The Grand Avenue Depot is a Brooklyn Division Depot located between 47th Street and 49th Place on the north side of Grand Avenue in Maspeth, Queens, on the former site of a car rental business, and near the south end of the Newtown Creek. This modern 600,000 square feet (56,000 m2) and environmentally friendly facility is the first of its kind for New York City Transit Authority. The contract for the depot was awarded in 2003 to Granite Construction Northeast, with the design created by Gannett Fleming. The facility partially opened in 2007 housing 19 buses, and fully opened on January 6, 2008. Upon opening, the Grand Avenue Depot took on routes and buses from the nearby Fresh Pond Depot, relieving overcrowding at that facility. The building design is certified Environmental Management Systems ISO 14001 specifications.
The four-story building includes four fueling and defueling stations, cleaning and storage facilities for 200 buses on the first floor, an advanced 27 bus central maintenance facility on the second floor, administrative offices for NYCT's Department of Buses on the third floor, and parking garages for MTA employees on the roof. The central maintenance facility is able to repair and maintain the newer fleet of diesel, diesel hybrid-electric, battery-electric, 60-foot (18 m) articulated, express coach and compressed natural gas (CNG) buses, and has expanded the capabilities of the current East New York central maintenance facility for Brooklyn and Queens. The facility also has four environmentally friendly paint booths − self-contained units that avoid the spread of contaminants.
The building meets the needs of expanding demands, and relief of the overcrowding at the Brooklyn Division's other six existing bus garages, and upgrading the Department of Buses' facilities to be state-of-the-art from both environmental and technological standpoints.
Fleet operation history:
RTS (2008-2017)
RTS Hybrid (2017-present)
Orion V (2013-2014)
Orion VII Gen II (2008-2009)
Designline Ecosaver (2009; pilot)
Orion VII NG. Hybrid (2009-Present)
2015 XD40 (2015-present)
2018 XD40 (2018-present)
2017 BE40 (2017-present)
2017 XDE40 (2018-present)
D60 (2017-2018)
2012 XD60 (2017-present)
2017 XD60 (2017-2018)