St. Albans resident Markisha Beckford launched a one-woman campaign in February when the bus stop…
By Betsy Scheinbart
Riders of two Jamaica Center bus lines voiced their discontent Friday with the change in their bus stops’ locations to a non-covered area on Archer Avenue.
St. Albans resident Markisha Beckford launched a one-woman campaign in February when the bus stop locations were moved after less than one week’s warning and no consultation with the community.
State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans) and City Council Deputy Majority Leader Archie Spigner (D-St. Albans) supported Beckford’s demand for change at a meeting with Transit Authority officials Friday at the new stops.
The buses involved are the Q84 to Laurelton and the Q42 to Addisleigh Park as well as the Q85, which only stops in Jamaica to drop off passengers in the morning.
The main concern with the change is the lack of shelter overhead. On the south side of Archer an overhanging roof protects the lines of commuters below. On the north side, where the two new stops are in place, there are only two small bus shelters.
Leroy Comrie, Spigner’s district manager, also mentioned the number of elderly riders who take the Q42 and Q84 and the lack of escalator service on the north exit of the subway, where the new bus stops are stationed.
Beckford circulated fliers and collected signatures from more than 400 unhappy riders. When inclement weather strikes, the bus shelters can hold about 10 people each, not the dozens of people who build up on line, Beckford said.
Paul Gawkowski, the director of bus service planning in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island for the Transit Authority, said buses experienced an explosion of ridership when the MetroCard free transfer was introduced last year.
As a result, more buses were added to accommodate riders and the bus depot on Archer Avenue at 153rd Street became congested. Not only was the congestion slowing traffic, Gawkowski said, it was also endangering riders who maneuvered between buses in the street.
The Transit Authority’s long-term goal is to open a staircase on the eastern side of 158th Avenue, where buses currently lay over. That plan could allow commuters to comfortably board several more buses under an extended canopy.
However, this project will take about two years to complete. Meanwhile, some riders are stuck on the unsheltered side of the streets.
“We had to move the two lines that had the lowest ridership,” Gawkowski said. “We knew this was not going to make the people happy.”
Spigner asked if more shelter could be provided and Gawkowski and Sarah Wysss, the principal transportation planner for the Transit Authority, said they were hoping to get one more shelter installed.
The politicians asked passengers boarding the bus how they felt about the move and they all expressed the same sentiment. “It’s terrible,” the collective voices said, some adding, “we are tired of being moved.”
“This could have gone over much better instead of dumping us here, right in the middle of winter,” said Horace Drummond as rain fell on him at the Q84 bus stop.
Smith and Beckford suggested moving the stop around the corner, closer to a subway exit, and constructing a larger shelter there. But the commuter vans, some of which are parked there illegally, would have to move.
Gawkowski said he would share that idea with his boss at the Transit Authority and meet back with the community.
Belfonsse Barnes and her husband, Constantine Barnes, who have been riding the Q84 for more than 30 years, said they think an alternative shelter around the corner would be better.
Beckford is satisfied that her concerns have been heard, “but I would like to see what happens in the next week or two,” she said.
Reach reporter Betsy Scheinbart by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 138.
