The overhaul of the Queens bus network has produced results, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) says. The agency presented the data Monday, Oct. 26, at a meeting of an MTA board committee. The figures compare spring 2025 with spring 2026.
The redesign was rolled out in two phases in summer 2025, after six years of planning and consultations with residents. Local buses now run an average of 1.7% faster on weekdays, and nearly 2% faster outside rush hours. Of the 25 routes in the city that sped up the most, 24 run in Queens.
The biggest changes are on “Rush” routes, which sped up by 4.6%, and by as much as 11% on dedicated segments. Over a full route, a rider can save more than five minutes. In May, 71.2% of trips in Queens arrived no more than five minutes behind the scheduled time. That is the best result since the MTA began publishing the data (excluding 2020 and 2022).
As part of the overhaul, 17 new routes were created, 25 were converted to “Rush” routes, and part of the route was changed on 49. Queens now has 124 bus routes: 94 local and 30 express. According to the MTA, an additional 124,000 residents now live near a bus that runs every 10 minutes between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m., and 68,000 have round-the-clock service.
“Many routes are faster, many are more punctual,” said Evan Bialostozky of the MTA. NYC Transit President Demetrius Crichlow stressed that the overhaul had four goals: faster trips, better transfers, greater punctuality and a simpler network of connections. “The team achieved all of them,” he said.
About 800,000 passengers ride buses in Queens every day. The MTA is preparing similar changes in all five boroughs.
Pictured: a Q58 bus to Ridgewood. Photo: Xd4n17 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
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Source: Nowy Dziennik
