Feb. 2, 2016 Staff Report
The MTA will increase service on the Q70 bus this spring to meet the needs of its growing ridership.
The Q70 Limited, which runs to LaGuardia Airport via Woodside and Jackson Heights, has seen its customers double in recent years.
This bus line was implemented in September 2013 to link the airport with regional transit lines 40 percent faster than earlier local bus routes.
The Q70 line saw a jump in ridership from 2,173 average weekday customers in September 2013 to 4,372 average weekday customers today, according to the MTA.
On the new schedule, buses will run every eight minutes on weekdays during midday and evening peak hours. On weekends, buses will run every 10 minutes during midday and evenings. Buses will run every 20 minutes during overnight hours.
Originally, the Q70 Limited ran on a 12-minute frequency during most of the day, with 15-minute and 20-minute intervals during early morning and late evening periods and 30-minute intervals during overnight periods.
The service increase will go into effect in April 2016. It will increase operating cost by approximately $753,000 per year, according to an MTA report. This cost has been incorporated into the agency’s budget.
The MTA is also working to bring Select Bus Service to the line this year, which will allow customers to prepay for their ride and enter the bus through any door, for faster boarding.
The Q70 Limited serves the Woodside-61st Street LIRR and 7 train station and the EFMR and 7 station at the Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Ave hub, then travels non-stop to and from LaGuardia Airport via the limited-access Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and Grand Central Parkway.
“We always want to better serve our customers by strengthening service whenever we have sustainable resources to do so,” said Darryl Irick, President of the MTA Bus Company and Senior Vice President of NYC Transit’s Department of Buses.
“This added service on a growing route will further enhance the fast and reliable bus connection between LaGuardia Airport and all parts of the City via the transit hubs in Queens,” he added.
Featured Events
7 Comments
The MTA’s “Guiltiest Pleasure” in the making Woodside and Jackson Heights. Now, it is SBS.
Greatest Bus EVER!!!
-Olden Days The Q70 is picking up passengers at two bus stops that are already in existence and have been for well over 60 years, Most of its route is on highways and its stops are at the airline terminals themselves once it reaches the airport.There is very little walking involved with this bus unlike the lengthy walks involved with the JFK air train and other airport monorails and trams I have taken. I remember the arguments concerning the original monorail to LGA and they had merit. Many thought the elevated structure would become a graffiti covered eyesore and a threat to property values and they’re probably not far from the truth. Yes Monorails look nice and modern but in this case simple is the way to go. There was also no community opposition to the regular bus because it was running over existing bus routes already in operation. Dave is correct. What took so long?
joe – a monorail to LGA has never been proposed until Cuomo did it last year. i agree with you that it’s not that great. but the old proposal for LGA that i’m talking about was an actual expansion of the N subway line from Astoria — no monorails, no walking at all, just continue to sit on the N. they tried it in 2003 i believe but they’ve been talking about since the ’40s, since the ditmars stop is less than 3 miles from LGA. i’m not sure if it would have stopped at all the terminals or what, but it would have made LGA easily accessible for millions. you’re right about the locals’ reason for opposition, but you could say that about any structure in NYC — that it would become a graffiti-ridden eyesore. why build anything at all? to top it off, the local opposition was so strong that they killed another proposed route that wouldn’t have gone through astoria. it would have left queensboro plaza and cut through sunnyside yards, bypassing most of the residential areas completely. but no one even wanted to hear it. if we listened to everyone with a concern about transit construction back in the ’20s and ’30s, we wouldn’t have the 7, the N/Q, the J/M/Z (elevated eyesores) or the 1/2/3 or the 4/5/6 since they had to dig up the entire street for years at a time.
This bus route should have been put in operation over 30 years ago. The TA is an agency known for dragging it’s feet. They were told on the 1960’s to eliminate two fare zones and ridership would increase substantially but dragged their feet until the late 1990’s to eliminate two fare zones and ridership increased substantially. For decades people had floated the idea of more direct bus service to Kennedy and Laguardia in the form of express service instead of the time consuming local service that made multiple stops throughouy the neighborhoods surrounding the airports. The MTA needs to implement service changes I the form of new routes in quicker time frames then the decades it took to implement the Q70 and elimination of the two fare zone. How about some type light rail or adequate bus service on the Brooklyn and Queeens water front where all the young and new residents of the city are moving to. Hopefully this is done in the near future instead of decades down the road. I have taken the Q70 many many times since it went into operation and am very satisfied with the service, cost and convenience. Only question is why so long?
the MTA has a lot of problems and i’ll only defend them so far…but they did actually try once to extend the subway direct to Laguardia which would have been the best possible solution. it would have been better than this bus, and way better than the new “airtrain” that was recently proposed by cuomo. and this was back in the day when the MTA could have actually got it done at a good price. but the residents of northern Astoria made such a stink that the project was dead in the water. they didn’t want any more elevated tracks going through their neighborhood. which i understand, i’m just saying we can’t blame the MTA for everything. not only do they have to deal with albany but they have to deal with homeowners all over the city. look at what’s happening now in woodhaven. the MTA is trying to make an express bus line down woodhaven blvd and the locals are giving them hell. they all have their reasons but the fact is they’re standing in the way of a service that would be valuable for the whole rest of queens. think how easy it would be to get from here to rockaway if the Q53 had a dedicated lane. right now it can take almost 2 hours. but it would change traffic patterns on woodhaven and all the locals are just going to the CB meetings and yelling at the MTA reps. that’s why the N doesn’t go straight to LGA, and why it takes 2 hours to get to the beach.
Great news! A rail link would be better but I’ll take this for now.