The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has not provided enough buses for commuters. They have ignored our requests for more buses, longer buses, more express buses and 24-hour service for the Q52 and Q53. Some 35,000 Queens commuters have been affected by the loss of the A train. Thousands more have to cope with the overcrowding on buses due to this displacement. We need more regularly scheduled buses, not random, haphazard and inadequate service.
Hurricane Sandy happened six months ago and Queens commuters from Woodside to Rockaway are waiting longer to get on a late, unreliable, dangerous and overcrowded bus. This is a disgrace and must be corrected now.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, where are you and will you help us?
I also support the reactivation of the unused Rockaway Beach line of the Long Island Rail Road. It used to take 35 minutes to go from Rockaway Park to Pennsylvania Station. This train track is one to six blocks from Woodhaven Boulevard and runs parallel to it.
It is common sense to reactivate this community asset to enhance Queens transit. We have 2.2 million people in Queens and our population is growing. We need more trains, buses and trackage.
The Woodhaven Boulevard, Queens Boulevard, Van Wyck Expressway, Belt Parkway and Long Island Expressway corridors have too much traffic, accidents, construction, disabled vehicles, trucks, buses and sanitation, police and fire vehicles. There are too many variables to keep buses on time, reliable and not overcrowded without a significant increase in the amount of buses.
We also need to reduce air pollution, gas consumption and vehicle and pedestrian injuries and fatalities. We need the best alternatives to relieve the current and future traffic delays and congestion to our transportation system.
The RBL is the right public transit option to address this growing problem. This dedicated right of way will avoid and help alleviate the associated traffic problems on the Woodhaven Boulevard corridor. It would also move more people more efficiently throughout Queens to Midtown Manhattan.
People would be able to connect to more subways and buses and the LIRR from Queens and may also avoid the overcrowded subways of Manhattan.
Commuters and tourists from across the region would use the RBL to live, work, shop, eat and play in Queens.
It would improve Queens crosstown transit and bring more people together and reduce travel times. The RBL would increase business, employment, economic development, property values, tax revenues and educational opportunities for many Queens communities.
It takes 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours to cross over Queens by public transit with many unnecessary transfers. It takes 55 minutes to cross Manhattan. It is wrong for Queens residents to travel longer. Nobody wants to travel that long. Let us help unite and improve public transportation for Queens and the city. Reopen the RBL.
We need an unbiased, legitimate study to determine the real benefits. It has cost south Queens billions of dollars and thousands of lives are being adversely affected by the loss of the RBL since 1950.
Please sign two petitions to reactivate the line: rockawaybeachrail.com and change.org/petitions/governor-andrew-m-cuomo-reactivate-the-lirr-rockaway-line-in-central-queens
Are you tired of longer travel times and dangerous, overcrowded and unreliable trains and buses? Let us get organized.
Join our group, Queens Public Transit Committee, to help fight for better transportation. Contact Philip McManus at rowing612@aol.com or 718-679-5309.
Philip McManus
Rockaway Park
