In the past, the Q has run many different service patterns in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, both local and express, including QB service on the Manhattan Bridge and QT service via the Montague Street Tunnel.

Yes, the Q train has a long and varied history of serving Queens. Most recently, from 2010 to 2016, the Q ran to Astoria–Ditmars Boulevard on weekdays to replace the discontinued W train during a period of budget cuts. Before that, in the early 2000s, it occasionally ran to Forest Hills–71st Avenue in Queens via the 63rd Street Tunnel during various construction-related reroutes (particularly after 9/11). Historically, the Q was the designation for the BMT Brighton Local/Express, and different variants (like the QB and QT) also touched Queens via the 60th Street Tunnel or the Manhattan Bridge at various points in the mid-20th century. However, since the opening of the Second Avenue Subway on January 1, 2017, the Q's northern terminus has been permanently shifted to 96th Street in Manhattan. While it no longer serves Queens in its standard 2026 route, the "yellow Q" remains one of the most geographically flexible lines in the history of the NYC Subway system.