Q66 (New York City bus)

### **Start**

Long Island City – 28th Street and Queens Plaza South / Queensboro Plaza station

### **Via**

21st Street, 35th Avenue, Northern Boulevard

### **End**

Flushing – Main Street and 39th Avenue / Flushing–Main Street

### **Length**

TBA

The **Q66** route is a bus route running along Northern Blvd and 35th Avenue in Queens, New York City. It operates between Flushing adjacent to the Flushing–Main Street station and Long Island City near the Queensboro Plaza station and the Queens Plaza station, however some buses begin/end at Woodside close to the Northern Boulevard station and the Q18.

The route was originally operated by Queens Surface Corporation from the 1930s to 2005. They are now operated by MTA Regional Bus Operations under MTA Bus Company.

## Route description and service

The Q66 begins at Queens Plaza S and 28th Street, along with the Q69. Then it turns to 42nd Road and goes all the way to 23rd Street then goes via Queens Plaza N. Then it turns to 21st Street and goes along with the Q69 and Q100 buses, passing by the 21st Street–Queensbridge station, and meeting with a couple of other routes. After 35 Avenue, the Q66 turns and leaves 21st Street and goes by 35 Avenue until 42nd Street, then it turns to Northern Blvd and stays there till reaching 114 Street. Then it goes alongside the Whitestone Expressway, then leaves it behind and goes until Main Street, in which it turns and continues till 39 Avenue, to terminate alongside the Q19, and the Q50. It turns over to Prince Street to layover and begin service to Queens Plaza. However, some buses start at Woodside, but eastbound service to Flushing will remain.

## History

### Streetcar operations

The streetcar line began operation on 1893, running on Northern Boulevard to Woodside. On December 31, 1896, the line became part of the New York and Queens County Railway system. The streetcar line was extended to 34th Street Ferry on December 15, 1901.

### Decline and conversion to bus service

Around this time, many streetcar lines in Queens and the rest of the city began to be replaced by buses, particularly after the unification of city's three primary transit companies in June 1940. Bus service began on September 5, 1937, the same time the trolley ceased operating.

It was owned by the formerly named Queens-Nassau Transit Lines, then renamed to Queens Surface Corporation. Prior to 1989, its ran from Flushing-Main Street to 51st Street in Woodside. In 1989, due to the opening of the 21st Street–Queensbridge station, the Q66 was extended to Long Island City to promote the opening of the 63rd Street Tunnel.

### MTA takeover

On February 27, 2005, the MTA Bus Company took over the operations of the Queens Surface routes, part of the city's takeover of all the remaining privately operated bus routes.

In December 2019, the MTA released a draft redesign of the Queens bus network. As part of the redesign, the Q66 bus would have become a "intra-borough" route called the QT66. Rather than serve Flushing and Long Island City, the QT66 would have been truncated to Northern Boulevard and Broadway in Woodside. The redesign was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City in 2020, and the original draft plan was dropped due to negative feedback. A revised plan was released in March 2022. As part of the new plan, the Q66 would be realigned to Hunter's Point in Long Island City, via Jackson Avenue and the entirety of Northern Boulevard, creating new connections and more direct service to Queens Plaza, and would be a "limited-stop" route with stops being spaced slightly further apart to improve speed and reliability, but still within reasonable walking distance. Existing service along 35th Avenue and 21st Street would be provided by the newly proposed Q63.