Daily News from New York, New York • 269

PROFILE. SLOW PAY. MARS WORKS. CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING INSIDE XQ 1 ii wmtilMiW in lit iiir in ii am mm mi iin in 1 DAILY NEWS Monday, September 25, 1383 Eqws air 7 1 Elimination of 61st St stop blasted for creating havoc fed- rVMl'K By SAM ME CHrfTUM Dauy News Staff Writer The sound of the No. 7 express train roaring through the Woodside Station at 61st St drowns out conversations on the street below.

But residents of Woodside say they will be heard when it comes to objections about service changes that ended express service there Aug. 21. "I think it's terrible," said Rosemary McKenna, a commuter and Woodside resident "I used to take the express service into Times Square. Now I have to take the local." Giuliani support McKenna was among 200 subway riders who rallied Saturday morning at 61st St and Roosevelt Ave. to sign petitions and hear speeches by elected officials, including Republican mayoral nominee Rudolph Giuliani.

Commuters said they now wait longer for trains and that cars are often so packed that they can't get in. A spokesman for the Transit Authority said the change was made to improve service along the line. People changing from local to express trains would hold up trains at the 61st St Station and slow the express, creating a bottleneck later on where the express and local trains merge just south of the 33r St-Raw-son St Station, the spokesman, Termaine Garden, said. Now that the bottleneck has been opened, trains are running closer to schedule, he said. "They're getting fewer trains (at the 61st St Station), but they're getting better service.

Less service is coming through, but it's more reliable." Local trains are scheduled to stop there every four minutes, Garden said. Commuters reported waiting seven to 10 minutes for trains. Years of work The service cutbacks came after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority completed a $60 miiiion reconstruction program begun several years ago. Giuliani, who branded the service change "stupid and silly," told riders he used to live in Queens and ride the No. 7.

"I understand the city is made up of five boroughs," he said, "not just one. And that Queens is very important" of new housing construction. "If anything, we are looking to expand bus service, not cut it" said Regina Colletta, the district manager of the board. Letter to Kiley After -the hearing. State Sen.

Leonard Stavisky (D-Beechurst) dispatched a letter to MTA Chairman Richard Kiley demanding that he veto the TA plan. "Ridership on this route may not be as substantial as other lines," Stavisky wrote, "but the passengers ho use this shuttle bus have few Thp.ee from other forms of direct public transportation." W. Mllll In tWil MH" "llJf Ml WOODSIDE RESIDENTS sign petitions to nave tne No. 7 express train M4i ort mi local trips and to make transfer connections with other buses to the IRT 7 subway in Flushing. Ridership estimates by the TA vary from a daily average of 67 to 95.

Operating hours are 7 to 9 a.m. and 2:48 to 7 p.m. There is no service on weekends. Vote within 2 months Transit Authority spokesman Bob Previdi said that the proposal would be put before the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (the TA parent body) for approv- CO 5. Z3 a.

to T3 a 3 3 stop at the station at 61st St. TONY CASALE DiJtV K-'. 18 trips a day and its ridership is far below MTA loading guidelines," Previdi said. "We have to put the buses where the people are." Several of the 15 speakers at the hearing all of whom opposed the service shut-off said the ridership would increase significantly if the bus ran during the midday-hours. Mile hike Tom Smitn ot tne ureaier Whitestone Taxpayers' Civic Association said the area in cludes "a large ratio of re- wouia nae tne dus ii ii were available during the midday.

By JACK LEAHY Daily News Staff Writer A plan by the Transit Authority to end ontinue service on the Q-44B bus line in Whitestone has drawn outrage from the residents of the community The TA cites low ridership as the reason for ending the service. But civic leaders, at a public hearing held by Community Board 7 last week, denounced the proposal as being short-sighted and to senior citizens. The bus covers a 2.1-mile route between Parsons off 14th and Third Ave, near the sfcy way. Riders use the bus for Dr. Vincent Lodico, the president of the Malba Civic Association, said some seniors and school children would have to walk "at least a mile" to get to stops of the Q-44 as an alternate to the Q-" 44B.

"For senior citizens, it would be cruel," Lodico asserted. "Many of them are infirm and can't drive cars. They would be confined to their homes without the Q-44B." The Transportation Committee of Community Board 7 also opposed the proposal as HkfiQHCA population is expected to grow in the area as the result CO a alJKithia the next, iwairedt semosi otuns. "It (the Q-44B) only makes A. 1.