Currently the Island's growing South Shore commuter population is served only by privately operated express buses that many riders and officials have charged shortchange regular customers in favor of more lucrative charter bus business.

In a City Council meeting last week, Staten Island's three Councilmembers Oddo, O'Donovan, and Fiala forcefully urged the Governor to approve the bill. Both Republican Borough President Guy Molinari and NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, plus Island Community Board 3, have recently written letters to the Governor with the same message. In an Advance articles reporting recent developments, spokespersons for the Governor have said he has yet to take a hard and fast position.

While counsel to Assemblywoman Connelly remains optimistic, Larry Hanley, president of the SI Transit Workers Union expressed surprise that the bill passed both houses and predicted a veto. As head of the MTA, the Governor has the power to install new South Shore express routes at any time, but thus far has chosen not to do so, though local reps have relayed the need for years. In fact, the MTA lobbied against the bill before its Assembly passage, calling it a bad precedent of the legislature administering transit services.

Thus far, the South Shore has been left out of Staten Island's express bus renaissance. The approximately 80,000 residents of the area should not be excluded from a service that will only become more central to Island transportation in coming years once plans for bus only lanes on Hylan Blvd. and the Staten Island Expressway come to fruition.