Are you ready for your upcoming MTA bus redesign, Queens residents? Many of your Queens bus lines may change during summer 2025, as the MTA board approves the Queen’s bus line redesign’s final plan proposal!
On January 29, the MTA board gave the green light to a new bus redesign for Queens, aimed at modernizing the nearly 70-year-old bus system for both local and express routes in the borough. Over $30 million is set to be invested in the bus plan that will create the largest bus network redesign in the country, enhancing reliability and service for 800,000 daily riders.
Overnight service will also be improved in the Queens bus system, benefitting 68,000 more Queens bus riders. The new bus network is set to debut in June this year, rolling out in two phases!
When Queens resident & high schooler Alijah Ambert was asked about his previous experience with Queens bus service, he replied: “On a lot of streets it’s very slow, but once you hit just regular suburban roads, it’s very fast and it’s efficient, but on the main routes they just go really slow, like three miles per hour, and they make weird turns for no reason.”
Alijah believes that the redesign will benefit the Queens bus system making it more “efficient and faster.” His reasons were that, “it replaces some routes to save some money, it makes new routes that make a lot of sense, and cuts the stops and some turns.”
On the other hand, another resident of Queens and high school student, Christian Muntez thought negatively of the redesign. In his own words, he believed that “there are some bus routes that are actually useful, but some are getting eliminated from being used in service for this redesign.” Christian believed that the redesign was “a waste of money” because “they’re adding new routes that are pointless, and they’re basically like subway shuttles that follow the trains.”
When the Queens resident & high schooler was asked if he would take Queens buses much more after the plan was officially implemented into the Queens bus system, he expressed his disagreement and said that he would “stick to the 7 train,” a subway line traversing the central and eastern parts of the borough.
NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow said: “Queens is a borough that relies on buses like no other, and it was imperative that we went about the redesign process the right way: evaluating routes and bus stops, prioritizing transit equity, analyzing ridership patterns, and engaging with everyday riders and community leaders.”
“Today’s vote marks a culmination of years of work to deliver a bus system that improves the quality of lives for Queens residents with shorter wait times, better all-day frequency, and more reliable bus service.”
“Queens is the most bus-reliant of the five boroughs by far, and this redesign plan will create the modern bus system its 800,000 daily riders deserve,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “Faster, more frequent, and more reliable service – with more bus-to-rail connections – will help residents of the World’s Borough take advantage of all that New York has to offer.”
Mark your calendars for June 29, Queens bus riders! The initial phase of the Queens bus redesign is set to hit the streets. Just two months later, on August 31, the next phase will roll out. The Department of Transportation and New York City Transit will be updating and adding thousands of bus stop signs across Queens, complete with QR codes that provide details about the new or improved routes. When the changes are implemented, it will be up to you to decide how you feel about the revamped bus network.
For the latest information regarding the redesign, please visit the project’s webpage.
