Q75 (New York City bus 1952–2010)

### **Via**

Hillside Avenue, 188th Street, 73rd Avenue, Springfield Boulevard, 69th Avenue, Cloverdale Boulevard

### **End**

Oakland Gardens – 230th Street and 69th Avenue

The first version of the **Q75** bus route constituted a public transit line in Queens, New York City. It ran primarily on Hillside Avenue, 188th Street, 73rd Avenue, Springfield Boulevard, 69th Avenue, Cloverdale Boulevard between Jamaica and Oakland Gardens. It was operated by the New York City Transit Authority from 1952 until June 27, 2010, when it was discontinued under system-wide service cuts.

## Route description and service

The Q75 began at 165th Street and 89th Avenue, and used the former to access Hillside Avenue, while buses heading to the terminal used Merrick Boulevard and 89th Avenue. It then continued on Hillside Avenue, until it turned onto 188th Street and then 73rd Street. It then went on the street for most of its length, until it turned to Springfield Boulevard then 69th Avenue. It then went on until it turned to 230th Street and continued until it ended. For buses heading to Jamaica they used 230th Street, 67th Avenue and Cloverdale Boulevard to access 69th Avenue.

Q75 service only ran during weekdays between 5:00 AM and 9:30 PM.

## History

The Q75 bus service was originally conceived as a route that was an extension of the Q44 Vleigh Place shuttle bus proposed by the Queens Valley Home Owners' Association of Kew Gardens Hills, west from its northern terminus at Jewel Avenue and Main Street to the 71st–Continental Avenues subway station of the IND Queens Boulevard Line in Forest Hills, to give Kew Gardens Hills additional bus service. It would have created a loop service between the 71st Avenue station and the Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike station of the same line, running via Main Street. The proposed route was numbered as the Q75. The proposal was submitted to the Board of Transportation on March 20, 1951. On June 19, transit officials informed the Board of Estimate it wouldn't be advisable to extend that route.

The Q75 bus service was begun, by the New York City Board of Transportation, on a temporary basis on April 28, 1952, before permanent bus service started on May 4, 1952. Sunday service was discontinued on February 3, 1959.

In August 1979, the NYCTA proposed eliminating Saturday bus service because of their low usage, with 13 riders per trip, and to save $60,000 annually. This was proposed as part of a series of cuts to save $1.4 million. Saturday service ran every 20 minutes between 5:30 a.m. and 1:30 a.m.. The public hearing was held on September 12, 1979. On September 19, 1979, in response to a campaign in opposition to the change, led by State Senator Gary Ackerman and Rose Simon, who chaired an "Ad Hoc Committee to Save the Q75", the NYCTA agreed to continue operating Saturday service on the route.

On December 11, 1988, the route was extended from 179th Street station to the 165th Street Terminal in conjunction with the opening of the Archer Avenue Line.

On June 15, 1989, a public hearing was held on the planned elimination of Saturday service. Saturday service ran every 30 minutes between 5:30 a.m. and 1:20 a.m.. The average ridership on Saturday was five passengers per trip. The NYCTA noted that there was frequent bus service on alternate routes. The annual cost saving was $72,000.

In December 1990, local officials stated that the route could be one of the routes to be cut by the NYCTA as part of its $25 million citywide cut in bus service and asked the president of the NYCTA to hold a public hearing. While a TA spokesman denied that the Q75 was part of the plan, the head of Amalgamated Transit Union local 1056, Jerry Fancher, said that he saw an interdepartmental memo saying that service on the route would be cut.

On February 4, 1991, a public hearing was held on the planned span reduction on the Q75, which was to be part of the 1991 Service Plan. At the meeting, the public requested that midday service be maintained to provide a connection to shopping and the subway. Some suggested that it be replaced by an extension of the Q65A, but this was dismissed since it was operated by Queens Surface.

While the original proposal called for greater cuts on the route, the proposal presented to the MTA Board in May 1994 affected fewer passengers. The proposal would have eliminated late evening service between 9:00 p.m. and 1:20 a.m., which was only used by 15 passengers, or an average of fewer than a person per trip. The proposal was set to go into effect in September 1994, limiting the route's hours of operation to 5:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., saving $100,000 annually.

The last Q75 bus ran on June 25, 2010 and was discontinued on June 27, 2010 due to budget crisis.