C M SQ page 17 Y K
could easily combine with new bus routes to ease the strain on Rockaway travelers. Lieber said last month’s designation of the Q4 bus in Southeast Queens as a free bus is, like the free routes in other boroughs, still in its early data-gathering stages. Officials are particularly interested in seeing if it is attracting new bus passengers or luring them from other nearby routes. While Lieber said there are plans in the foreseeable future to upgrade or replace old diesel locomotives with clean diesel or electric engines, Free said diesels at the New York & Atlantic rail yard in Glendale are a separate issue. “That’s in a open procurement process,” Free said. And while the new Elmhurst station by the UBS Arena in Nassau County is the first new LIRR stop in a half-century, Lieber said the agency’s recent 20-year capital study is shying way from any new or reopened stations in Queens. “Those didn’t do well in the metrics” in terms of cost-benefit analysis, he said. But officials said with the increased number of trains, particularly in reversepeak times, city residents who have jobs or go to school in Nassau and Suffolk now have added options. They also said it increases the area from which businesses on Long Island can realistically recruit Q potential employees.
PHOTO COURTESY MELISSA ORLANDO-ROMERO
continued from page 16 the E train or maybe taking the J/Z and taking 45 minutes to an hour.” He said the increased numbers of trains, including those running on weekends and in reverse-peak hours, also have served borough residents well. Asked specifically about restoring the old Rockaway Beach line, particularly from the viewpoint of folks from the Rockaway Peninsula, Lieber said it does not appear to be in the cards at this point. But he did say they have improved service and will continue to do so. “I’m always keeping an eye on the A train,” Lieber said of the route that runs south from uppermost Manhattan, crosses the Brooklyn Bridge and runs to Ozone Park, except for the trains that split off to the south and form an odd, two-pronged fish hook in the Rockaways. Also on his mind was how the Queens bus network redesign can improve commuting to and from there. He said the MTA even went to extensive technological ends to provide City Ticket coverage, which he said took some doing as part of the line runs through Nassau County. He and McCarthy also said the proposed Interborough Express, a light rail line being planned to run along the route of an existing freight route between Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and Jackson Heights,
Page 17 QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, October 26, 2023
LIRR talks transit in Queens
The NY Rim Rokaz win big! The 10U New York Rim Rokaz, the nonprofit boys basketball team based out of Howard Beach and led by director/coach Fabian Cortes and coach Stephane Jean Jacques, gave it their all and won two championship games this month. On the weekend of Oct. 7, the team went undefeated in the Zero Gravity Gotham City Showdown. Then, this past weekend, the team again
played their hearts out, winning a title against a previously undefeated team in the Zero Gravity New York Fall Brawl. The team is: Coach Jean Jacques, left, Christian Gazza, Joseph Scopo, Antonio LoFaso, Lucas Vasquez, Jayden Romero, the team captain, Jace Joseph, Liam Brooks, Salvatore Cirone, Director/Coach Cortes and Nolan Lacey. — Kristen Guglielmo
You’re a New Yorker from day 1 Enroll in NYC Care regardless of your immigration status or ability to pay.
1-646-NYC-CARE For the latest news visit qchron.com
nyccare.nyc
