By Forum Staff
On Monday evening, more than 100 students, faculty, and community members came together at Queens College for a Town Hall focused on the QueensLink proposal, a grassroots plan devoted to the reactivation of the 3.5-mile Rockaway Beach Rail Line to provide a new north-south subway option through central and southern Queens.
Hosted by the New York Public Interest Research Group at Queens College, the event gave attendees the chance to learn about the project, engage with leaders of the QueensLink proposal, and share their personal experiences with the borough’s transit challenges.
According to NYPIRG, borough residents face some of the longest and most frustrating commutes in the country, with average travel times exceeding 45 minutes each way—nearly double the national average. Despite being the Big Apple’s largest borough by area and second-largest by population, only about 27 percent of Queens residents live within walking distance of a subway station, compared to over 75 percent in Manhattan. In central and southern neighborhoods like Glendale, Ozone Park, and Howard Beach, it can take up to a staggering 90 minutes to reach Midtown Manhattan, even though these communities are just 10 to 12 miles away.
“Too many Queens residents feel disconnected from the rest of the city by poor transit options,” said Matthew Paolucci, a student organizer with NYPIRG. “QueensLink offers a real opportunity to fix that, and this event was about giving people a platform to help lead that conversation.”
Throughout the evening, participants explored interactive stations, including a “Build Your Line” activity where they mapped their daily commute, a straw poll on transportation priorities for the abandoned branch, a “Cost of Delay” survey where they calculated the time and money lost to transit delays, and a Storybank station where attendees recorded their own stories about how transportation—or the lack of it—has shaped their lives and opportunities in Queens.
In concert with these interactive stations, volunteers from QueenLink were present to share the history of the proposal, the current political climate and challenges surrounding it, estimated ridership numbers from a recent study conducted at the NYU Marron Institute of Urban Management, and to answer any questions attendees had. Much focus was placed on the future of the proposal, with the QueenLink team recently reaching the $100,000 local match requirement for the Reconnecting Communities Program grant.
“We’re thrilled to see so many passionate students who are looking to reconnect the borough,” said Rick Horan, executive director of QueensLink. “As the city moves towards a park-only project on the Rockaway Beach Branch with no space for a rail line, we need more people to show local representatives just how badly we need parks and transit. We’re proud to see so many future leaders making the right choice for our communities.”
“Transit is the lifeline of our communities, but too many neighborhoods in Queens have been left behind. QueensLink represents an opportunity to finally connect our borough in a way that works for everyone—cutting commutes, creating jobs, and building a more sustainable future. Tonight’s town hall is about making sure student voices and community stories are at the center of that vision,” said Natasha Elder, regional director at NYPIRG.
