I have now stood at the island stop on 5th Avenue at 58th Street for 35 minutes while three Q32 buses rolled past with “Next Bus Please”! I’m going to Jackson Heights, and BusTime showed one “2 stops away” for 20 minutes before it vanished. Is that stop just decorative after 6:30? I know the bus starts at Penn, but by the time it reaches Midtown the back doors won’t even open. Do I really need to walk over to 59th/Lex and take the R, or has anyone found a magical earlier stop where the Q32 will actually let you on?

Oh I’ve had that exact experience! The Q32 is basically a Penn Station–Queens express by the time it gets to 5th/58th. Have you tried walking to the stop at 59th/Lex and taking the Q60 or Q101 instead? They’re just as crowded but they actually open the doors. The BusTime app will show a Q32 “2 stops away” and then it disappears because the GPS drops out on the older buses—or it gets short-turned at 6th Ave. The 6:45–7:15 window is the worst! I gave up on that stop entirely.

Yes! The short-turn at 6th Ave explains why I watched a Q32 with “6th Ave” on it and thought I was hallucinating. I’ve done the walk to 59th/Lex for the Q60, and it’s great if you’re going to Queens Plaza or Woodside, but it’s not as good for Roosevelt Ave. Have you tried the R train from 5th/59th? It’s slower than it looks, but at least it moves. I also noticed if you stand at the 6th Ave side of the park, you might catch a Q32 before the Midtown crush fills it, but then you have to guess where it stops.

Okay I’m new here and I did not know “Next Bus Please” meant the bus would literally not open the doors. I just stood there like a fool watching it roll away. Is BusTime usually this wrong? I’ve only tried the Q32 once from around Columbus Circle and it was already jammed. Should I just avoid the 5th Ave stop entirely and walk to a train?

Welcome to the club, Beth! “Next Bus Please” is the MTA’s polite way of saying the bus is over capacity, but even that sounds better than what’s happening. BusTime is not real-time; it’s an estimate mixed with GPS pings, and some Q32 buses have trackers that freeze for blocks. If you see two “Next Bus Please” buses in ten minutes, walk to the 7 train at Bryant Park—it’s more reliable. Have you tried the M42 crosstown to 59th/Lex? It’s short, but at that hour sometimes the crosstown traffic eats up any time you saved.

Beth, I want to add a very specific Q32 horror detail: the older wrapped buses sometimes have GPS frozen at 49th St, so BusTime will swear a bus is sitting there while it’s already crossing the Queensboro Bridge. Also, dispatchers will sometimes swap a Q32 to a short-turn at 6th Ave mid-route, which is why the bus you’re waiting for just disappears. The_Ditmars_Dame is right about the 7 train, especially if you’re near Bryant Park. Have you tried using the Long Island Rail Road from Penn to Woodside when the Q32 completely collapses? It costs more but it’s a completely different universe.

That short-turn thing explains so much. I saw a Q32 with ‘6th Ave’ on the destination once and assumed I read it wrong. I tried the R from 5th/59th yesterday and it was slow, but at least I got a seat and no bus rolled past me. I might try the 7 from Bryant Park next time—is it totally packed around 7? Thanks for the tips, this is already more useful than the MTA alerts.

The 7 at 7pm is heavy, but it’s not the crush-load horror it is at 5:45. If you’re going to Sunnyside or the 40s in Queens, my hidden favorite is the Q101 from 59th/Lex! It’s rarely empty, but it moves over the bridge and makes stops that a lot of people forget. Have you tried pairing it with the M42 crosstown? It sounds weird to take a bus to a bus, but I’ve beaten the Q32 more than once that way.

Careful with the Q101 after 7:15! It has a scheduling gap and some operators leave the 59th/Lex stop a few minutes before the posted time because their layover ends. I ran across the street and watched it pull away once! For Beth, the 7 from Bryant Park is probably the easiest if you’re not carrying a ton. But here’s a weird one: the 59th Street Bridge walkway after dark is full of e-bikes, but on a night when the bridge traffic is stopped, I’ve seen walkers beat the Q32 by several blocks. Has anyone tried it during the evening rush?

I tried the 7 from Bryant Park tonight—it was packed but moving, which already beats ‘Next Bus Please’ by miles. I’m going to try the Q101 next week just to compare. The walkway idea sounds a little scary with the e-bikes, but I love that someone has actually considered it lol. Thanks, everyone! This thread has taught me more than three years of MTA alerts.