The MTA has complete control over New York City’s mass transit. Yet, the agency has provided no leadership on mass transit issues and has acted as a spoiler to innovative ideas by citizens. The commuting problems of the Rockaway Peninsula and attempts by residents to solve them provide an excellent case study of this problem.
On the Outskirts of New York City
The Rockaway Peninsula, located in Southeastern Queens, is currently served by the A subway line. Before proceeding to the Rockaways, the A train splits in Ozone Park with ½ of its fleet heading to Lefferts Blvd. and the other half to the Rockaways. At Broad Channel, the line splits again into two branches called Far Rockaway and Rockaway Park. The A train mainly serves Far Rockaway. The Rockaway Park branch has five A trains during rush hour and is primarily served by shuttles. Since the A trains are spread so thinly, it means long waits for trains.
Exacerbating the travel problem for Rockaway residents is that the A takes a circuitous route across the width of Brooklyn before entering Downtown Manhattan and proceeding north. As a result, Rockaway riders wishing to get to Midtown Manhattan have to contend with a journey on overcrowded trains which lasts over an hour.
In 2010, Mayor Bloomberg created a Rockaway Task Force to make recommendations on improvements, including transportation. The Task Force proposed the restoration of the so-called "Train to the Plane," the JFK express. Even though it required an extra fare, Rockaway residents used this train because it made only 1 stop in Brooklyn before terminating at Howard Beach, at which point, they would switch to the regular A train. There is, however, far more that can be done.
There Is a Better Way
Before it became a part of the MTA, the Long Island Railroad had a branch from its mainline running to the Rockaways. NYC purchased this branch in 1952 and the NYC Transit Authority connected part of it (south of Ozone Park) to the A train in 1956 (George, 67). The LIRR continued to provide service to the northern part of this branch (from the mainline to Ozone Park) until 1962. After service was ended, the northern branch was abandoned and lies fallow, overgrown with weeds and trees, to this very day.
A group of Queens’ residents banded together, supported by transit planner, George Haikalis, to form the Regional Rail Working Group Rockaway Subcommittee (the Subcommittee) with a specific goal of restoring service on the northern Rockaway branch. They came up with a number of recommendations, clearly outlined and discussed by Subcommittee member, David Krulewitch, which for the sake of clarity and brevity can be summed up as follows:
1. The Railroad Option: The principal problem of the late 1950's service was the terminal at Ozone Park, which guaranteed low ridership. Thanks to a four track roadbed between Ozone Park and Howard Beach, the railroad can be extended into the Rockaway subway line with a terminal either at Aqueduct, with a provision for a JFK extension, or Howard Beach. In either case, an underground station would have to be built for the railroad to provide Rockaway residents with an easy transfer from the A train to a direct and quick route to Midtown Manhattan.
2. The Subway Option: A new subway route from Rockaway Park can be established which would run on the same tracks with the A train until Aqueduct and then cross-over to the abandoned northern branch. At the junction with the LIRR mainline, a Rego Park Station can be built after which the subway would continue into the Queens Blvd. line. Bellmouth tunnels were built east of the 63rd Drive Station which would make this connection relatively easy and pose no disturbance to the busy Queens Blvd. line. (Krulewitch, clearly unaware of the 63rd Drive bellmouths, proposed digging the line to Woodhaven Blvd., an expensive but happily unnecessary proposition.) Either the M or R train could be diverted into this new Rockaway route.
The Subcommittee proposed some stations on the northern branch which, I feel, should be decided after collaboration with the local communities. The only station which is an absolute necessity for either option is Rego Park. Here Rockaway subway riders would be able to transfer to the LIRR for a quicker ride into Midtown Manhattan or east, or they could stay on the subway for a slower ride through the Queens Blvd. Line.
It is critical that the Rego Park subway station be aligned in such a way that it would: create an easy transfer to the proposed LIRR Rego Park Station, have a connection to the 63rd Drive Station, have bellmouths which would permit a future extension north along Junction Blvd., as recommended by Subcommittee member, Joe Tiraco; and also, allow the line to be connected to a Queens Blvd. By-pass Super Express, if that project is revived pending the completion of Phase III of the 2nd Avenue subway as a four track line.
For the present, it’s useful to incorporate an idea championed by Commute (Communities United for Transportation Equity). This group proposed a Select Bus Service (SBS) originating in the Aqueduct area and continuing north via Cross Bay, Woodhaven, Junction and Northern Boulevards to Flushing. If a subway ran along the north Rockaway branch, there would be no need to take away traffic lanes for buses on the very busy Cross Bay and Woodhaven Boulevards. Instead, the SBS could start at the Rego Park subway station with one bus heading to Laguardia Airport and another to Flushing. Thus, the Rego Park station would become a major transportation hub not only for Manhattan/Long Island destinations and LaGuardia Airport but also, for desperately needed Queens crosstown service.
I prefer the subway option since this would mean more affordable service and more trains on both Rockaway branches. Since the LIRR extension can’t go further south than Howard Beach, Rockaway residents would have to transfer to the commuter train at this point. With the subway option, they still would have a chance to transfer to the LIRR at Rego Park and save some money too. Finally, there would be no need to build a railroad station at either Aqueduct or Howard Beach.
