Mike Gianaris
April 30, 2018 By Tara Law
State Senator Michael Gianaris is calling on the MTA to extend the Q102 bus line that runs on 31st Street beyond 30th Avenue and all the way over to 20th Avenue.
Gianaris wrote to MTA Bus Company President Darryl Irick Wednesday arguing that the Q102 should run all the way over to 20th Avenue. The line currently does not go beyond 30th Avenue on 31st Street.
He suggested the MTA create “an added spur” that would jut off the main Q102 line. The addition would help residents cope with delays and closures along the N/W subway line and give residents in the northern part of Astoria more transportation options, he said.
Two days prior to Gianaris’ letter, the MTA announced a “NYC Transit Bus Plan,” which includes plans to completely reroute the bus system. According to the MTA, the new routes would be “based on public input, demographic changes and travel demand analysis.”
Aspects of the plan could be rolled out as early as this year, according to New York City Transit Authority President Andrew Byford.
Q102 Bus Route
Gianaris compared his proposal to the Q15 and Q15a lines, which offer a spur off the mainline in order to extend bus service to parts of Whitestone.
Gianaris argued that the MTA has not done enough to reduce the impact of closures along the N/W line. The announcement of the upcoming Astoria Boulevard closure has made the issue more urgent, Gianaris said.
The 30th Avenue and 36th Avenue stations are currently closed until June, and the Broadway and 39th Avenue stations are set to close this July.
The Astoria Boulevard subway station is set to close for nine months after the reopening of the Broadway and 39th Avenue stations.
The MTA said today that it has added additional buses to the Q102 line during the closures.
Gianaris’s letter is not the first proposal for extended bus service.
Community Board 1 transportation co-chairs Robert Piazza and Jose Batista penned a letter to Byford two weeks ago requesting that the MTA create an entirely new line along 31st Street.
Piazza and Batista argued that the bus line would reduce train crowding, offer an alternative when the trains are delayed, and provide a more accessible transportation alternative to people who cannot use subway stations that do not have elevators.
