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Staten Island's transportation crisis isn't going away


Harry

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Stalling current Island needs is the huge funding crisis at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that runs the New York City subway and bus system, among other operations. It's a costly roadblock that won't budge soon. There is a $15-billion shortfall in the MTA's proposed five-year, $32-billion capital budget, which covers maintenance, improvements and expansion of the regional network. "We have a very large hole in our existing capital program," stressed Peter Cafiero, chief of operations planning at the MTA's New York City Transit division. He was responding at a City Council hearing to a question by Councilwoman Debi Rose, D-North Shore, about the potential to ease traffic congestion by creating a bus rapid transit (BRT) route here.

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The (MTA) seems to be doing nothing aside from adding more express bus service for the South Shore.  Meanwhile the North Shore has seen next to no improvements (be it local or express bus service), and had next to zero service cuts restored going back to 2010.  

Edited by Via Garibaldi 8
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There's an island the size of Brooklyn with only one rail line, and the best proposals recently have only been light rail and bus rapid transit? That's insane!

 

Why do they need it? People choose to live in Staten Island for the space and quiet atmosphere of the suburbs. That means the limited transportation of the suburbs, too.

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Why do they need it? People choose to live in Staten Island for the space and quiet atmosphere of the suburbs. That means the limited transportation of the suburbs, too.

Don't forget that Staten Island became a part of the 5 Boroughs on the promise that a subway connection would be made to the island. Otherwise, Staten Island would have become a part of New Jersey.
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Why do they need it? People choose to live in Staten Island for the space and quiet atmosphere of the suburbs. That means the limited transportation of the suburbs, too.

The express buses is sufficient enough considering it's the only thing inter borough mode with connections going for them and considering its a bargain as compared to paying that Verrazano toll

Edited by 46Dover
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There's an island the size of Brooklyn with only one rail line, and the best proposals recently have only been light rail and bus rapid transit? That's insane!

 

Keep in mind that the best proposals around anywhere that isn't Manhattan have been just bus rapid transit, full stop. Staten Island isn't exactly alone in having its needs neglected.

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they should make the subway to SI a reality. that was a big legend i always heard

 

It would be extremely hard to make a train time-competitive with the ferry or express bus without building a direct SI-Manhattan tunnel, which would probably be even more expensive than the Gateway Project, which isn't even fully funded despite having a national transportation benefit.

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People choose to live in Staten Island for the space and quiet atmosphere of the suburbs.

Not everyone. I have family in Staten Island, and people I used to work with. My extended family basically lives there for the lower cost of getting a home. Other than my uncle, nobody there can drive, so we don't see each other as often as we'd like due to the long trips by bus. It's the same for a lot of other people.

 

 

As well it should have.

Along with higher tolls to Brooklyn, no free ferry service, and not a word more about extending any subway there.
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Truth be told, Staten Island is not receiving any new form of rail. What is being asked for here is some sort of Select Bus Service (SBS) for the North Shore of Staten Island. The original plan called for an entirely new right of way for buses only. It would have essentially replaced the S40 and S90 buses with an 8-stop Select Bus Service called the S1. This seems very expensive and not everyone lives near the S40 or S90 bus.

 

I think the best solution would be to take advantage of the fact that Yukon already is a Select Bus Service depot and expand that fleet instead. The S44 would become the new Select Bus Service for the North Shore but operating along Castleton Avenue replacing the S46.

 

This new S44 via Castleton Ave would operate along the current S46 route until Morningstar and Walker Street where it will continue the current S44 route.

 

The S44 Select Bus Sevice would make all S96 stops along Castleton Avenue and all S89 stops along Richmond Avenue

 

The S44 Select Bus Service would operate to/from St George Ferry via Castleton Avenue and either the SI Mall, Teleport via the current S96 route, short-turn in Port Richmond or extend to Etlingville Transit Center. All of the buses could be shared between the S44 and S79 and this would be easier and cheaper to put in place.

 

The S46 re-routed via the current S44 route to West Shore Plaza. So no buses turning at the intersection of Morningstar and Walker.

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Truth be told, Staten Island is not receiving any new form of rail. What is being asked for here is some sort of Select Bus Service (SBS) for the North Shore of Staten Island. The original plan called for an entirely new right of way for buses only. It would have essentially replaced the S40 and S90 buses with an 8-stop Select Bus Service called the S1. This seems very expensive and not everyone lives near the S40 or S90 bus.

 

I think the best solution would be to take advantage of the fact that Yukon already is a Select Bus Service depot and expand that fleet instead. The S44 would become the new Select Bus Service for the North Shore but operating along Castleton Avenue replacing the S46.

 

This new S44 via Castleton Ave would operate along the current S46 route until Morningstar and Walker Street where it will continue the current S44 route.

 

The S44 Select Bus Sevice would make all S96 stops along Castleton Avenue and all S89 stops along Richmond Avenue

 

The S44 Select Bus Service would operate to/from St George Ferry via Castleton Avenue and either the SI Mall, Teleport via the current S96 route, short-turn in Port Richmond or extend to Etlingville Transit Center. All of the buses could be shared between the S44 and S79 and this would be easier and cheaper to put in place.

 

The S46 re-routed via the current S44 route to West Shore Plaza. So no buses turning at the intersection of Morningstar and Walker.

