page_title: Merrick Boulevard buses
section_title: Q85
hierarchical_section_title: Merrick Boulevard buses / Route description and service / Q85
caption_attribution_description: English: A terminated Q85 bus at Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, Nassau County.
context_page_description: The Q5 and Q85 bus routes constitute a public transit corridor running along Merrick Boulevard in Southeastern Queens, New York City. The routes run from the Jamaica Center transit hub and business district to Rosedale, with continued service to the Green Acres Mall shopping center in Nassau County. The Q4 and Q84 buses also serve the northern portion of the corridor, before diverging east along Linden Boulevard and 120th Avenue respectively. The Q4, Q5, and Q85 also provide limited-stop service along the corridor. The routes on the corridor mainly serve as feeder routes to the subway at Jamaica Center.
  The Q4, Q5, Q84, and Q85 routes were operated by Bee-Line Inc. and later the North Shore Bus Company until 1947. All four routes are now operated by MTA Regional Bus Operations under the New York City Transit brand.
context_section_description: The Q85 begins at Bay B of the Jamaica Center Bus Terminal, running down Merrick Boulevard to Baisley Boulevard and 120th Avenue in St. Albans. It then runs down Baisley Boulevard, Bedell Street (adjacent to the tracks of the Long Island Rail Road's Montauk Branch near Rochdale Village), and 140th Avenue to Springfield Boulevard. The route then turns south along Springfield Boulevard to Conduit Avenue, then east along Conduit Avenue, along the former Brooklyn-Freeport Line streetcar route. At Francis Lewis Boulevard near the Rosedale LIRR station, the Q85 splits into two branches. The full-time Rosedale branch turns south along 243rd Street and terminates at the intersection of 147th Avenue and Huxley Street, with a transfer to the Q111 to continue farther east along 147th Avenue. The Green Acres branch, which begins service at the end of the AM rush hour period, continues a short distance east along Conduit Avenue/Sunrise Highway into Nassau County, terminating at Green Acres Mall.
  Q85 Limited buses make all local stops south of Baisley Boulevard and Bedell Street, terminating at 147th Avenue. During most of the AM rush period, peak direction (Jamaica-bound) local buses begin service at Farmers Boulevard and Bedell Street in Rochdale Village, at the Locust Manor LIRR station. During the afternoon rush, peak (southbound) local buses alternately terminate at Farmers Boulevard or Green Acres. During all other off-peak periods except late nights, buses alternate between Rosedale and Green Acres.
  The Q85 was originally two separate routes, the Q5A and Q5AB. The Q5A ran from Jamaica along Merrick Boulevard, turning south at Springfield Boulevard (along the current Q77 route). It proceeded along Springfield Boulevard, Conduit Avenue (then called the Sunrise Highway), and 243rd Street to 147th Avenue and Huxley Street. It was known as the Jamaica-Rosedale or Jamaica-Huxley Street Line, or as the Laurelton Shuttle. By the 1970s, the Q5A was rerouted from Springfield Boulevard to Farmers Boulevard.
  The Q5AB, originally the second branch of the Q5A called the Higbie Avenue branch, turned south from Merrick Boulevard at Farmers Boulevard to serve the Locust Manor LIRR station and the now-closed Higbie Avenue LIRR station at modern-day 140th Avenue. The route terminated either at Higbie Avenue or Springfield Boulevard in Locust Manor, or merged with the Q5A at Springfield Boulevard before continuing to Rosedale at either 147th Avenue or 225th Street and Conduit Avenue. The route was later renamed Q5AB and rerouted to Baisley Boulevard and Bedell Street, corresponding to the current Q85 Farmers Boulevard local service.
  There was also additional Q5 services. The first was known as the Q5 Laurelton Station line, the Q5B, and later the Q5A-LS or Q5AS (Laurelton Shuttle). It operated as a north–south shuttle on 224th, 226th, and 229th Streets between the Laurelton LIRR station and 131st Avenue in the Laurelton neighborhood, one block south of the Montefiore Cemetery. It was later moved from 224th Street to 225th Street, and extended south to 147th Avenue and east to 243rd Street. The second, the Q5S, was a shuttle along Francis Lewis Boulevard between the Rosedale LIRR station at Conduit Avenue and 147th Drive at the southeast corner of Queens. Both these routes were later discontinued.
caption: A terminated Q85 bus at Green Acres Mall.
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