More city buses need to roll through Douglaston, local elected officials demanded Monday, calling the neighborhood a “transit desert.”
Five major bus routes, coupled with sporadic service, are not enough to serve the area’s growing ridership, according to Congressmember Steve Israel and Assemblymember Nily Rozic.
“This is not just a matter of convenience for Douglaston residents,” Israel said. “This is just the smart thing to do.”
The two called for an increase in federal and state funding to buy more local and express buses, bus lines and bus stops in the neighborhood they said was “underserved” by mass transit.
Borough President Melinda Katz, State Senator Tony Avella, Assemblymember Ed Braunstein, Councilmember Paul Vallone and the Straphanger’s Campaign are also on board.
Rozic said current service was “unreliable, unsustainable and unacceptable.”
But an MTA spokesperson said improvements have been made to the QM3 and QM8’s running times and frequency in the past year.
The Q36 has also been extended and the Q76 weekend service has been restored and expanded, the spokesperson said. Weekend Q31 service will also be restored this spring.
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