Flushing–Ridgewood Line

For additional information on the current bus service, see List of bus routes in Queens.
Q58 / Q58 Limited
Flushing–Ridgewood Line
Fresh Pond Road Line

Overview
System MTA Regional Bus Operations
Operator New York City Transit Authority
Garage Fresh Pond Depot
Began service June 20, 1896 (Fresh Pond Road Line)
November 1899 (Flushing–Ridgewood Line)
July 17, 1949 (bus)[1]
Route
Locale Queens
Start Ridgewood Terminal – Palmetto Street
Via Fresh Pond Road, Flushing Avenue, Grand Avenue, Broadway, Corona Avenue, Horace Harding Expressway, College Point Boulevard
End Downtown Flushing – Main Street & 41st Road
Service
Operates 24 hours
Daily ridership 9,787,270 (2014)[2]
Fare $2.75 (MetroCard or coins)
Cash Coins only (exact change required)
Transfers Yes
Timetable Q58
← Q56  {{{system_nav}}}  Q59 →

The Flushing–Ridgewood Line, also known as the Corona Avenue Line[1] and previously known as the Fresh Pond Road Line, is a public transit line that operates primarily in Queens, New York City, United States, with its southern terminal on the border with Brooklyn. Originally a streetcar line that began operation in the 1890s,[3] it now consists of the Q58 and Q58 Limited bus routes, operated by the MTA New York City Transit Authority. The Q58 operates between two major bus/subway hubs: the Ridgewood Terminal on the border of Ridgewood, Queens and Bushwick, Brooklyn; and the Flushing – Main Street terminal in Downtown Flushing, Queens. It is among the busiest bus lines in the borough of Queens,[4] with 9.79 million people riding the route in 2014.[2]

Route description

The original route of the Flushing–Ridgewood streetcar began at 41st Road and Main Street in Downtown Flushing, just south of the Main Street station of the Long Island Rail Road, and several blocks south of the Main Street subway station on the IRT Flushing Line. It ran south on Lawrence and Rodman Streets, and west on Horace Harding Boulevard to Corona. It then ran generally west along the winding Corona Avenue to Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst, and on Grand Avenue to Maspeth. Between Junction Boulevard in Corona and the intersection of Grand Avenue and Flushing Avenue, the line shared a right-of-way with the Grand Street Line. After a short portion on Flushing Avenue and 61st Street, it ran south down Fresh Pond Road to the Fresh Pond Road station of the BMT Myrtle Avenue Line, where a major trolley barn existed. It then followed the right-of-way of the Myrtle El and former Lutheran Cemetery Surface Line to its own dedicated barn at the Ridgewood Depot, located at Palmetto Street underneath the Myrtle-Wyckoff Avenue station.[1][3][5][6][7]

The current Q58 bus route follows the former trolley route, with some exceptions. The right-of-ways of Lawrence Street and Rodman Street along the route have since been replaced with College Point Boulevard, while the Long Island Expressway was built over the Horace Harding Boulevard corridor. The former trolley barn at Fresh Pond Road is now the Fresh Pond Depot, where the Q58 is dispatched from.[4][8][9][10][11][12] Due to using several different streets, including winding roads and many tight turns, the Q58 consistently ranks among the slowest bus routes in New York City, and has been cited for pedestrian safety issues.[9][13] Short strips of the trolley tracks still exist, in Ridgewood at 60th Place and at Woodbine Street underneath the Myrtle El. Tracks on the rest of the route were paved over.[14][15]

History

The streetcar line was operated by the Brooklyn and Queens Transit Corporation, a subsidiary of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) and later Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) which operated many streetcar lines, and several rapid transit lines including some of the city's first subway lines.[3][16] The line began operation on June 20, 1896 as the Fresh Pond Road Line, running the same route except turning north at Junction Boulevard (then Junction Avenue) and Corona Avenue towards Bowery Bay (the current site of LaGuardia Airport).[3] In November 1899, the Flushing–Ridgewood routing began service. Around this time, the Junction Boulevard portion of the line became a shuttle known as the North Beach Line, while the Grand Street Line was truncated to the Maspeth Trolley Depot at Grand Avenue and 69th Street.[3] On October 19, 1919, the line was extended from the Fresh Pond Depot south to Ridgewood terminal at the Brooklyn-Queens line.[17] Between 1939 and 1940, the line served passengers going to the 1939 New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park.[3][16][18]

