{"id":298768,"date":"2026-07-17T16:40:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T16:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/298768\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T16:40:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T16:40:27","slug":"mta-chief-pronounces-golden-age-of-mass-transit-in-queens-during-tour-of-laguardia-bus-depot-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/298768\/","title":{"rendered":"MTA chief pronounces \u2018golden age of mass transit\u2019 in Queens during tour of LaGuardia Bus Depot \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

MTA CEO Janno Lieber heralded the \u201cgolden age of mass transit\u201d in Queens after what he described as \u201chuge improvements\u201d to the borough\u2019s bus network during an inspection of the MTA\u2019s<\/a> LaGuardia Bus Depot in East Elmhurst<\/a> Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Lieber on July 16 joined MTA officials including Executive Vice President of Buses Frank Farrell and Chief Customer Officer Shanifah Rieara for Thursday\u2019s tour, which examined a key depot in the Queens bus network serving 19 different routes throughout the borough.<\/p>\n

The MTA chair described the LaGuardia Depot as a shining example of a well-working bus depot, stating that it is \u201cdoing a good job by all metrics,\u201d including staffing, maintenance and good performance delivery.<\/p>\n

\"PhotoPhoto via MTA\/Marc Hermann<\/p>\n

The borough\u2019s bus network, Lieber added, is pivotal given that Queens has less subway service per capita than other boroughs.<\/p>\n

Lieber said the MTA \u201cdisproportionately\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

He pointed specifically to the Queens Bus Network Redesign, which introduced route changes across the borough, as well the addition of \u201crush routes,\u201d which are designed to move passengers to rail networks and transit hubs more quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Rush routes) have been a huge success of the Queens Bus Network Redesign and we\u2019re continuing to study what we\u2019re seeing so far,\u201d Lieber said.
\n\"LieberLieber talks to Edwin Santiago, Assistant General Manager of Operations at the LaGuardia Bus Depot. Photo via MTA\/Marc Hermann\n<\/p>\n

Lieber further pointed to the allocation of an additional $35 million a year for Queens buses.<\/p>\n

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.\n<\/p>\n

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%.<\/p>\n

Lieber also asserted that the Long Island Rail Road has become part of mass transit in Queens \u201cin a way that it never has before\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cDonovan Richards, the borough president, has made transit\u00a0one of his top priorities,\u201d Lieber said. \u201cThe chairman of the relevant committee in the state senate is\u00a0Leroy Comrie and\u00a0the\u00a0chairman of the relevant committee in the Assembly is Ed Braunstein\u00a0from Bayside. The new mayor, who\u2019s prioritizing you know bus service so much, is from Astoria.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Lieber also credited Gov. Kathy Hochul for putting the MTA in a position to maintain and improve service at a time \u201cwhen the rest of American transit was cutting and raising prices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thursday\u2019s tour of the LaGuardia Depot offered Lieber and MTA officials an opportunity to survey the East Elmhurst facility and note what is working.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need the bus system to work well in Queens, and this depot is where it\u2019s working,\u201d Lieber said.\n<\/p>\n

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.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re working hand-in-hand,\u201d Farrell said. \u201cThat\u2019s one thing that we\u2019re looking at in other depots, to make sure people are working collectively.\u201d
\n\"AnAn MTA bus undergoes cleaning at the LaGuardia Bus Depot. Photo via MTA\/Marc Hermann<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MTA CEO Janno Lieber heralded the \u201cgolden age of mass transit\u201d in Queens after what he described as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[13497,113630,113631,1606,141,9,24,63,122,16550,124,123],"class_list":["post-298768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-bus","tag-janno-lieber-mta","tag-lagaurdia-bus-depot","tag-lirr","tag-mta","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-bus-network-redesign","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}