chief Customer Officer Shanifah Rieara for Thursday’s tour, which examined a key depot in the Queens bus network serving 19 different routes throughout the borough.
The MTA chair described the LaGuardia Depot as a shining example of a well-working bus depot, stating that it is “doing a good job by all metrics,” including staffing, maintenance and good performance delivery.
Photo via MTA/Marc Hermann
The borough’s bus network, Lieber added, is pivotal given that Queens has less subway service per capita than other boroughs.
Lieber said the MTA “disproportionately” focuses on buses in Queens because the borough has less subway service than its population justifies but believes that the agency has made significant progress in improving that service in recent years.
He pointed specifically to the Queens Bus Network Redesign, which introduced route changes across the borough, as well the addition of “rush routes,” which are designed to move passengers to rail networks and transit hubs more quickly.
“(Rush routes) have been a huge success of the Queens Bus Network Redesign and we’re continuing to study what we’re seeing so far,” Lieber said.
Lieber talks to Edwin Santiago, Assistant General Manager of Operations at the LaGuardia Bus Depot. Photo via MTA/Marc Hermann
Lieber further pointed to the allocation of an additional $35 million a year for Queens buses.
The MTA Chair also pointed to efforts to modernize signaling on the E, F, M and R subway lines, which he said has significantly improved service times, especially on the E and F lines.
The MTA, meanwhile, has significantly expanded ADA accessibility in Queens. At the beginning of the decade, just 20% of the 82 subway stations in Queens were truly accessible. By the end of the decade, Lieber expects that number to rise to 60%.
Lieber also asserted that the Long Island Rail Road has become part of mass transit in Queens “in a way that it never has before” after the MTA started stopping more trains throughout the borough. The borough, meanwhile, is fortunate to have a number of transit advocates in elected office, he said.
“Donovan Richards, the borough president, has made transit one of his top priorities,” Lieber said. “The chairman of the relevant committee in the state senate is Leroy Comrie and the chairman of the relevant committee in the Assembly is Ed Braunstein from Bayside. The new mayor, who’s prioritizing you know bus service so much, is from Astoria.”
But Lieber also credited Gov. Kathy Hochul for putting the MTA in a position to maintain and improve service at a time “when the rest of American transit was cutting and raising prices.”
Thursday’s tour of the LaGuardia Depot offered Lieber and MTA officials an opportunity to survey the East Elmhurst facility and note what is working.
“We need the bus system to work well in Queens, and this depot is where it’s working,” Lieber said.
Farrell, meanwhile, said the depot is a shining example of communication between maintenance and transportation crews that the MTA is seeking to replicate at other depots across the city.
“They’re working hand-in-hand,” Farrell said. “That’s one thing that we’re looking at in other depots, to make sure people are working collectively.”
An MTA bus undergoes cleaning at the LaGuardia Bus Depot. Photo via MTA/Marc Hermann