The mighty Q18 was always a bus route, never a trolley line. The route was started about 1920 by the Woodside-Astoria Transportation Company and ran from Astoria to the railroad/subway station in Woodside. The company ran another line, the Q24, from Woodside to Maspeth. At some point, the two lines merged first being the Q18A and later as just the current Q18. The line runs from 2nd Street in Astoria to 69th Street and Grand Avenue in Maspeth along 30th Avenue in Astoria, Broadway, 58th Street, Woodside Avenue, 65th Place in Woodside/Winfield and 69th Street.
The Woodside-Astoria Transportation Company was started in 1919 by Salvatore Foratora who received a franchise to run a bus between the 103rd Street terminal of the Roosevelt Avenue elevated train to downtown Flushing. When the elevated line was extended to Flushing, Foratora moved his operation to Astoria and added additional lines. On April 10, 1931, the company changed its name to Triboro Coach Corporation. The company filed for bankruptcy in 1946 and the company was sold to William Cooper, the owner of Green Bus Lines. The Triboro Coach name remained as such until it was acquired by the MTA in 2006. It is serviced by the MTA's LaGuardia Depot.