Forget the BQX – New York City’s real transit needs lie deep in Queens

At first blush it might seem unlikely, but the key to New York City remaining economically competitive with other global business powerhouses is a section of unused rail lines in southern Queens.

Instead of investing an estimated $2.5 billion to build the Brooklyn-Queens light rail connector or touting citywide ferry lines, Mayor Bill de Blasio should instead champion the reactivation of the Rockaway Beach Rail Line, a 3.5-mile, city-owned section of track that, if utilized, could provide a direct link from Midtown Manhattan to JFK International Airport.

The line was once part of the Long Island Rail Road, running from Rego Park to Ozone Park, and has lay dormant since 1962. Legislators like Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder have lobbied to revive the line, and Goldfeder was recently able to secure funding for a feasibility study on the project in the Assembly’s one-house budget proposal.

Building the 16-mile BQX from Astoria to Sunset Park makes some sense: Many areas on the waterfront are not easily accessible by subway, and traveling between the city’s two most populous boroughs often requires a trip through Manhattan.

But placing faith in the streetcar project is misguided. The challenge with the rail connector is the same as with the recently announced ferry service – without guaranteed free transfers to MTA subways and buses, the streetcar would become an island with few connections. It could also prove more costly to construct than reactivating the Rockaway Beach Rail Line (estimated to be under $1 billion), which would serve a transportation desert with some of the longest commutes in the city.

Dedicated bus rapid transit service could also meet many of the same needs at a much lower cost than a streetcar. To be truly successful the project would need to include exclusive rights-of-way. The 2014 MTA Transportation Reinvention Commission Report determined that using existing rights-of-way is a less costly and more efficient way to grow the city’s transportation infrastructure and add to the system’s overall capacity.

Without a dedicated route, the BQX would have to compete with car traffic along city streets, and would necessitate the loss of parking to build and close streets in its path to car traffic, further congesting roads and highways.

The mayor claims to be a progressive leader, but many of the waterfront communities the BQX would serve – Brooklyn Heights and Long Island City, for example – are populated by residents who earn more than the city’s median income.

De Blasio also claimed the BQX would help continue development well underway along the waterfront. However, aside from providing a convenient link to the growing number of jobs at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and improving access for public housing residents near the waterfront, there really isn’t much that’s “progressive” about the idea. The project would primarily help to further spur luxury housing development, and not provide anything close to broad transit equity.

Studies have found a crucial link between reliable and timely transportation options, commute times, poverty and unemployment. A 2015 report from the NYU Rudin Center for Transportation ranked 177 New York City neighborhoods based on the number of jobs accessible within a one-hour commute and found that, “Although public transit provides access to jobs throughout the New York City region, there are substantial inequalities in access among neighborhoods.” Jobs were accessible if they could be reached from a neighborhood within an hour before 9:00 a.m. by public transit, which is certainly not the case for dozens of neighborhoods in Queens.

Streetsblog noted an MTA study which found that among city neighborhoods with more than 26,000 residents per square mile that are more than a half mile from a subway station, not one is located on the Brooklyn waterfront while five are in Queens.

In addition to finally providing a viable and efficient one-seat connection from Manhattan to JFK, a reactivated Rockaway Beach Line could create transfer points to the A, J and Z trains and the Queens Boulevard line at Rego Park.

Reviving the Rockaway Line would require a herculean effort from the city and state – including cleanup, feasibility studies, an environmental review and real estate acquisitions. But it’s also a matter of political will. Public transportation is the lifeblood of this city, and expanding transit options should be at the top of de Blasio’s and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s wish lists.

Anyone who walks the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront today will immediately notice the gleaming residential towers under construction and ever-increasing development already underway. That dream of increased property values and bustling commerce will never be realized in the far reaches of Queens without access to legitimate public transportation.

Noah Zuss is a journalist based in New York.