 

That's too much

they should make the subway to SI a reality. that was a big legend i always heard

They could always finish the r train tunnel to grasmere, but that's never gonna happen

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The express buses is sufficient enough considering it's the only thing inter borough mode with connections going for them and considering its a bargain as compared to paying that Verrazano toll

 

 

Why do they need it? People choose to live in Staten Island for the space and quiet atmosphere of the suburbs. That means the limited transportation of the suburbs, too.

Staten Island is changing very rapidly... The population continues to increase significantly, and the traffic is becoming worse and worse.  More buses (be it local buses or express buses) may not be the solution. Staten Island definitely needs to address the congestion, but the problem is that it doesn't have the infrastructure to support the sudden influx in the population. The other issue is that transportation sucks within Staten Island so everyone either has CARS or takes car service.  Commute times became worse every year for me when I started working until I got fed up and left.  No matter what part of the island you are on, you are usually looking at an hour and 30 minute ride each way or more if traffic is really bad.  If anything Staten Island needs some sort of rapid ferry service, as the SI Ferry is a joke, and if there's snow out forget it.  The express buses often times can't make it up the hills.The 

 

The real dilemma is that everyone is moving to Staten Island for lower housing costs as opposed to more space and it's bringing down the quality of life, yet another reason folks are leaving... It's becoming too crowded, and too many ghetto folks moving in.  When we moved there it was VERY nice, and as more people from other boroughs started coming in, we started seeing changes.  I had considered moving further south on the island, but that would mean a longer commute, and the Mid Island and South Shore are becoming crowded as well, so that left getting the hell out of there.

Edited by Via Garibaldi 8
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Lol ghetto folks. There has always been these "ghetto" folks in Staten Island. They are everywhere even in the borough you live in. So that is not the problem with Staten Island.

 

So please tell me VG8 was is your definition of a ghetto person?

There's "ghetto" areas in every borough, to add on.

 

Each area has some poor area and some nice areas (at the very least), so I don't what the sudden gasp is about (oh wait, scratch that, I know perfectly)

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Truth be told, Staten Island is not receiving any new form of rail. What is being asked for here is some sort of Select Bus Service (SBS) for the North Shore of Staten Island. The original plan called for an entirely new right of way for buses only. It would have essentially replaced the S40 and S90 buses with an 8-stop Select Bus Service called the S1. This seems very expensive and not everyone lives near the S40 or S90 bus.

 

I think the best solution would be to take advantage of the fact that Yukon already is a Select Bus Service depot and expand that fleet instead. The S44 would become the new Select Bus Service for the North Shore but operating along Castleton Avenue replacing the S46.

 

This new S44 via Castleton Ave would operate along the current S46 route until Morningstar and Walker Street where it will continue the current S44 route.

 

The S44 Select Bus Sevice would make all S96 stops along Castleton Avenue and all S89 stops along Richmond Avenue

 

The S44 Select Bus Service would operate to/from St George Ferry via Castleton Avenue and either the SI Mall, Teleport via the current S96 route, short-turn in Port Richmond or extend to Etlingville Transit Center. All of the buses could be shared between the S44 and S79 and this would be easier and cheaper to put in place.

 

The S46 re-routed via the current S44 route to West Shore Plaza. So no buses turning at the intersection of Morningstar and Walker.

Yeah I think all those terminals for the S44 SBS service are too much. I would just have SI Mall as the only terminal. 

Also, if that happens, I think the S89 should be converted to an SBS route, since it will run alongside the S79 and S44 SBS. Essentially it's entire routing (except the portion in NJ) would be running alongside SBS routes (although it's still a limited) so I think if that were to happen, that should happen.

 

 

Or You can named it the S96 SBS , and reroute S44/S94 to Mariners Harbor.

Edited by BM5 via Woodhaven
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Staten Island transportation sucks both within the borough and to/from outside of it. The Verrazano–Narrows Bridge is congested because it's the only direct connection to Brooklyn and one of the two fastest links to Manhattan. Most people also prefer the Verrazano–Narrows Bridge to Manhattan, since it has no tolls we long as the Manhattan or Brooklyn bridges are being used.

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Lol ghetto folks. There has always been these "ghetto" folks in Staten Island. They are everywhere even in the borough you live in. So that is not the problem with Staten Island.

 

So please tell me VG8 was is your definition of a ghetto person?

You're right... Staten Island has ghetto areas, but the ghetto folks usually were confined to certain areas (primarily the housing projects), but folks with the ghetto mentality have started to spread out across the island, which includes the good parts.  The problem with them is they started spreading across the island with their car centric behavior when traffic and congestion was already bad enough.  I would say that Staten Island is far more car centric than my current community where people are more receptive to transit such as the express buses and Metro-North.  On Staten Island, even the express buses are looked down upon by some.

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You're right... Staten Island has ghetto areas, but the ghetto folks usually were confined to certain areas (primarily the housing projects), but folks with the ghetto mentality have started to spread out across the island, which includes the good parts. The problem with them is they started spreading across the island with their car centric behavior when traffic and congestion was already bad enough. I would say that Staten Island is far more car centric than my current community where people are more receptive to transit such as the express buses and Metro-North. On Staten Island, even the express buses are looked down upon by some.

So in your opinion what defines a ghetto person though?

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