Early history On August 9, 1921, the Orange Bus Line began service along Merrick Road from
Freeport in Nassau County to Rosedale in Queens near the county border. On September 15, 1921, the route was extended west and north to the Jamaica business district. In 1922,
Republic Motor Truck Company dealer Henry B. Carter sold two truck chassis fitted with bus bodies to the operators of the Orange Line. On February 13, 1922, the Orange Line ceased operations, and the buses reverted to Carter's ownership. With only two buses, the route originally operated on half-hour headways. In addition to Jamaica-Rosedale service, on April 3, 1926, Bee-Line began operating service along Merrick Road between Jamaica and Freeport, Long Island, replacing the eastern portion of the
Brooklyn-Freeport Line streetcar. On October 1, 1930, The Q5A services were first operated by Transit Coach Corporation in 1931. By 1937, Schenck Transportation operated the route. By 1938, the Q5A was operated by the
North Shore Bus Company. On August 11, 1936, the Bee-Line routes were moved to the newly opened
165th Street Bus Terminal (then the Long Island Bus Terminal). In May 1939, Bee-Line relinquished its Queens routes. These routes began operation from the terminal under North Shore Bus Company on June 25, 1939, as part of the company's takeover of nearly all routes in Zone D (Jamaica and Southeast Queens). The Queens-Nassau County Merrick route was retained by Bee-Line; The northern terminus of the Q4, Q4A (predecessor to the Q84), Q5, and Q5A was moved once again to
Hillside Avenue and 168th Street, near the
169th Street station of the
IND Queens Boulevard Line, on October 27, 1939. In 1941, the Q5A Farmers Boulevard service was extended from the
Higbie Avenue station on the
Long Island Rail Road to Springfield Boulevard.
NYCTA operation On March 30, 1947, North Shore Bus would be taken over by the
New York City Board of Transportation (later the
New York City Transit Authority), making the bus routes city operated. On November 29, 1956, the NYCTA approved a large slate of cuts in bus service citywide to take effect January 22, 1957. Initially, the Q5S route was planned to be discontinued as part of the changes. However, due to requests by the Queens Borough President and civic groups, the cut was averted. Instead, free transfers were made available at the terminal in Laurelton. Sunday service was discontinued on February 3, 1957, but was restored on August 4. On August 24, 1957, the NYCTA announced that this service would be discontinued on September 8 if ridership did not increase. The NYCTA had lost $30 each Sunday the service was operated. The Bedell Street branch of the Q5A began operation on August 9, 1964, to serve Rochdale Village and reduce congestion on the other routes along Merrick Boulevard. This branch would start at Bedell Avenue and 133rd Avenue, run along Bedell Avenue, Baisley Boulevard, Merrick Boulevard, 168th Street, 88th Avenue, and 168th Place, and then would run via Hillside Avenue east of 167th Street. Service would return by Hillside Avenue, Merrick Boulevard to the 165th Street bus terminal, Merrick Boulevard, Baisley Boulevard and Bedell Street. This service, which was requested by Queens Borough President Mario J. Cariello, would run weekdays between 6 a.m. and 12 a.m., and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends and holidays. Rush hour service would be every ten minutes, and every 20 minutes during weekdays off-peak, and Sundays and holidays, and every 15 minutes on Saturdays. Early morning service on this branch was added at some point afterwards. On September 10, 1973, to better serve Rosedale, Q5A service was scheduled to be extended to 253rd Street and 149th Avenue, and Jamaica-bound service was rerouted off of Brookville Boulevard and onto 243rd Street. The new route had been approved by Community Board 13 in December 1972. On September 14, 1973, members of the Rosedale Block Association, who had refused to let buses travel along Huxley Avenue between 147th Avenue and 149th Avenue met with Queens Borough President Manes. Residents claimed that the street was too narrow for buses and that the street was too prone to flooding after rainstorms. By this date, Q5A buses did not attempt to use the new route, and the NYCTA did not plan to do so until an agreement was reached with residents. On April 20, 1975, to cut costs, service on the Farmers Boulevard branch to Huxley Street between 1:15 a.m. and 5 a.m. was eliminated. Early morning service via Bedell Street was maintained. On September 11, 1983, service on the Q5AB was increased, and service on the Q5A was increased in February 1984. On October 5, 1983, the NYCTA held a public hearing on a proposal to add three buses in both the AM and PM peaks on the Q5AB, reducing headways from 5.5 to 4 minutes. On December 15, 1985, the NYCTA announced it was reconsidering its plan to adjust service to Rochdale Village, and would conduct a survey with community input over the following three to four weeks. Many local residents were opposed to NYCTA's plan to consolidate the Q5A and Q5AB routes. Bus service along the seven blocks on Farmers Boulevard between Bedell Street and Merrick Boulevard would be discontinued.
