The MTA is considering eliminating the Q74 as part of its “doomsday” plan to make up for a $1.2 billion budget gap. Other proposals include hiking Metrocards to as much as $3 and wiping out the W subway line.
The Q74 runs from Queens Borough Hall in Kew Gardens through Main Street in Flushing, then loops around Queens College and CUNY School of Law before returning to Borough Hall. It is a vital link for some students attending the schools, as well as those at Townsend Harris High School. In addition, it connects the roughly 4,000 residents of the Pomonok Houses to Manhattan via the E and F trains in Kew Gardens, and provides access for seniors traveling to the Pomonok Senior Center.
On Friday, a crowd of students, politicians and other residents rallied along Kissena Boulevard, voicing their opposition to the proposal.
“Save our bus,” “Why pay more for less?” even a “Bring back our bus” were all chants that echoed down the chilly January streets of Flushing.
State Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Flushing), one of the speakers at the rally, said the bus has served the community for over 50 years. The elimination of the route would push more people to drive their own vehicles, clogging up traffic and increasing pollution, Stavisky said.
“To encourage people to leave cars at home, you make bus service better, you don’t eliminate it,” she said.
“The Q74 bus is absolutely indispensable,” said Councilman Jim Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows), who organized the rally.
Edward Hernandez, of the group Transportation Alternatives, said each bus removes as many as 70 cars from the street. Buses, Hernandez said, are the “lifeblood of Queens.”
The MTA actually agrees the elimination would be a bad one to make, but it doesn’t see many alternatives. “What’s bad for MTA customers is bad for the MTA,” said spokesman Aaron Donovan.
Rather than make this and other cuts, the MTA supports the recommendations of the Ravitch Commission. In mid-December, the state-implemented commission identified two new revenue sources that would provide a bailout: a “mobility tax,” also known as the “payroll tax,” of 33 cents for every $100 in corporate payrolls, and the placement of tolls on the East River and Harlem River bridges.
The MTA chose this route after surveying all bus routes in the city, analyzing their ridership and measuring their cash receipts and MTA card swipes throughout 2007. The Q74 route was one that had fewer riders than the city average.
“Unfortunately, it’s a function of the funding shortfalls that exist,” Donovan said. “We’ve done everything we can to cut our own budget.”
Kevin Birth, a professor of anthropology at Queens College, didn’t understand how the MTA could come to the conclusion that ridership was low on the bus. Birth said that often the bus is standing-room-only.
He rides the bus every day to the college. If the route is cut, rather than take three buses, or two buses and a subway and spend $10, he will just start driving. Thousands of students and seniors who travel to the nearby senior center won’t be able to do the same.
“Cutting this line targets kids and senior citizens,” he said.
The mother of a Townsend Harris student has begun an online petition urging the MTA to abandon its plan to eliminate the route. The appeal had 566 signatures as of press time.
Donovan said that if the MTA’s doomsday budget is implemented, the bus route would likely be cut some time in the spring.
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