More than 215,000 daily bus riders who travel on Hillside Avenue in Queens will now benefit from faster and safer commutes. On Thursday, Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez announced the completion of nearly eight miles of new and upgraded bus lanes along the corridor, one of the longest bus priority projects in the agency’s history. The project adds offset bus lanes from 139th Street to Springfield Boulevard, improving service for 22 routes that together carry more riders than the entire populations of Yonkers and Rochester.
Beyond Queens, the project enhances service for 21,000 daily riders on five Nassau Inter-County Express routes and strengthens links to the subway, LIRR, and JFK AirTrain networks. Buses along Hillside Avenue carry more passengers each day than PATH, NJ Transit Rail, or BART. On its own, the corridor’s bus network would rank as the 18th-largest transit system in the United States by ridership.
As Hillside Avenue passes through several eastern Queens neighborhoods—including Briarwood, Jamaica, Hollis, and Queens Village—the new bus lanes are expected to transform daily commutes for local residents.
Roughly 60 percent of residents in the area rely on public transit to get to work, and 83 percent of Hillside Avenue travelers are bus riders, even though buses previously occupied less than one-third of the roadway.
Before the new improvements, sections of Hillside Avenue featured curbside bus lanes during rush hours. Installed in 1969 as some of the first in the city, these inconsistent lanes are now receiving their first major upgrade in more than 50 years.
The redesign also implements a parking lane on each side of the street, as well as one travel lane for vehicles, one lane for left-turning vehicles, and one lane for bus traffic in each direction. The new offset bus lanes operate 24/7 and are enforced through the MTA’s Automated Bus Lane Enforcement program, which uses bus-mounted cameras.
The eastbound bus lane extends from 144th Street to Springfield Boulevard, while the westbound lane runs from 139th Street to Springfield Boulevard. The project also adds more than 600 parking and loading spaces to improve access for customers and deliveries to local businesses.
“NYC DOT is changing the game, one bus lane at a time—and this redesign of Hillside Avenue brings consistent, camera-enforced bus lanes across the corridor while freeing up curb space to support local shops with their deliveries and customer access,” Rodriguez said.
The project was guided by nearly 300 pedestrian surveys conducted in multiple languages, visits to more than 400 businesses, and over a dozen meetings with community boards, local elected officials, and other stakeholders.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. praised the new Hillside Avenue bus lanes and their expected impact on commuters.
“The completion of these new and improved bus lanes on Hillside Avenue will have a real positive impact on the lives of the 215,000 people who ride the bus along this corridor each day,” Richards said.
He added, “Riders here will no longer have to endure bus rides that seem to move at a snail’s pace. These bus lanes will shorten commutes and allow for more reliable bus service, enabling riders to have more time to spend with their families and pursue the interests they care about.”
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