A $75 million Staten Island Expressway bus-only lane advanced by the NY State Dept. Transportation will come with no guarantee that the lane will not eventually be opened up to carpools. The Tri-State Campaign proposed that the project's description be changed to include a requirement for a full environmental review before any plans to open the lane to automobiles are advanced. But a committee of the NY Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC), the government group responsible for developing the NY region's transportation plan, has rejected these changes. The new lane would be built using design specifications for a high occupancy vehicle (car pool) facility, making the project look suspiciously like an opening bid to add HOV lanes the length of the expressway. For this reason, the Campaign opposes the project and urges NYS DOT to withdraw it from consideration by NYMTC.

The NYMTC committee has not yet approved the bus lane project, which NY State DOT conceived as a "fast track" improvement to the S.I. Expressway. NYMTC members should note that it comes amid calls to convert an existing I-278 HOV lane to bus-only. Staten Island express bus riders, tired of delays in the Gowanus HOV lane, have mounted a campaign to unclog the lane by getting cars out. Currently, only two occupants are required to gain entry. In defiance of logic, taxis carrying one passenger are also allowed to jam up the lane.

The extent to which the proposed SIE bus lane will benefit bus ridership also remains open to question, given that a significant number of morning buses already bypass the expressway. The project should be shelved until a comprehensive plan to improve bus service is completed. Such a plan is one component of the major Staten Island Expressway study the state is now conducting. The study could conclude as soon as the end of this year.