Other options explored by the agency as part of the four-year long study include assigning carpool or "special use" status to new lanes, meaning the lane would be "HOV" during rush hours and a truck lane at other times. Many Staten Island groups and officials, including the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce, have spoken out in recent years in favor of better transit options and against highway development that would fuel growth in car and truck traffic.

According to the DOT, designing and building the SIE bus-way could take as long as ten years. Hopefully, if the current study recommends a bus-way, implementation can take place more quickly. One factor likely driving DOT toward the bus-only conclusion for the SIE is the dysfunction of the Gowanus Expressway carpool lane. There, heavy car use is bogging the lane down, although most of the lane's travelers are in express buses from Staten Island. DOT could offer these riders early relief by moving now to impose stricter carpool or bus-only rules on the Gowanus HOV lane.