QUEENS — Fare machines broken at a a Jamaica stop for the Q44 Select Bus have finally been fixed.
Con Edison repaired the payment machines which have had no power for more than two months, forcing straphangers to pay for their ride at the next stop.
The machines at the Archer Avenue/153rd Street stop, in front of the Queens County Family Court, lost power on June 19, according to the MTA.
Straphangers had to get off at the next stop on Archer Avenue and Sutphin Boulevard and pay for their ride there while the bus and other passengers waited.
Three days after DNAinfo New York reported on the problem on Aug. 22 it was fixed, according to the MTA and Con Ed.
“Finally,” said Brenda Williams, 44, who works in the area. “It was very stressful. I was always worried that the bus will just take off without me.”
Con Ed said the problem occurred when the source that provides power to both the machines and a streetlight burned out. The company initially received a report about a light outage without realizing that the MTA machines had no power either.
“Once we learned that the service served the fare machines, we sent a crew to do the work,” Allan Drury, a spokesman for Con Ed, said Wednesday.
He also said that the company is now working with the MTA and the Department of Transportation, which maintains street lights, “on the notification process and will continue to make these types of repairs as soon as we can once we are notified that fare machines are involved.”
