By Rich Bockmann
The case of the disappearing bus stop has been solved, Community Board 11 Chairman Jerry Iannece said, and the MTA will soon be replacing the Q12 bus stop at the corner of Northern Boulevard and Douglaston Parkway that mysteriously vanished a little more than a month ago.
Iannece said the Metropolitan Transportation Authority approached the community board in October about placing a bus shelter for passengers riding the Q12 from Little Neck to Flushing on the northeast corner.
“Some of the store owners objected to the idea of having a bus shelter in front of their stores because they thought it would block their view,” he said. “So we started to look further east, closer to Zion Church or Giardino’s parking lot.”
Iannece said it was not long after that he started receiving phone calls from residents who said buses were no longer stopping at the corner.
“Somehow the rocket scientists at the MTA came in and eliminated it all together,” he said.
CB 11 District Manager Susan Seinfeld said the Metropolitan Transportation Authority never communicated the change to the board.
At last month’s community board meeting, Kathleen McGrath said she had been using the bus stop for 35 years and was not only the only passenger displeased by its removal. She submitted a petition with 105 names on it requesting the stop be reinstated.
Iannece said the stop was essential for people to reach Douglaston’s commercial area, and after the “community board [screamed] bloody murder” the MTA agreed to reinstate the stop and worked out a plan for a shelter the board could live with.
“They compromised on a smaller shelter that will be the least obtrusive. It’s closer to the corner and much smaller and transparent. It’s doable,” he said. “Are we 100 percent happy? No. But the riders need a shelter at that location to protect them from the elements.
Seinfeld said the shelter would be 10 feet long and she has informed the community that the bus stop will be coming back.
An MTA spokeswoman said the agency would submit plans for the shelter to the city Department of Transportation, which will build it soon, and that the stop will be reinstated when the shelter is installed.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
