‘They need to do more’: Rockaway locals say MTA’s plan to keep them moving during A train stoppage won’t be enough
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Locals and elected officials heard out the MTA’s alternative plans for service during the 17-week A train stoppage on Thursday, but left feeling like the transit authority needed to go further. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
Following concerns from locals over the MTA’s plan to stop all subway service to the Rockaway peninsula for 17 weeks next year, Governor Kathy Hochul said last week that the MTA will bring a number of new and discounted services to help ease the headaches for the peninsula’s transit rides.
However, local elected officials and straphangers in the far-flung corner of Queens say more will be needed to keep them moving with ease.
On Thursday night, Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers and the MTA held a town hall in Rockaway to discuss the MTA’s long-slated and much needed repairs on the peninsula portion of the A line and to hear out local concerns. At the town hall, the councilmember and several other locals told the MTA it isn’t going far enough to accommodate riders during the stoppage.
Starting in January, the MTA will begin to repair outdated tracks and fortify existing infrastructure along the line, much of which was damaged when Hurricane Sandy hit the peninsula hard more than a decade ago.
The work – part of the MTA’s Rockaway Resiliency Project – will result in a 17-week suspension of A train service to the Rockaways, cutting out a commuting lifeline for many who are already disconnected from mainland New York City. MTA officials have stressed that there was no way around the full stoppage. Throughout the duration of the repairs, there will be no train tracks for a subway to travel on.
“When we remove [the tracks], there's just going to be air,” said Deidre Harvey, the CEO of the Rockway Resiliency Project. “We're going to be totally demolishing it. There'll just be air. I cannot provide you service.”
Just hours before the town hall, Hochul and the MTA announced a slew of service changes they hope will ease concerns for commuters on Rockaway.
The MTA will now offer free shuttle buses from Howard Beach to all of Rockaway and shuttle trains from the eastside to the westside of the peninsula. Rockaway residents also will be able to ride the LIRR from Far Rockaway for just $2.75 each way.
“While these construction plans and changes will create a faster and more reliable transportation experience in and out of the Rockaways for our New Yorkers, we are also cognizant of the burden it will have on residents’ commutes,” Hochul said in a statement. “This service plan helps us ensure that we can take care of our residents while transforming their transit experience, and ensuring that we provide fair and reliable transportation alternatives as we carry out the resiliency plan.”
While Rockaway residents and officials acknowledged that the fixes are needed and a stoppage is necessary to facilitate the work, they also asked for more from the MTA to fill the gaps at the town hall on Thursday.
Brooks-Powers, who chairs the Council’s Committee on Transportation, called for the MTA to increase express bus service. She also called for an increase in the overall number of buses and shuttles available on the peninsula. The lawmakers also demanded the LIRR be completely free for Rockaway residents for the duration of the stoppage.
Starting in January, there will be no A train to the Rockaway peninsula for 17-weeks as the MTA carries out needed track and infrastructure repairs. Eagle file photo by Ryan Schwach
“We have called on the MTA to expand the QM17 and QM16 service hours to ensure that community residents can still utilize public transit to get to and from Manhattan for the day with no direct trains and no direct train service between the peninsula and Manhattan,” said Brooks-Powers.
She called the LIRR a “transit lifeline.”
“We should work to make sure that this option remains available at no additional cost to local residents,” she said.
Most residents who posed questions to MTA officials said they the same thoughts: More buses, more express buses and more ferry service to accommodate locals during the outage.
“They definitely need to do more,” said one Far Rockaway local, Sharmika Davis-Boyd. “The buses are going to be crowded.”
One MTA official called the current plans “the best service we can offer given the resources that we have.”
“We're going to be monitoring the performance on the buses and trains,” said Hugo Zamora, the general superintendent for service diversions & coordination at New York City Transit. “If something is happening on the bus that needs to be fixed – too many buses, not enough buses, not enough buses for a certain hour, or too many buses – I'm going to be here and my team will be here to make real time decisions.”
That was at least somewhat soothing to some in the audience.
“As long as they are going to do what they're saying to make sure that things are going be running smooth as best as their ability, I feel comfortable with it,” said Davis-Boyd, who travels to Manhattan at least three times a week. “It's going to affect me personally a lot.”
But even after MTA officials promised residents they were doing the best they could, many left unsatisfied.
“I don't think that they appreciate that this community is going to need multiple options to be able to sustain this, and that's the frustration,” said local Assemblymember Khaleel Anderson. “They have a lot of alternatives, but I don't think it goes far enough.”
Linsey Reeves, an employee at Brooklyn Supreme Court who commutes with her son who goes to school in the same area, said the service changes will throw a wrench into their usual travel.
“We need to be able to keep our jobs and not be tardy and be late and miss out on instruction time through school because of all these changes and plans,” she said. “We love our peninsula but we're geographically isolated from the rest of Queens. We just want to be able to move around just like everyone else."
