Q46 (New York City bus)

q46 q46
Union Turnpike
Oakland Gardens – Springfield Boulevard (Rush hour local service) Glen Oaks – Little Neck Parkway & 260th Street (Glen Oaks Branch) Lake Success, Nassau County – Long Island Jewish Medical Center (full route)
Length	8.7 mi (14 km) 8.3 miles (13.4 km) (Glen Oaks Branch)
Service
Operates	24 hours[note 1][1]
Annual patronage	3,825,856 (2022)[2]
Transfers	Yes
Timetable	Q46
Route map Lake Success – LIJ Hospital  Q46  Intermittent stops Lakeville Road / LIJ Hospital Roadway Lakeview Road / Hewlett Street Lakeville Road / Union Turnpike 271st–Hewlett Streets Intermittent stops 270th Street 268th Street 267th Street 265th Street 263rd Street Glen Oaks (Little Neck Parkway / 260th Street)  Q46  Intermittent stops 73rd Avenue 74th Avenue 75th Avenue Union Turnpike / 260th Street Intermittent stops 258th Street 255th–256th Streets 252nd Street–Little Neck Parkway Intermittent stops 251st Street 248th Street Commonwealth Boulevard Cross Island Parkway Winchester Boulevard Intermittent stops 236th Street 234th–235th Streets 232nd Street Grand Central Parkway East 226th Street Springfield Boulevard  Q46  Local stops 222nd Street 220th Place Stewart Road Bell Boulevard Local stops 211th Street Hollis Hills Terrace Francis Lewis Boulevard Local stops 198th Street 197th Street 196th Street 193rd Street 190th Street 188th Street Local stops  Chevy Chase Street 185th Street 183rd–Kent Streets 179th Street–Surrey Place Utopia Parkway 175th Street 173rd Street Local stops 170th–171st Streets 168th Street 165th–166th Streets 164th Street 160th Street Parsons Boulevard 153rd Street 150th Street 147th Street Main Street 141st Street Local stops Vleigh Place 135th Street Union Turnpike / Queens Boulevard ​ Kew Gardens – Queens Boulevard  Q46  ​ Legend Local & Limited stops Local stops  Q46  Terminal  LTD  Limited buses make all stops east of Springfield Boulevard  Q46  Select trips begin/end at Springfield Boulevard ​ Subway connection ←  Q44 SBS  {{{system_nav}}}  Q47  →

The Q46

Formerly named the Q44A, the bus route was originally operated by the North Shore Bus Company from December 4, 1939^[3] to 1947 when the company's routes were taken over by the New York City Board of Transportation. In 1974, the route was extended into Nassau County at Lakeville Road to serve LIJ Hospital. In 1977, limited-stop service on the route commenced, speeding up travel times for passengers in Eastern Queens. On April 12, 1990, the bus route was renumbered to Q46. It was extended from Lakeville Road to LIJ Hospital on September 7, 1997. Overnight and weekend service to Glen Oaks was eliminated in September 2002.

Route description and service

Q46 buses terminating at the Glen Oaks Village development (top), and at LIJ Hospital (bottom).

The Q46 begins on the north side of

At 260th Street in Glen Oaks, near the east end of Union Turnpike, the route splits into two branches. One branch, which only operates on weekdays, turns north onto 260th Street and terminates at Little Neck Parkway near the Queens County Farm Museum. The full-time branch continues east on Union Turnpike until Lakeville Road, where the bus turns north, before briefly entering Nassau County and terminating at Long Island Jewish Medical Center (LIJ).^[1]

Limited-stop service is operated along the Q46 route during rush hours. Limited-stop service operates bidirectionally during the AM rush hour, and operates in the peak-direction (heading east) during the PM rush hour. Limited-stop buses make limited stops between Queens Boulevard and Springfield Boulevard, and local stops east of Springfield. Local service operates between Kew Gardens and Springfield Boulevard. During the AM rush hour, eastbound Q46 locals terminate in Glen Oaks, while eastbound Q46 limiteds terminate at LIJ, with Kew Gardens-bound limited service originating from either terminal. During the PM rush hour, Q46 locals terminate at Springfield Boulevard, while limiteds alternate between Glen Oaks or LIJ. No limited-stop service operates on weekends.^[1]

History

Early years

The North Shore Bus Company began operating a bus route along Union Turnpike on December 4, 1939.

