The Q11, Q21, Q52, and Q53 bus routes constitute a public transit corridor running along Woodhaven and Cross Bay Boulevards in Queens, New York City.

The corridor extends primarily along the length of the two boulevards through "mainland" Queens, a distance of 6 miles (9.7 km)[5]: 19  between Elmhurst and the Jamaica Bay shore in Howard Beach.

These routes came under the control of Green Bus Lines in the 1930s when the borough's bus system was divided into four lettered "zones", with "Zone C" including Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, Ozone Park, Howard Beach, and the Rockaways operated by Green Lines.

[11][12]: 24 [13] The corridor parallels the former Rockaway Beach Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, whose northern half remains inactive and whose southern half was reactivated for rapid transit service as the IND Rockaway Line of the New York City Subway.

Buses reenter service in a dedicated bus stop area on Hoffman Drive adjacent to the south side of Queens Boulevard.

[6]: 12 [10][12]: 24 [18]: 110 [19]: 51  Select weekday rush hour trips and all late night service short-turn at Pitkin Avenue, via Redding Street.

[6]: 3–11 [10][11][28] Before being transferred from Green Bus Lines to the MTA Bus Company (MTA), the Q21's northern terminus was at Liberty Avenue, and the route provided service between "mainland" Queens and the Rockaways via the Q53 routing, terminating at the current Flight 587 memorial at the Rockaway Beach Boardwalk.

[25][30][36][37][38] Unlike the Q21, the Q21A traveled east to Far Rockaway at the Mott Avenue subway station, a total distance of 13 miles (21 km).

[25][30][36][39] A second branch, the Q21B, ran from New Lots Avenue non-stop to Beach 98th Street at the Rockaways' Playland amusement park.

It then crosses the Joseph P. Addabbo Memorial Bridge onto the island of Broad Channel within the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, where it makes several stops.

Select southbound buses terminate at Cross Bay Boulevard & 163rd Avenue and not enter the Rockaways.

They then make stops along Cross Bay Boulevard into Howard Beach, before running non-stop to Manhattan north of the Belt Parkway.

The following also run on parts of the corridor: The Q11 began service in 1918 under Liberty Bus Transportation, also known as New York City Department of Plant & Structures Route 64, between Woodhaven and Howard/Hamilton Beach.

[60][61][62] Green Lines was awarded the rights to all of "Zone C" in southern Queens, which included Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, Ozone Park, Howard Beach, and the Rockaways.

[65] By January 1937, residents of the western Rockaways (at the time called the "West End") petitioned Green Lines for several extensions of service.

[66] In 1948, Green Lines applied for an extension of the Q21A to the Euclid Avenue subway station which opened that November; this was rejected by the New York City Board of Transportation in December.

[14][69][70]: 239–240  On June 25, Triboro Coach, which was owned by Green Lines' shareholders,[71] began operating replacement bus service from the Woodside LIRR station to Rockaway Park on a temporary grant from the city.

[71][80]: 4 [81] Shortly after the takeover, in April 2006, the Q53 nonstop express was converted to a standard limited-stop service, with the MTA adding six stops along Woodhaven and Cross Bay Boulevards.

[46] In January 2007, the Q53 was routed away from the 63rd Drive subway station, running the entire length of Woodhaven and Cross Bay Boulevards.

A limited-stop branch of the Q21 was also created, running during weekday rush hours and bypassing the Lindenwood section of the route.

[9]: 47 (PDF p.49) [28] For a short period of time after Hurricane Sandy in late 2012 and 2013, additional service was provided on the Q52 route.

[94] The first dedicated MTA bus lanes were installed in August 2015, on the north end of Woodhaven Boulevard between Dry Harbor Road and Metropolitan Avenue.

[3]: 4  At this time, the Q52 and Q53 SBS routes were scheduled to begin service in fall 2017, with the remaining bus lanes and street improvements to be implemented in stages afterwards.

[3]: 14  In September 2017, the NYCDOT announced that the segment of Woodhaven Boulevard between Union Turnpike and 81st Road would also get dedicated bus lanes.

[98][99] However, many residents of the communities north of the Rockaways, particularly car users and business owners, have opposed the Select Bus Service project.

[100]: 12 In January 2016, City Council Member Eric Ulrich, a Republican representing Ozone Park, came out against the plan as among other things, it prohibited left turns at Jamaica Avenue.

[103][104] As part of the redesign, the Woodhaven and Cross Bay Boulevards corridor would have contained a "high-density" route, the QT52 (following the Q52 SBS), with the Q53 being discontinued.

[108] As part of the new plan, the Q11 would be shortened, running from Howard Beach/Hamilton Beach to the Rockaway Boulevard station, would not serve the Woodhaven/Cross Bay corridor at all and have overnight service eliminated.

The Q21 would be extended north in Elmhurst to the 82nd Street–Jackson Heights station, replacing the Q29 bus, which would be discontinued; in Howard Beach, the Q21 would run along 84th Street instead of Cross Bay Boulevard.

[115] On January 29, 2025, the current plan was approved by the MTA Board, and the Queens Bus Redesign will go into effect by Labor Day.