City's Bus Lines Get Triple Boost



CNG-powered Metrobus in use in Washington D.C. Lawmakers in Washington from Queens have snagged large transportation grants to improve the city's private bus fleets for 500,000 riders, while city, state and MTA officials are pursuing a plan to create faster travel routes in Queens and the other four boroughs.
Starting off the trifecta for the bus system now operated by the MTA, Congressmembers Joseph Crowley, Gary Ackerman and Anthony Weiner secured a $2 million federal grant for the MTA to acquire six compressed natural gas (CNG) buses that emit carbon dioxide gas, far less harmful than carbon monoxide, into the environment.
Then Crowley (D-Queens/The Bronx), Chief Deputy Whip for minority Democrats in the House, joined with three other colleagues from the New York State delegation to get another $132 million grant for the MTA to purchase newer, cleaner and safer buses for New York City that will be manufactured in upstate New York.
The third proposed improvement for city bus riders came in the form of a $2.9 million study of 15 heavy traffic corridors throughout the city, of which five-probably one in each borough-will be chosen to become the city's first rapid transit service routes.
Fuel connector on CNG-powered Metrobus. Among the Queens thoroughfare's being studied for the possible designation are Union Turnpike, the Horace Harding Expressway, Hillside Avenue, Merrick Boulevard, Kissena Boulevard, Parsons Boulevard, 164th Street and Guy R. Brewer Boulevard.
Crowley and Ackerman said in a release that the six new CNG buses, besides their environmental benefits, would be cheaper to run because they wouldn't be impacted by current high gasoline prices. The new buses, they said, would replace diesel fuel burning buses in the MTA fleet in Eastern Queens, Nassau and Western Suffolk Counties.
Crowley (D-Queens/The Bronx) noted he had commissioned an air quality study in 2004 around La Guardia Airport in Western Queens. "We discovered road traffic to be the biggest source for dangerous emissions," he said.
With the $2 million grant the MTA"can begin to replace its bus fleet with hightech, low-polluting buses that will help reduce dangerous emissions that ruin air quality, cause respiratory illnesses and harm our environment in Queens," Crowley said.
Ackerman (D-Bayside), whose district includes parts of Nassau County, pointed out that the CNG buses would help reduce this country's dependence on foreign oil while helping to protect the environment at the same time. "[CNG] is safer, healthier more efficient and more reliable," he said.
Weiner (D-Queens/Brooklyn) summed up, "Between vehicle emissions and airport traffic, Queens residents are fuming about air pollution. It's about time we cleared the air in Queens, and cleaner buses are a positive step toward that goal."
Crowley and his colleagues salvaged the $132 million appropriation by taking quick action after learning the funds could not be authorized for the city's Department of Transportation because the MTA had taken over the private bus lines in the city last year.
Crowley and the others sought the funds through an amendment to the massive $94.5 billion Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror and H u r r i c a n e Recovery for Fiscal Year 2006.
As the title suggests, the act included large amounts of funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as Hurricane Katrina relief. It passed both houses of Congress for Fiscal Year 2006.
"With these additional funds, New Yorkers will enjoy more reliable bus services and better accessibility to the city's widely used public transit system," Crowley said. "I am proud to work with my colleagues in a bipartisan way to help ensure efficient public transportation for New York residents who rely on the MTA to commute daily between their work and homes."
The other lawmakers involved in the bipartisan action were Congressmembers Jose Serrano (D-The Bronx) and John E. Sweeney and Sherwood Boehlert, both upstate Republicans.
Boehlert said the funding will protect an existing contract with Orion Bus Industries and maintain hundreds of jobs in upstate New York.
Sweeney, noting that New York state was threatened with the loss of funds, declared, "New York has already taken a hit on homeland security funds and we don't need another hit."
The rapid transit proposal is now undergoing several hearings, the goal of which is, "to get some sense of the pulse of the community," city Transportation Commissioner Iris Weinshall stated in a recent New York Times story.
"This will mean major changes for people in some neighborhoods," she said. "But if you make bus transport more reliable and fast, you give people the option of getting out of their cars."
In rapid transit routes in other cities, buses have their own designated lanes, are speed-controlled to allow them to pass through some thoroughfares and stop at certain widely separated, high-volume locations where passengers pay their fares as they board the bus. The basic objective would be to provide priority space along the thoroughfares and make fewer stops.
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