On August 12, 1947, the United Civic Council advocated for the extension of the Q44A, then under city control, from Hollis Court Boulevard to Springfield Boulevard. At the time, the extension had preliminary approval from some of the members of the Board of Transportation.[10] This extension took place on September 7, but only after pressure from civic organizations.^[11][12] On November 30, 1947, under city control, the Q44A was extended from Springfield Boulevard to Glen Oaks Village at Union Turnpike and 251st Street to serve new apartments there.^[13][14] In January 1948 the route was extended to 257th Street.^{[15][16]: 51}

On January 13, 1950, a spur of the Q44A was approved to turn off at 260th Street and operate via 260th Street to Little Neck Parkway.^[17] Service began on February 5, 1950.^[18] Previously, all Q44A buses continued along Union Turnpike to the Nassau County line at Lakeville Road. This spur provided direct service to Glen Oaks Village, sparing its residents a half-mile walk. This extension had been requested on December 16, 1949, and the public hearing was held on January 12, 1950.^[19]

Express service and route extension

Q44A Express

In December 1950, the North Cunningham Civic Association advocated for the implementation of zone express service along the route in the peak direction during rush hours. The group suggested having some buses run local to Utopia Parkway, some only making stops between Utopia Parkway and Hollis Court Boulevard, some only making stops between Hollis Court Boulevard and Commonwealth Boulevard, with the final variant only making stops east of the Cross Island Parkway.^[20][21] On June 28, 1954, express service on the Q44A began, with expresses leaving the City Line between 6:59 a.m. and 8:27 a.m. and leaving from the Kew Gardens subway station between 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.. These buses ran in the peak direction and made transfer stops at Main Street and Utopia Parkway, and were expected to save 5 to 7 minutes.^[22]

In 1974, the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) began to study whether bus service could be sped up using computerized traffic signals. The Q44A was the chosen route as it serves as a subway feeder and as a connector to major hospitals. In the late 1950s, the route carried as many as 7.5 million passengers per year, but that figure decreased to 3.78 million by 1976. Union Turnpike received computerized traffic signals before other streets, but it did little to cut travel times for bus passengers. As part of the plan, it was decided that a zone express concept could be used on the Q44A without inconveniencing many passengers, while benefiting a majority of them.^{[23]: 92–94}

Limited-stop service began on April 18, 1977 with the intent of attracting new riders to the route.^[24] Along with the M15, the two routes became the first to use limited service in the city.^[25] Limited-stop service would be bidirectional during the AM rush hour, and peak-direction (heading east) during the PM rush hour. These limited-stop buses were labeled as expresses. Eastbound expresses only stopped at Court House (only east-bound), Main Street, 149th Street, and Springfield Boulevard before making all stops. After running local to Winchester Boulevard, westbound expresses only stopped at Cloverdale Boulevard (226th Street), Springfield Boulevard, 149th Street, Main Street, and the subway. Some buses on the Glen Oaks Branch used to continue up Little Neck Parkway, turning west on the Grand Central Parkway service road, and turning onto Commonwealth Road, going east on the Grand Central Parkway service road, before it terminated at Little Neck Parkway and 260th Street. Between 4:50 and 6:35 PM, local service only ran to Springfield Boulevard, and free transfers were issued to continue past Springfield Boulevard via express Q44As.^[26] The express Q44As were also intended to compete with privately owned expresses buses operated by Queens Surface–travel times were 20 minutes shorter and the fare was $5 less.^[27]

The Q44A expresses were able to take advantage of the timed traffic signals for the first time, cutting scheduled running time to 27 minutes from 33 minutes. The average terminal-to-terminal speed of the zone expresses was better than 18 miles per hour (29 km/h)–significantly higher than on any other bus route in the city. Seat availability increased by 40%, travel times were reduced by 24%, and passengers from the outer reaches of Eastern Queens could get to Midtown Manhattan in less than an hour. All of this was possible with no change in labor costs, no additional vehicles, and with a slight increase in fuel consumption.^{[23]: 92–94} Q44A express service increased ridership on the route by 15%.^[28]

Extension and changes in service

In April 1974, an extension of the Q44A to LIJ Hospital was approved, which made it the first city route to extend into Nassau County.

