Q&A
Discussion of the loss of the Q74 bus route and its implications
0:47:37
·
78 sec
Council Member Brooks-Powers inquires about the loss of the Q74 bus route in Queens. Luis Alzate from ATU provides context on the route's discontinuation and its impact.
- Alzate explains that the Q74 route served Queens College and several high schools
- The official reason given for discontinuing the route was budgetary cuts
- ATU believes there was an intention to replace the bus route with commuter van or microtransit service
- Alzate expresses concern about the precedent of replacing public transportation with alternative services
Selvena N. Brooks-Powers
0:47:37
So is the concern more so being along the bus routes in themselves.
0:47:44
And and when you mentioned the q 74 route was lost, can you explain what caused the loss of that route?
Luis Alzate
0:47:52
Well, ultimately, it it wasn't through a ridership issue.
0:47:55
Ultimately, this was around that.
0:47:57
That that addressed the needs of the committee, not only to Queen's College, and several high schools, ultimately became evident that this was when when that councilman was the a councilman that need another president of our local, it became evident after that that the the goal from ATU's point of view was that they wanted to replace our bus routes with a with a commuter bus service.
Selvena N. Brooks-Powers
0:48:23
But what was the official reason for them getting rid of the q 74?
Luis Alzate
0:48:28
Ultimately, the transit party's decision was that they they didn't need the service, that it was based on the budgetary cuts even though we that there were hearings that were held to to justify that this was meant to get part of the community.
0:48:44
But once again, what we became what we came ever into us after the fact was that they wanted to replace that route with a with a micro transit system or a bad service.