Juan Monroy

Of all the places I have to travel for work, getting to Queens College is the most grueling and time-consuming. It takes close to an hour to travel there by subway-bus-walking, which seems like a long time to make an eight-mile trip from my home in Long Island City, Queens. Biking there is not a great alternative as almost the entire trip is on Queens Boulevard and then on Jewel Avenue, both of which are basically byways for speeding cars, and despite the presence of a bike lane on Jewel Avenue, it’s not for the faint of heart.

I’m not alone. Getting to Queens College is difficult for everyone, even those who drive because of the demand for parking, and it’s not easy to travel there on a single-seat ride by mass transit. In a proactive move, the college is planning for a shuttle to travel to the major transit hubs at Main Street in Flushing and at Jamaica Center. Students just need to approve an increased activity fee:

Shuttle bus service to the campus could begin as early as next fall! For a Student Activity Fee increase of just $40 a semester, our students could get direct shuttle service to the campus from the Main Street Flushing and Jamaica Train Stations. The shuttle will also make a loop from the Main Campus to Queens Hall. Faculty and staff will be able to use the shuttle by purchasing a $40 bus pass.

I hope students approve this. It would help relieve the load on the overcrowded municipal buses.

The only missing link is between campus and the Forest Hills subway and railroad stations, which is my connecting point to Queens College. Although there is frequent bus service there, via the Q64, and it’s only about a ten-to-fifteen minute ride, the bus is overcrowded in the evening hours with the crunch of rush-hour commuters and evening-class crowd.

Update: Beginning Fall 2014, there is a shuttle between Queens College and Flushing-Main Street, Jamaica Center, and Queens Hall.