Q69 and Q100 buses

Route description and service

The Q69 and Q100 both begin on Queens Plaza in Long Island City, sharing a south-north corridor along 21st Street through Long Island City and Astoria. The Q69 provides local service along 21st Street between Queens Plaza and Ditmars Boulevard, while the Q100 provides limited-stop service along the street. Both routes operate out of the LaGuardia Depot in East Elmhurst.

Q69

The Q69 begins at 28th Street and Queens Plaza South, near the Queensboro Plaza subway station. Northbound service makes a clockwise loop south along Jackson Avenue and west on 44th Drive (passing One Court Square and the Court Square subway complex), then travels north on 21st Street. At Ditmars Boulevard, the Q69 turns east through the neighborhood of Steinway. It terminates at 82nd Street and Astoria Boulevard in Jackson Heights, near the Marine Air Terminal of LaGuardia Airport. Travel into the airport requires a transfer to the Q47 or M60 SBS. The Q69 does not operate during overnight hours.

Former Q19A

Before the MTA takeover, the Q69 was known as the Q19A. The Q19A was originally two separate routes. The original Q19A ran between Queens Plaza and the Astoria – Ditmars Boulevard subway station at 31st Avenue. The second route, originally called the Q33A, operated on the eastern portion of the line along Ditmars from the station to 82nd Street in Jackson Heights. During off-peak hours, the Q33A was extended to 102nd Street and Astoria Boulevard, the terminus of what was then the Q19B route (now the Q49) and at that time the terminal of the Q19. Through bus riders not destined for the subway had to transfer between buses. The Q33A was also called the 82nd Street Crosstown – Ditmars route. It was later designated Q51. At the Ditmars Boulevard station, the bus stops for both routes were initially located in the middle of the block on 31st Street near the subway entrance.

In May 1949, Triboro Coach appealed to the police commissioner for permission to move the bus stop to the intersection. Following approval, the bus stop was moved north to the corner of Ditmars and 31st Street. In October 1949, the bus stop was shifted back to the station stairs following protests from commuters. This move was intended to be temporary, but the stop at the corner was not reinstated. At the end of April 1950, Triboro decided to shift the bus stop back to the corner, this time due to several accidents with the pillars of the Astoria elevated line. The original setup at the middle of the block was more convenient for subway riders, as the bus stop was adjacent to the station. As late as 1962, there were calls to reinstate the former setup. The two bus routes were merged around 1960.

Q100

The Q100 begins at Jackson Avenue between Queens Plaza South and 42nd Road, at the Queens Plaza station. After running west through the Queens Plaza area, it turns north onto 21st Street, stopping at the 21st Street – Queensbridge station at the Queensbridge Houses, then making four more stops along street. At the end of 21st Street in the Ditmars section of Astoria, the Q100 turns east onto 20th Avenue, making a single stop at 31st Avenue in front of the Astoria Con Edison/New York Power Authority facility. It then turns north onto Hazen Street, connecting with the Q101 at 19th Avenue. Travel north of 19th Avenue (formerly Riker Avenue) is within the jurisdiction of the New York City Correction Department. The Q100 makes its final stop in Queens at the Rikers Island parking lot. It then crosses the Rikers Island Bridge onto the island itself, passing through both security checkpoints, and terminating at the Rikers Island visitors center.

Though the Q100 is the limited-stop service along the corridor, it runs much less frequently than the Q69. It operates on 10-15 minute headways during daytime hours, 30 minute headways during early mornings and evenings, and 1 hour headways during overnight hours.

The Q100 is the only public transit option to Rikers Island. Otherwise, travel must be done by ferry, car, or privately operated shuttles between either foot of the bridge. Prior to MTA takeover, the then-Q101R operated non-stop between 21st Street – Queensbridge and the Queens Rikers Island parking lot. Although service on the route was expanded in February 2009 to better serve communities along the route, much of the ridership of the Q100 still consists of inmates' family members – who are predominantly women and children – as well as prison employees. The bus also transports some released inmates, particularly women.

History

In the 1930s, the New York City Board of Transportation (predecessor to the New York City Transit Authority) separated bus service in Queens into four zones. Zone A in Western Queens (Woodside, Astoria, and Long Island City) was awarded to Triboro Coach, including the Q19A franchise along Ditmars Boulevard and 21st Street (Van Alst Avenue) between the Ditmars Boulevard station and Long Island City. Service on the Q19A began on August 18, 1934, competing with the parallel 31st Street and Vernon Boulevard streetcar lines of the Steinway Railway (now the Q102 and Q103 buses respectively). In 1938, Triboro began operating a bus route along Ditmars Boulevard east from the Ditmars station to 49th Street in Steinway/East Elmhurst. In 1939, the company proposed the Q33A route along Ditmars as an extension to their existing Q33 franchise.

During the late 1940s and early 1950s, there were often complaints of overcrowding and bad headways on the Q19A, such as from the Taminent Democratic Club of Long Island City. The overcrowding resulted in passengers waiting for several buses until an empty one arrived.

By 1959, the Q33A was renumbered Q51. Around this time, the Q19A and the Q51 were combined into a single Q19A service. In the 1960s and 1970s, many Q19A rush hour runs from Queens Plaza terminated and turned back at the Ditmars Boulevard station.

Prior to the creation of the Q101R, the Q101 operated by Steinway Transit (successor to the Steinway Railway) served Rikers Island, running local down Steinway Street to Queens Plaza, and across the Queensboro Bridge to Midtown Manhattan. Service to Rikers began around 1967; the bridge from Queens to the island was opened on November 22, 1966. Some local residents complained of having to share the route with Rikers-bound passengers. The Q101R was created in the 1980s, with the Q101 truncated to Hazen Street and 19th Avenue. Originally, the Q101R ran non-stop between Long Island City and the Rikers Island parking lot. Steinway would merge with sister company Queens Transit Corporation to become Queens-Steinway Transit Corporation in 1986. The company became Queens Surface Corporation in 1988.

On February 27, 2005, the MTA Bus Company took over the operations of the Queens Surface routes including the Q101R, part of the city's takeover of all the remaining privately operated bus routes. On February 2, 2006, the operations of Triboro Coach including the Q19A were taken over by MTA Bus. As part of the takeover, the Q101R and other former Steinway Transit routes in western Queens were moved to the former Triboro Coach depot (LaGuardia Depot). On April 6, 2008, the Q101R was renumbered as the Q100, and on April 20, 2008, the Q19A was renumbered the Q69. On June 22, 2008, the Q100 stop on 20th Avenue at the Astoria power plant was added. Q100 limited-stop service along 21st Street began on February 1, 2009.