Beginning in the 1920s, many streetcar lines in Queens, Brooklyn, and the rest of the city began to be replaced by buses, particularly after the unification of city's three primary transit companies (including the BMT) under municipal operations in June 1940.[8] Buses began running on the line as early as 1946.[19] On June 30, 1949, the New York City Board of Estimate approved the full motorization of the line with buses.[20] The Flushing–Ridgewood line was officially replaced by city-owned buses on July 17, 1949,[1][5] The line was designated B58 ("B" the designation for buses based in Brooklyn), and the line was renamed the Corona Avenue Line. The early fleet consisted of General Motors-built buses.[1][5]

On July 27, 1960, the B58 was moved to the newly opened Fresh Pond Bus Depot, after operating from bus depots in Brooklyn.[12] During the 1964 New York World's Fair, the B58 was rerouted to stop at the Rodman Street entrance of Flushing Meadows Park.[21][22] On December 11, 1988, the B58 was renumbered Q58.[23] Due to slow trips and high passenger load, limited-stop service was added to the route on September 13, 2010.[4][24]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Buses to Replace Crosstown Trolley". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. July 14, 1949. Retrieved 30 September 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 "Facts and Figures". mta.info. 2011-08-28. Retrieved 2016-01-19.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Roberts, John A. "A Grand Tale of Two Trolley Lines". Juniper Park CiviKc Association. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 Pozarycki, Robert (September 16, 2010). "Q58 Limited Service Begins: MTA Aims To Make Commuting Faster". TimesNewsweekly. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 "Public Notices". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. June 23, 1949. Retrieved 17 December 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ Branford Electric Railway Association (29 September 2008). Brooklyn Streetcars. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4396-2045-8.
  7. ↑ "New L Train Service to Lutheran Cemetery: B.R.T. Opens a Line To-morrow That Takes Passengers Into Queens County.". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. September 30, 1906. p. 33. Retrieved 28 September 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. 1 2 Sparberg, Andrew J. (1 October 2014). From a Nickel to a Token: The Journey from Board of Transportation to MTA. Fordham University Press. ISBN 978-0-8232-6190-1.
  9. 1 2 Pozarycki, Robert (December 26, 2013). "GETTING NOWHERE FAST: Q58 Slowest Bus in Queens Again". TimesNewsweekly. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  10. ↑ Q58 bus schedule MTA Regional Bus Operations.
  11. ↑ "A Reader Clarifies Location Of Old Trolley Car Crossing". Times Newsweekly. July 31, 2003. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  12. 1 2 "$2 Million Bus Garage to Open" (PDF). Long Island Star-Journal. Fultonhistory.com. May 24, 1960. p. 14. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  13. ↑ Giudice, Anthony (February 26, 2015). "FIXING FATAL TURNS: MTA Eyes Bus Changes At Deadly Ridgewood/Bushwick Corner". TimesNewsweekly. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  14. ↑ "#58 TROLLEY". Forgotten New York. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  15. ↑ "Ridgewood Trolley Relics". Forgotten New York. January 3, 2000. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  16. 1 2 "Trolley Line Objects To Bus Route to Fair". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. May 10, 1939. p. 3. Retrieved 17 December 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ "Surface Lines Re-Routed and Transfers Abolished" (PDF). Brooklyn Standard Union. Fultonhistory.com. October 17, 1919. p. 1. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  18. ↑ Stephen L. Meyers (2006). Lost Trolleys of Queens and Long Island. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7385-4526-4.
  19. ↑ "He Missed a Bus, City Misses a Bus, Cops Give a Lift". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. September 1, 1946. p. 3. Retrieved 17 December 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ "Shifts to Buses Okayed by Board" (PDF). Long Island Star-Journal. Fultonhistory.com. July 1, 1949. p. 7. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  21. ↑ "2 New Bus Routes Will Link Brooklyn With World's Fair". The New York Times. February 5, 1964. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  22. ↑ "TA Schedules Fair Buses" (PDF). Long Island Star-Journal. Fultonhistory.com. March 23, 1964. p. 3. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  23. ↑ New York Times, All Aboard...Somewhere...for Subway Changes!, December 12, 1988, section B, page 1
  24. ↑ Pozarycki, Robert (May 20, 2010). "A FASTER RIDE ON LOCAL BUS: MTA Makes Plans For Q58 Limited Line". TimesNewsweekly. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
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