| Issue 111 | January 17, 1997 |
| Issue 111 | January 17, 1997 |
The report says the ATU favors creating a "contra-flow" bus lane on a west-bound lane of the Staten Island Expressway (S.I.E.) in the morning, and on an east-bound lane in the evening. The express buses would also use the newly-extended Gowanus Expressway bus lane. Some way would also have to be found to prioritize bus passage through the Verrazano toll booths -- the bridge itself is not congested. Bus lanes along this route would have five times the passenger carrying capacity of adjacent general purpose highway lanes, and would save taxpayers the cost of having to add capacity to the S.I.E. Time savings from the bus lanes would increase ridership on the buses by over 9%. Interestingly, this figure is more than twice the ridership increase the study attributes to a halving of the express bus fare (from $4 to $2), indicating the very large (up to half an hour) travel time savings the lanes are estimated to yield. The study says the overall ridership effect of the ATU plan would be 1 million new express bus trips in the first year. Less time in traffic would also lower Transit Authority operating costs for the buses. It is unclear whether there would be an increase in congestion costs on the off-peak side of the S.I.E., which would lose a lane to the contra-flow bus route.
The ATU proposal also calls for larger express buses, and for using express bus drivers for daytime Manhattan paratransit service, which would further reduce operating costs. In making the case for fare reduction, the study says MTA capital expenditure per capita in Staten Island is only about 15% of what is invested per person in other boroughs. This calculation does not account for NY State DOT capital investments that benefit Staten Island transit riders, like the Gowanus bus lanes, but even adding these would not reduce the disparity much. The ATU says Staten Islanders will not benefit much from the coming end of two-fare transit zones, and that an express bus fare reduction would be proper compensation. Transit Authority officials have retorted that express bus riders were spared much of recent system-wide fare increases.
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Last week, the ATU's plan was endorsed by the Staten Island Board of Realtors, a trade and lobbying association with over 1,000 member companies. A spokesperson said more efficient public transit is in Staten Island's economic interest.
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