Queens News - Local News

As legitimate dollar van operators get priced out by high insurance rates, off-the-books competitors are taking their place.   This article originally appeared in The City. By  Jose Martinez QUEENS - Even as licensed “dollar vans” all but vanish from city streets, unregulated commuter carriers remain obstacles to MTA buses in parts of Brooklyn and Queens. The number of Taxi and Limousine Commission–affiliated commuter vans in service has shrunk by 93% since 2015, TLC data shows, with just 39 such vehicles still licensed to operate as of this week — down from 215 a decade ago. But MTA officials and union representatives for the agency’s bus operators say the official dollar van downturn has given way to a boom in unlicensed commuter vans that clog bus stops and bus lanes, further slowing buses that poke along at an average citywide speed of 8.1 mph. “You have to stop short of the bus stop or in the middle of the street, because the dollar vans are ever...

An MTA 1 train operator 1 pulls into the 50th Street station, Dec. 6, 2024. -Photo by Alex Krales/THE CITY Following alarming break-ins and attacks on conductors and operators, agency heads promised action at the beginning of the year — but there’s little to show for it.  This article originally appeared in The City.  By Jose Martinez Follow @x NEW YORK - Nearly a year after the MTA pledged to make quick fixes to prevent vandals from breaking into train crew cabs, subway cars on only three lines have upgraded locks on worker compartments, according to the agency. Agency numbers reveal that among the entire subway fleet of more than 6,400 train cars, only those that run on the 1, 3 and 6 lines have upgraded locks for train operator and conductor cabs. Meanwhile, lock upgrades for worker cabs on the troubled No. 7 are undergoing a “continued review” in the wake of recent incidents along the line, said Kayla Shults, an MTA spokesperson. ...

  The only subway line out of the peninsula is scheduled for a 17-week shutdown for post-Sandy rehab — and riders are extremely vexed about it. This article originally appeared in The City. By  Haidee Chu QUEENS - Cheryl Motley, 62, rises at around 5 a.m. every weekday to make her two-hour commute from Far Rockaway, Queens to her office in Brooklyn on the A then R train. Come the new year, though, she will have to wake up even earlier as an upcoming service outage to the A train is set to shake up her routine. Starting in mid-January, service for the A train will end at Howard Beach for 17 weeks until May — disconnecting over 9,000 daily commuters on Broad Channel and the entire Rockaway peninsula from the only subway service that carries them to the mainland.  “Oh my god, it’s devastating,” Motley, a 30-year Rockaway resident, told THE CITY while riding the Rockaway-bound A train home from work during rush hour Thursday. She recalled when Superstorm Sandy cut off trai...

Preliminary design work is next step for a new light rail line championed by Gov. Kathy Hochul. By Jose Martinez This article originally appeared in The City. NEW YORK - The next step for a proposed light-rail transit line between Brooklyn and Queens along 14 miles of existing freight tracks will be preliminary design work, MTA officials said Tuesday. The Interborough Express, a rail link between Bay Ridge and Jackson Heights, would have 19 stops and connect to 17 subway lines and the Long Island Rail Road. The MTA also said it is looking at potentially using an existing tunnel beneath a Queens cemetery instead of running street-level service in Middle Village. “We’re taking an underutilized train line, [which] basically gets one freight train a day, and turning it into something which is transformative for so many New Yorkers,” said MTA CEO Janno Lieber in announcing the request for design proposals. “It makes no sense that the 5 million people who live in Brooklyn and Queens...

Third Attack on Queens Subway Stations in Three Days The NYPD is searching for this man in connection with an assault of an elderly man on a Queens subway platform. -Photo by NYPD By Dan Gesslein  Queens Voice February 19, 2024 QUEENS - An elderly man is recovering after being assaulted at yet another Queens station. At around 11:40 am on February 15, a 70-year-old man was standing near the emergency exit gate at the Jackson Heights – Roosevelt Avenue subway station. Cops said without warning another man walked up behind the senior and pushed him to the ground.  The suspect walked out of the station. The victim was treated for cuts and bruises at the scene. The NYPD released surveillance video of the suspect who was seen rolling a suitcase and carrying a grocery bag. The suspect is said to be a male with a dark complexion who is in his 40s and was wearing eyeglasses. The suspect was last seen wearing a black winter jacket and black pants. He also wore bright red boots. This i...