Budget Constraints Played Role In MTA's Queens Bus Redesign: Pols

QUEENS, NY — Acting MTA Bus President Craig Cipriano told reporters on Friday that cost wasn't a consideration when the agency designed its proposal to completely redraw the Queens bus network.

“This has nothing to do with cost savings. This has to do with providing a better bus network, so cost is not even in the equation at this point in time," Cipriano said during the media briefing at MTA headquarters in Manhattan. “This is so way early on in the process to even consider cost.”

But NYC Transit President Andy Byford told Queens legislators and staff in a closed-door meeting that the draft was informed by budget restrictions, according to three people who attended — and the 15 City Council members who represent Queens say that approach will ensure the plan's downfall.

"President Byford’s statement that the plan was devised within the restrictions of fiscal constraints dooms the plan to failure," City Council Member Karen Koslowitz, the leader of the Council's Queens delegation, said.

"Coupled with the fact that Queens has experienced a significant increase in population in recent decades, any plan that does not incorporate increases to service is destined for failure."

During a Jan. 10 presentation on the Queens bus redesign at Queens Borough Hall, Byford told the borough's legislators that the current draft is budget-neutral and was devised within the limits of realistic budget considerations, according to a member of Koslowitz's staff who attended the meeting.

That means, roughly, that the draft plan would neither save money nor cost money when it comes to the agency's budget.

Meanwhile, the final plans for bus network redesigns for The Bronx and Staten Island called for increased investments by the MTA, according to an agency spokesperson.

City Council Member Bob Holden had asked Byford about the role of budget considerations in the redesign plan, according to Holden's spokesperson, Ryan Kelley, who was at the meeting.

"Byford explained that the budget is always a consideration even if it is not the primary factor," Kelley told Patch. "He suggested that the proposal was limited by the MTA’s current budget."

Another Council staffer, who attended the meeting and asked to remain anonymous to speak more candidly about the discussions, said Byford told legislators he would be willing to make concessions and that the final plan need not be budget-neutral.

Byford resigned from the agency Thursday amid an ongoing tussle with Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

"This is still a draft proposal that will change following feedback, and while there are always fiscal constraints in an organization with finite funds, budget is not a factor at this stage as we solicit feedback on a preliminary proposal," MTA spokesperson Amanda Kwan said in an emailed statement to Patch.

On Dec. 31, the transit authority released a draft of a completely new bus map for Queens, where 107 bus lines currently serve more than 714,000 weekday riders. MTA officials say the plan is an effort to remedy declining bus ridership and slow bus speeds in a borough full of transit deserts.

The draft, which calls for cutting under-used bus stops and combining redundant routes, is based on an Existing Conditions report and Queens commuters' feedback.

A new draft will come out by summer 2020, but MTA Bus representatives say there is no planned date when it will go into effect.

From the time the draft went public, Queens officials have criticized the proposal as cutting bus service in neighborhoods with no subways and making service less frequent at critical times.

Northeast Queens representatives have slammed the proposal to cut weekend express bus service from their districts to Manhattan. In Jackson Heights, City Council Member Daniel Dromm is protesting the MTA's proposal to cut several of the neighborhood's most-used bus lines, like the Q49. And City Council Member Costa Constanides pointed out that the proposal inflates some weekday wait times from eight minutes to 20 minutes, as with the Q18.

Still, the MTA has vigorously contested the narrative that its draft represents a cut in bus service.

“The Queens Bus Network Redesign will improve service by rebuilding the entire system from a blank canvas using public feedback and data-driven study about today’s ridership needs, putting service where it’s needed and modernizing an outdated map," Kwan, the MTA spokesperson, said in a statement.

At the Friday media briefing, Mark Holmes, chief officer of operations planning for MTA Bus, told reporters: "That is absolutely not the case."

"Do fewer lines on a map mean less service? The answer to that is an emphatic no," Holmes said.

In a joint press release Thursday, the Queens Council delegation stood united in opposing the MTA's current proposal, though they focused more on the draft's failures than on specific ways to improve it.

"The plan that the MTA has submitted is only going to lead to a further decline in ridership on our buses,” City Council Member Donovan Richards said. “You can’t take away bus lines, shorten routes, and leave out some communities entirely, then expect commuters to want to take public transportation."

The MTA, for its part, emphasizes that its draft is just that — a draft — and says the final plan may look quite different.

"We couldn’t get earlier in the process than we are right now," Holmes, the bus operations planner, said.