Archer Avenue changes On September 10, 1987, the NYCTA held a public hearing on a series of proposed changes in bus service in Southeast Queens. Three of the changes involved bus service on Merrick Boulevard. One change was the combination of the Q5A, which ran to 243rd Street and 147th Avenue in Rosedale via Conduit Avenue, with the Q5AB Bedell Street route, which ran to Rochdale, to form the Q85, with reduced service on Merrick Boulevard. These routes had been operated as a single service during late evenings and early mornings. The other two changes in Merrick Boulevard service would extend the Q5 by to serve the Green Acres Shopping Center, and the discontinuation of the Q5AS Laurelton Shuttle, which had low ridership. The changes were slated to take effect on September 13, 1987. The Q5 was extended to the Green Acres Shopping Center on November 15, 1987. On December 11, 1988, in conjunction with the opening of the
Archer Avenue Subway, the Merrick Boulevard routes' northern terminal was moved to the Jamaica Center Bus Terminal. That same day, the Q4A was renumbered Q84, the Q85 was created, and the Q5S became the original Q86. At this time, the Q5A Laurelton Shuttle (then the Q5AS) was discontinued. This extension took effect on September 20, 1992, with buses running to the mall every 25 minutes between 9 a.m. and 12 a.m. In 1993, the routes began traveling on Archer Avenue in both directions. Previously, terminating buses traveled along Archer Avenue, while southbound buses traveled via
Jamaica Avenue. On January 10, 1994, limited-stop service on the Q85 began, with all weekday peak-direction trips (between 6:35 a.m. and 8:50 a.m. westbound, and 4:00 p.m. and 7:20 p.m.) on the Rosedale branch being converted to limiteds. The limited-stop service reduced travel times by three to five minutes. Morning limiteds made limited stops between the intersections of Bedell Street and Baisley Boulevard and Liberty Avenue and Merrick Boulevard, while those in the afternoon made limited-stops between the intersections of Parsons Boulevard and Archer Avenue and Baisley Boulevard and Bedell Street. Limited service and improved operations, reduced annual operating costs by $24,600. A survey of over 575 riders was conducted in July 1994. 57 percent of those surveyed said that travel time decreased, and 77 percent said that they wanted limited service to be extended from Baisley Boulevard to Farmers Boulevard. It was decided not to extend limited service due to higher ridership at intermediate stops at 130th Street and 133rd Street. In January 1995, after an evaluation of the service, it was recommended to continue operating the Q85 limited, and that a limited-stop be added on the Q4, Q5, and Q85 at 109th Avenue and Merrick Boulevard. The -long Q86 was discontinued Due to high ridership and congestion, the corridor has been identified as a potential
bus rapid transit corridor under the city's
Select Bus Service (SBS) program. Though it was one of five priority corridors selected for SBS in 2004, the Merrick Boulevard corridor was eventually scrapped because of community opposition related to loss of parking. The Merrick Boulevard corridor was not listed as a potential SBS corridor by the 2010s. The corridor is also frequented by
dollar vans, which parallel the bus routes. In September 2003, limited-stop service on the Q4, Q5, and Q85 was expanded during AM rush hours, beginning earlier in the morning. On January 14, 2004, the MTA instituted the current limited-stop bypass in the Jamaica business district via
Liberty Avenue and 160th Street.
Former service patterns The Q85 was originally two separate routes, the Q5A and Q5AB. The Q5A ran from Jamaica along Merrick Boulevard, turning south at Springfield Boulevard (along the current route). It proceeded along Springfield Boulevard, Conduit Avenue (then called the
Sunrise Highway), and 243rd Street to 147th Avenue and Huxley Street. By the 1970s, the Q5A was rerouted from Springfield Boulevard to Farmers Boulevard. It was later moved from 224th Street to 225th Street, and extended south to 147th Avenue and east to 243rd Street.
Queens bus redesign In December 2019, the MTA released a draft redesign of the Queens bus network. As part of the redesign, the Merrick Bolevard buses would have contained one high-density "intra-borough" route, the QT18. The Q5 would have been replaced by a "subway connector" route with nonstop section on Merrick Boulevard, the QT42. The Q85 would have been replaced by a "subway connector", the QT43, that would instead run on Guy R. Brewer Boulevard. The redesign was delayed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in New York City in 2020, and the original draft plan was dropped due to negative feedback. A revised plan was released in March 2022. As part of the new plan, the
Q25 would be extended south to Merrick Boulevard, providing local service there. The Q5 and Q85 would become "zone" routes with nonstop sections on Merrick Boulevard, with the Q5 taking over the Q85 branch to 243rd Street. A new "zone" route, the Q86 (unrelated to the former Rosedale feeder route), would take over the Q5 branch to Green Acres Mall. A final bus-redesign plan was released in December 2023. Under this plan, the Q25 would not serve the corridor; instead, the Q5 would become a limited route terminating at Merrick Boulevard and 233rd Street, making local stops along the corridor. The Q85 would become a zone route, as in the previous plan, and two new zone routes would be created. The Q86 zone route would travel along Brookville Boulevard and 243rd Street to Rosedale, using the old routing of the Q5 nighttime branch and the Q85 branch to Rosedale, and the Q87 zone route would travel along Merrick Boulevard and Hook Creek Boulevard to Green Acres Mall, using the old routing of the Q5 daytime branch. These new routes would provide more frequent service along existing branches of the Q5 and Q85. On December 17, 2024, addendums to the final plan were released. Among these, stop changes were made along the corridor, and weekend frequencies on the Q5 were altered for customer benefits. The Q5 retained its truncated route for weekday service, terminating at 233rd Street. The Green Acres and Rosedale branches of the Q5 and Q85 routes were split into four rush routes—the Q85, Q86, Q87, and Q89. The Q85 and Q86 would travel to Rosedale, while the Q87 and Q89 would travel to Green Acres Mall. The Q85 and Q89 would use the existing Q85's routing via Bedell Street and Conduit Avenue, while the Q86 and Q87 would use the existing Q5's routing via Merrick Boulevard. The Q5 would continue to serve Green Acres during the day and Rosedale late nights when the Q87 does not run. This change would clarify the previous service patterns, where the Q85 and Q5 each had three different route variants depending on the time of day. On January 29, 2025, the current plan was approved by the MTA Board, and the Queens Bus Redesign went into effect in two different phases during Summer 2025. The sole Q5 route was changed from “Limited” to “Local” after the approval, and all five routes were assigned to Phase I, which launched on June 29, 2025. The Q87 was to run weekdays only, but is operating every day . ==Notes==