A Golden Opportunity
Nothing illustrates the MTA’s attitude to the Rockaways better than an incident from the Christmas Blizzard of 2010. An A train, filled with passengers, got stuck in the snow and wasn’t rescued for some 8 hours! In discussing this during the City Council Transportation Committee hearing of 12/6/11, which I attended, MTA officials admitted that they completely forgot about the train!
The likely reason why the Rockaway Task Force didn’t propose reactivating the Rockaway line, is that Task Force members knew that the MTA would ignore it. Even their modest super-express suggestion was disregarded. It’s common knowledge that the MTA will say "no" to any initiative not of its own making and especially one involving the outer boroughs.
It’s also no surprise that Queens Community Board #9 charged into the vacuum and proposed to turn the northern Rockaway branch into a greenway, called Queensway. Without the need to deal with the eternal spoiler, the MTA, the Community Board’s chances of implementing its vision looked fairly good. While using an established railbed for bicycles is definitely a waste of a transportation resource, it’s arguably better than a perpetually abandoned structure overgrown with weeds.
The Queensway proposal was gaining momentum until Governor Cuomo’s State of the State speech on January 4th. The governor proposed a convention center at Aqueduct and everyone familiar with the area, including the Genting Group, who will build the project, realizes that better subway access is an absolute necessity. Genting even hinted at some funding! One suggestion already mentioned is the Rockaway Task Force’s "super express." As a solution to the needs of a convention center, however, the "super express" would be laughably inadequate.
It is imperative that the residents of Ozone Park and the Rockaways seize the moment. Before someone makes a choice for them, they should decide whether they favor a railroad or subway option and insist on a revival of the north Rockaway branch. This is the only way to improve their commute significantly and to meet the transit demands of the proposed convention center.
The MTA Must Go!
Good fortune may have smiled on the Rockaways but it doesn’t erase the MTA’s abdication of leadership in the transportation problems of the area. Other NYC neighborhoods won’t be so lucky. The MTA provides no leadership on mass transit issues of any kind. The following is simply mind boggling: The MTA always wails about the lack of money. Yet, the agency refused to campaign for Senator Gillibrand’s Transit Operations Assistance bill, which would have provided more federal money for transit operations! It appears that the only thing that the MTA wants is money on demand for its own agenda, which has no public support.
Transit advocates regularly attack elected officials branding them as being pro vehicular traffic. They forget, however, that while the politicians have control over highways, they have almost none over mass transit. If an elected official doesn’t address a problem or support a popular initiative, they can get voted out. With a public authority, the people are helpless and condemned to perpetual suffering.
There is no real spokesperson for mass transit. The MTA uses its public authority status as the perfect excuse not to bother while elected officials have no authority or control. And, whenever the people such as the Rockaway Task Force, the Rockaway Subcommittee and Commute come up with innovative solutions, the MTA extinguishes them.
Writing in the journal Foreign Policy, Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore accuses the "western intelligentia" of being afraid to address their own "sacred cows" (Foreign Policy). He is correct. For mass transit advocates, the MTA has become a "sacred cow." They act as if no one but this public authority can run mass transit. They ignore the fact that this setup is not working and is destroying NYC’s vital mass transit network.
For mass transit to reclaim its proper position in political discourse, it’s necessary to empower the people and their elected officials. It’s essential to generate and to foster new ideas. It’s indispensable to revive the can-do spirit for which Americans and New Yorkers, in particular, are famous for. Paraphrasing a well-known line from former President Reagan: "it’s time to get the MTA off the backs of the people of New York City."
Transit advocates must realize that there is an alternative to the MTA. The time has come for NYC to end its leases with the MTA and to empower the people. A Board of Mass Transit with appointees by the mayor, public advocate and the five borough presidents will assure that popular initiatives will be greeted with "let’s raise the money and get this done," instead of "we can’t, we can’t, we can’t."
Sources
- Lisa L. Colangelo, "It’s a Rail Problem: Rockaway Commutes Take Big Toll–Task Force," New York Daily News, September 28, 2011.
- Herbert George, "Change at Ozone Park," RAE Publishing, Flanders, NJ 1993, p. 67.
- Regional Rail Working Group-Rockaway Subcommittee - Contact Carl Perrera: nyctransitman@ aol.com
- David Krulewitch, "Get Me to the Beach," Rockaway Beach Branch Reactivation Study, May 9, 2010.
- Pratt Center for Community Development - Contact Elena Conte: econte@pratt.edu
- Commute’s Proposed SBS Routes http://prattcenter.net/sites/default/files/maps/COMMUTE_BRT_network.pdf
- Jean-Paul Salamanca, "Proposed New Queens Greenway Going Full Speed Ahead," The Forum News Group, December 22, 2011.
- Lisa L. Colangelo, "Transit Advocates Oppose Plan to Turn Defunct Railroad into Queensway Park," New York Daily News, January 4, 2012.
- Joseph De Avila, "Convention Center Builder Seeks Subway Link," Wall Street Journal, Metropolis, January 5, 2012.
- Foreign Policy, "100 Top Global Thinkers of 2011," (Vol. 190), p. 105, #91.
John Rozankowski - I have been a community activist in the Bronx for some 20 years and participated in many local campaigns in the interest of the people. ...
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