Staten Island residents are still fuming as express buses that serve as the island’s only direct link to Midtown Manhattan continue to be problem-plagued with the dawn of a new year.
Tens of thousands of Staten Islanders use MTA express buses each day to travel to and from Manhattan for work, school or leisure activities. But many riders are experiencing problems that resulted from what they say are the MTA’s “poorly planned decisions.”
In a group letter to MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber, multiple express bus riders said they were frustrated with the system, zeroing in on increased ridership and decreased service since the pandemic.
“I know COVID saw a massive reduction in ridership, but we have finally returned close to original ridership numbers,” Staten Island express bus advocate Filippa Grisafi wrote. “Unfortunately, our service has not been fully restored. Instead, it just continues to be decimated.”
Grisafi explained during an interview with amNew York Metro that broken buses and worker position cuts are among the main causes for the lackluster service.
“We still don’t have the buses on the road. They’re not being repaired,” she said. “My understanding is they’re cutting about 10 positions of dispatchers. Not only positions but also posts. The overnight dispatcher who manages the SIM 23 and SIM 24, that’s been eliminated. There’s going to be no dispatcher managing the morning trips of the SIM 23 and SIM 24.”
Grisafi explained that the SIM 23 and 24 buses, which connect the borough’s South Shore to Midtown, mostly run every 30 minutes and will experience even less frequent service due to the job cuts.
“So that’s a problem,” she said.
But according to the MTA, help is on the way.
In 2025, the MTA will increase express bus service across Staten Island. Joana Flores, a spokesperson for the agency, said the increase will bring additional trips to the SIM1C, SIM4C, SIM23, and SIM24, providing more one-seat rides for Staten Island customers to get to and from Manhattan.
“NYC Transit is committed to delivering excellent service for Staten Island riders on local and express buses while managing the persistent bus operator availability issues there,” Flores said. “In 2024, NYCT exceeded the ambitious goal of hiring 2,000 bus operators. Staten Island continues to show improved service delivery in Q4 of 2024, and the team is ensuring this trend continues.”
Flores also pointed out that scheduled express bus service is the same as it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. Current ridership across the express buses is 75% of pre-pandemic ridership, she added.
Staten Island’s lack of public transportation options
Bus comfort and safety are also ongoing issues, according to Grisafi, who runs a social media group where Staten Islanders can voice their concerns about the transit system. She said that during the summer of 2024, hundreds of passengers complained of no air conditioning during their commutes, which can sometimes be over two hours.
“These newer buses also have those ‘driver safety‘ doors that restrict air circulation to the passenger area,” she said, adding that they are a “danger to passengers.”
Vittorio Bugatti, an express bus rider and advocate, said constant bus cancellations are a problem because it results in ongoing overcrowding.
“We continue to see ongoing cancellations in express bus service citywide, but the most cancellations and longest wait times remain on Staten Island and such service issues simply cannot remain as the norm going into 2025,” he said.
Assembly Member Michael Tannousis, who represents parts of Brooklyn and Staten Island, said the MTA needs to prioritize Staten Island more due to its lack of public transportation options.
“The main goal of the MTA should be to facilitate the commute of the outer borough residents within the city of New York,” he said. “Especially since Staten Island clearly does not have a subway system, we need as much bus service as possible so that our residents can go to work on a daily basis. The commute of Staten Islanders has not been a priority for the MTA. And it continues not to be so.”
Commuters are also concerned about the closing of Staten Island’s Meredith Bus Depot on the South Shore, which they say is another blow to the borough’s express bus community. The MTA will close the depot on Jan. 3, citing cost-cutting measures, but agency officials maintain that the closure will have no impact on bus service.
The depot, which opened on Dec. 14, 2009, was only designed to be a temporary location and is no longer needed to support bus operations, Flores said. Specifically, it absorbed the overflow buses from the borough’s two existing depots at the time–Yukon and Castleton–until a third bus depot in Charleston opened in 2011.
“The Meredith Depot was a temporary location and is no longer necessary to support bus operations,” Flores said. “The termination of its lease will have no impact on bus service and allows the MTA to operate more efficiently and effectively, saving $2.6 million annually.”
