While draconian cuts in Metropolitan Transportation Authority service may be necessary, the one cut that should have preceded all others was the dismissal of the chairman of the MTA and its entire governing board because they have demonstrated year after year their ineptitude in running the system.
A current case in point is the elimination of the Q74 bus that runs to the Union Turnpike subway station. While a small number of people will be able to walk to Vleigh Place and Union Turnpike to catch the Q46 to the Union Turnpike station, the vast majority will be obliged to walk to Main Street, take a bus to Union Turnpike, exit and wait for the Q46.
And therein lies the problem. During rush hours, the Q46 to the Union Turnpike station is packed. Former Q74 riders will have difficulty getting on the Q46, if they get on at all. Those waiting at Vleigh Place will not get on at all.
Worse yet will be the ride home. There currently are huge lines waiting for the eastbound Q46 to Union Turnpike during rush hours. Compelling Q74 riders to get on that line is absurd.
Currently, students at Queens College who exit at the Union Turnpike station take the Q74 to Melbourne Avenue and on to the college. They will be obliged to take the Q46 to Main Street and change for the Main Street bus to Melbourne Avenue and then walk to the college (“MTA OKs deep service cuts,” TimesLedger Newspapers, April 1-7).
Is this the way to operate a public transportation system? I think not.
Benjamin M. Haber
Flushing
