I was interviewed by Greg Mocker of Channel 11 a few days ago and a big feature of his report was how unhappy bus riders are with plans to remove one third of Queens' bus stops. 

We received over 100 new signatures in the past few days primarily due to Passengers United which has a Facebook page. Thanks to the new signers and please continue to share the petition on social media so we can reach our next goal of 2,500 signers.

The MTA has also changed their plans regarding producing enough draft Queens Bus Network Redesign reports until riders are satisfied. They now have announced that the final report is due this summer, although no in person meetings were held for the second draft and no questions from the public have been answered. 

A final plan which includes bus stop removal as a prime feature, return of a handful of bus stops and a few more bus reroutings is unacceptable and must be stopped regardless if some parts of the plan are good. The MTA has never shown they will be helping more than they will be hurting, but just keeps repeating the same talking points that buses are slow which isn't even true (when compared to average automobile speeds) and removing bus stops makes buses go faster. 

What they don't tell you is that Queens has the highest average bus speeds in the city with the exception of Staten Island. Bus stops do not need to be removed and are well-balanced now. Write to all your elected officials to stop this plan if bus stop removal is not removed from the plan. Every city council person opposed the first draft. They should also oppose the second and final plans unless 95 percent of the bus stops are restored.