Queens Borough President Donovan Richards joined students, educators and leadership from Queens College and Queensborough Community College to ride the new Q74 bus line, which stops at both schools.
This ride-along was meant to reflect and celebrate the longstanding partnership between the two schools. Those who took part in it attended a welcome reception at Queens College, where they were given “swag” bags.
“This is great for the community. This is about connectivity,” Richards said. “It’s about upward mobility for students who are starting their educational journeys from Queensborough Community College all the way to Queens College, and what better way to make sure that these two campuses are connected through our bus redesign.”
The new Q74 limited-stop bus route was launched on June 29. It runs on weekdays, connecting Queensborough Community College in Bayside to the Forest Hills-71st Avenue subway station. The Q74 bus has a stop just a block away from Queens College, at Kissena Boulevard and Jewel Avenue. This allows for a faster and more direct connection between the two schools. Running along Jewel Avenue and the Horace Harding Expressway, the Q74 bus has fewer stops compared to most other bus lines in the city.
Approximately 13 administrators and staff members and 15 students from Queensborough Community College and Queens College joined Richards in riding the new route. Among those on hand were Queensborough Community College President Dr. Christine Mangino and Queens College President Frank Wu.
“With the redesign of the bus system, you can ride directly from Queensborough Community College to Queens College, and this is a metaphor. We want the students here to transfer. We want them to continue their education,” Wu said. “The City University of New York is a system, and we’re sister institutions. So many of our students are transfer students, and they do incredibly well. The idea here is to literally ride the bus just like the students who transfer will ride and come from QCC to QC.”
Dr. Mangino emphasized the importance of this bus route for students who commute to Queensborough Community College, as it will help them save much more time compared to the other bus routes.
“Queensborough Community College is in such a residential area that we don’t have any subway system, so all of our students and staff and faculty rely on the buses, and it could take students who live in Queens up to an hour and a half to get to campus on the previous bus routes,” Dr. Mangino said. “Now they are telling me that it’s taking them [around] 25 minutes, which is life-changing for students who need every spare moment to either study or to work or take care of family outside of classroom time. We’re giving them back an hour-plus of their day.
Queens College Student Association President Shawn Rajkumar said the Q74 bus will help bring together students from the two schools.
“Over my time as part of the Queens College Student Government, I’ve seen a lot of students come from QCC to QC,” Rajkumar said. “Having a more direct form of transit will help the schools unite and have more students together. At the end of the day, we all are part of the QC system and we’re here to upgrade our lives.”
Prior to the introduction of the new Q74 line, some students would need to take multiple buses or even take the subway to get to Queens College or Queensborough Community College. Now they have a direct line to the campuses.
“I work in Forest Hills, so now it’s just one stop from my job to my college, which is [approximately] 30 minutes,” Queensborough Community College Student Daveya Tiwari said. “Before, it was a lot. I had to take the Q23 [bus], then take the train. Then I’d have to take the Q30 to come to college. It was basically like an hour and 45 minutes, but now [the Q74] saves me a lot of time.”
