Moving Queens Since 1935
Representing more than 1,700 bus operators, maintainers, and cleaners in the Queens Division of the MTA.
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News
MTA Promises More Queens Bus Service
Eight borough routes among two dozen set for upgrades this spring
“No borough relies on buses like Queens ...”
Janno Lieber, chairman and CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, spoke those words Dec. 17 at Borough Hall when releasing an updated version of the Queens Bus Redesign plan. But hours earlier, in a joint press release with Gov. Hochul, Lieber and the MTA put deed to word in announcing plans for increasing service on 24 city bus routes come spring — one-third of them in Queens.
Wisconsin Unions Score Major Win With Court Ruling Restoring Collective Bargaining Rights
Dec. 2, 2024 — Wisconsin public worker and teachers unions scored a major legal victory Monday with a ruling that restores collective bargaining rights they lost under a 2011 state law that sparked weeks of protests and made the state the center of the national battle over union rights.
That law, known as Act 10, effectively ended the ability of most public employees to bargain for wage increases and other issues, and forced them to pay more for health insurance and retirement benefits.
Vans Vs. Buses: Swarm of Unlicensed Operators Battles MTA for Street Space and Commuters
Jan. 3, 2025 — Even as licensed “dollar vans” all but vanish from city streets, unregulated commuter carriers remain obstacles to MTA buses in parts of Brooklyn and Queens. The number of Taxi and Limousine Commission–affiliated commuter vans in service has shrunk by 93% since 2015, TLC data shows, with just 39 such vehicles still licensed to operate as of this week — down from 215 a decade ago.
But MTA officials and union representatives for the agency’s bus operators say the official dollar van downturn has given way to a boom in unlicensed commuter vans that clog bus stops and bus lanes, further slowing buses that poke along at an average citywide speed of 8.1 mph.
”We have made it very clear in meetings that ATU will not support any such legislation,” Luis Alzate, president and business agent for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1056, which represents bus drivers in Queens, told THE CITY. “We do not support any endeavors that will have van service on bus routes.”