The MTA launched a major overhaul of the Queens bus system — with trained “ambassadors” deployed into the community to warn riders of the upheaval.
MTA CEO Janno Lieber showed up to join the ambassadors to speak to community members Monday — one day after the launch of the redesign, which includes 16 new routes, 67 changed routes and five discontinued routes.
“We’re spending $35 million more a year to give Queens better, faster bus service,” Lieber said at a press conference outside the Main St/Kissena Blvd Q20 bus stop. “These are real benefits for people in Queens. This is what good government looks like.”
The changes are the first phase of the long-awaited Queens Bus Network Redesign project, which is the most recent change to the borough’s bus routes since the 1950s.
The changes include rush routes that have been added to quickly bring passengers from underserved areas to transit hubs, such as Jamaica and Flushing, officials announced
For example, one route, the Q13, will be designed to shuttle passengers between Bell Boulevard in Bayside and Flushing, Chris Pangilinan, the MTA’s “Bus Boss,” explained to reporters and commuters.
The ambassadors — numbering in the hundreds — are tasked with informing the roughly 800,000 commuters affected by the new route changes, Lieber said.
Still, language barriers and the long-time rituals of some commuters made residents uneasy about the new changes.
While handing out pamphlets to explain the changes in service on the Q20 to bus passengers, Lieber was met with confused looks from passengers who did not speak English, The Post observed.
They were later reassured by a 27-year-old MTA worker, Charlie Zhen, who is fluent in both Mandarin and Cantonese and could explain the route changes.
Pamphlets were also translated into Chinese to increase their readability for some passengers.
“It’s good. It’s better for me. I knew. The signs in my language,” said 67-year-old Flushing resident Xi Jin.
Omar, 22, said he was glad he wasn’t affected directly by the changes, as he was heading to his job as a security guard in the Bronx on the Q44.
“It’s a good thing for me, nothing changed. I don’t need any more aggravation. You got the heat, the humidity, the crowds just to go to work… going to work is aggravating enough,” he said.
The second phase of the redesign will be implemented on Aug. 31, officials said.
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