Q67 (New York City bus)

### **Start**

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

### **Via**

21st Street, Borden Avenue, 55th Avenue, 69th Street

### **End**

Middle Village – Metropolitan Avenue and Fresh Pond Road

### **Length**

TBA

The **Q67** constitutes a bus route in Queens, New York City. It runs between Long Island City and Middle Village, primarily on 21st Street, Borden Avenue, 55th Avenue, and 69th Street. The route is city-operated under the MTA Bus Company brand of MTA Regional Bus Operations.

The bulk of the bus route between Long Island City and Middle Village follows a former streetcar line known as the Cemetery Line, operated by the New York and Queens County Railway from 1874 to 1937. The streetcar line was replaced by bus service in 1937, operated by successor companies Queens-Nassau Transit Lines, Queens Transit Corporation, and finally Queens Surface Corporation until the route was taken over by the city in 2005.

## Route description

The Q67 begins at 28th Street and Queens Plaza South, near the Queensboro Plaza station, and uses Queens Plaza South to access Jackson Avenue, while buses heading to the terminus use 42nd Road and 28th Street. It then continues on Jackson Avenue until it turns to 44th Drive and then 21st Street, and goes on it until it turns to 49th Street, and then continues until it turns to 27th Street and then Borden Avenue. It continues on Borden Avenue, then going on Laruel Hill Boulevard, until eastbound buses use the Queens Midtown Expressway service road to access 48th Street, while westbound buses use 48th Street to access Laruel Hill Boulevard. It then continues until it goes on 55th Avenue, 58th Street, Queens Midtown Expressway service road again, Maurice Avenue, 53rd Drive, 65th Place, and finally Borden Avenue. It then continues on the avenue until it goes on 69th Street. It then continues on the latter street until it turns to Metrpolitan Avenue, and continues on the avenue until it ends at Fresh Pond Road.

## History

### Streetcar operations

On April 2, 1871 a person named James Patrick Gleason secured from the Legislature at Albany a charter for a "home railroad" to be called The Long Island City and Calvary Cemetery Railroad. His route was to began at the 34th St. Ferry at the foot of Borden Ave, continue along Borden Ave to Bradley Ave and three blocks down the street to the cemetery gate at Greenpolnt Ave, and in 1873 two miles of the road had been constructed. The line began operation on March 1, 1874, running between the 34th Street Ferry at the foot of Borden Avenue, running on the latter avenue to the Calvary Cemetery gate at Greenpoint Avenue. The franchise called for construction along the Laurel Hill Boulevard (then known as Shell Road) to Winfleld, but this part was never built.

On Sept. 29, 1890, Gleason received permission to electrify his Calvary line, and It was done in 1893. The passenger paid only 5 cents on weekdays but 10 cents on Sundays. This made traffic reasonable for the natives but costly for the foreigners from Manhattan on weekends. On the autumn of 1894, the line was completed through to Metropolitan Ave. In 1895, the Calvary line was double tracked through to Metropolitan Ave.

On December 31, 1896, the line became part of the New York and Queens County Railway system.

### 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.

Buses fully replaced trolley service on the Flushing–Jamaica Line on October 30, 1937, being the last to be motorized. A big ceremony was arranged befitting the last car on the last line. Streetcar #332 made the final ride from Middle Village to Long Island City bearing Queens Borough President George U. Harvey and a car full of civic officials and railroad fans.

It formerly had a part-time service to Hunters Point Ferry as late as June 1996.

### 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. Under the MTA, on April 12, 2009, westbound buses were rerouted to run via the Queens Midtown Expressway Service Road from 69th Street to Hamilton Place, instead of running via Grand Avenue and crossing the expressway's service roads, to speed up service.

In December 2019, the MTA released a draft redesign of the Queens bus network. As part of the redesign, the Q67 bus would have become a "neighborhood" route called the QT77, which would have ran between Queensbridge and Elmhurst. 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 Q67 would have its east end swapped with the Q39 bus, rerouting it to Cooper Avenue and 60th Lane, in Glendale, Queens. The rest of the route from Long Island City to 58th Street will be unchanged. Also, it will be a “rush” route with a local and non-stop portion, stops in Ridgewood and Maspeth would be spaced slightly further apart than existing, while stops along Borden Avenue would only be located at major transfer points and key destinations.