The Q44A was renumbered to the Q46 on April 12, 1990. The Q46 was extended from Lakeville Road to LIJ Hospital on September 7, 1997, saving a half-mile walk.[37]^[38][39] On November 17, 1997, limited-stop buses started to make an additional stop at 150th Street.^[40]

In July 2002, the MTA announced a plan to eliminate overnight and weekend service to Glen Oaks, and operate all Q46 service during these periods to LIJ Hospital. At the time, about one-third of weekend trips, and 40 percent of late night trips served the branch to Glen Oaks even though there was limited demand on that branch. The change was intended to provide more frequent service to the more heavily used branch to LIJ, reducing headways from 30 to 40 minutes to 15 to 20 minutes late nights, and from 10 to 20 minutes weekends to every 10 minutes. Riders using the Glen Oaks branch would have to walk an average of 1,500 feet (460 m) to the nearest Union Turnpike bus stop. While the Glen Oaks branch was mainly used for school and work trips during the peak hours, LIJ, being a major hospital complex, generated trips 24/7. On an average November 2001 weekday, between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., there were 53 riders on the LIJ branch and only 7 on the Glen Oaks branch. Riders on the LIJ branch also outnumbered Glen Oaks branch riders 650 to 65 on Saturdays, and 400 to 45 on Sundays. The change was expected to cost $15,000 annually.^[41]

This change took effect on September 8, 2002.^[42][43]

The operation of reverse-peak limited-stop service in the morning rush hour was approved by the MTA Board in October 2005.^[44] On February 2, 2008, the LIJ branch's terminal was moved to Lakeville Road outside the hospital gates due to construction within the hospital grounds, particularly a new women's hospital adjacent to the bus stop.^[45][46][47] The Katz Women's Hospital was completed in December 2011,^[48] and the Q46 began running to a new terminal within the hospital.^[4]

The Northeast Queens Bus Study was released in 2015, and recommended, for the long term, the implementation of a pilot program for limited-zone bus service on one or more routes in Northeast Queens including the Q46. The study also recommended the implementation of Select Bus Service along Union Turnpike.^[4] On October 20, 2017, the New York City Department of Transportation released the Bus Forward report, and suggested that Select Bus Service be implemented along Union Turnpike and 20 other corridors citywide.^[49]

Queens bus redesign

In December 2019, the MTA released a draft redesign of the Queens bus network.^[50][51] As part of the redesign, the Q46 would have been replaced by a "subway connector" route called the QT32, which would run nonstop from Kew Gardens to 188th Street. Local service between these points would have been provided by a "neighborhood" route, the QT11, which would run from Fresh Meadows to East Elmhurst.^[52] The redesign was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City in 2020,^[53] and the original draft plan was dropped due to negative feedback.^[54]

A revised plan was released in March 2022.^[55] Under the new plan, the branch to Queens County Farm Museum would be called the Q48, while the LIJ branch would retain the Q46 designation; both lines would be "zone" routes with a nonstop section from Kew Gardens to 188th Street. The Q23 would have been extended to Fresh Meadows to provide local service between these points.^[56] A final bus-redesign plan was released in December 2023.^[57][58] The Q23 would not be rerouted onto Union Turnpike; instead, the final plan involved the creation of a new "limited-stop" route, the Q45, from 188th Street in Fresh Meadows to Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike.^{[59]: 238–239} The Q46 would still become a zone route, traveling to LIJ 24/7 and making few stops west of 188th Street.^{[59]: 241–242} The Queens County Farm Museum branch would become a zone route called the Q48, which would operate only on weekdays and would also make few stops west of 188th Street.^{[59]: 249–250}

See also

• Q20 and Q44 buses along Main Street
• Q64, QM4 and QM44 buses along Jewel Avenue
• Q74 (New York City bus) formerly along Main Street from Queens College to Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike
• QM1 and QM1A buses

Notes

References