NEW YORK — The proposed Brooklyn-Queens Connector light rail line, known as BQX, received its first city council discussion Thursday when the council’s task force on the project received an update on the 3-year-old plan.
Gothamist reports that city officials testified the 11-mile route was estimated to cost $2.7 billion, a billion dollars more than the original proposal. Seth Myers, New York City Economic Development Corp. executive vice president, said the city would seek federal funding for about half the cost of the project.
Task force members — who represent the five council districts where the streetcar would be built — questioned whether the streetcar represented the best use of resources, with one suggesting a bus rapid transit route would have high ridership at a lower cost. The Economic Development Corp. has said it will study that alternative.
