From delays to cancelled trips, survey highlights rider frustration with Staten Island bus service

By Mike Matteo | Staten Island Advance (TNS)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Recently, Councilmember Kamillah Hanks, a Democrat representing the North Shore, released the results of a months-long transit survey on Staten Island.

Sporting a roughly 23% response rate, the 908 Staten Islanders who answered expressed a feeling that transit service in the borough needs improvement across a number of areas.

“Staten Islanders deserve a transportation system that works for them,” said Hanks in a statement. “This survey makes one thing very clear: riders value our bus and ferry service, but they are frustrated and demanding improvements.”

Those who filled out the survey were asked to grade aspects of transportation on Staten Island with a simple A through F grading scale, with space given for answer explanations.

Overall average grade

Overall, riders most frequently gave a C grade to the local buses on Staten Island, a trend that has been somewhat reflected in surveys run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Reliability was one of the areas where Staten Island’s transit was called out the most. The most frequent response was a grade of F, with respondents pointing to bus delays, long waits, and trip cancellations.

Crowding was also an issue brought up by those who answered the survey. While the largest share of responses gave local buses a C grade, specific lines, like the S44 and S93, were mentioned as being consistently overcrowded, especially during school dismissal.

Fare enforcement graded overwhelmingly low, with 40% of survey responses assigning a failing grade.

Individual respondents pointed to passengers boarding through the back door without paying as a particular example of the low grade.

High marks for OMNY

The overwhelming majority of responses gave high marks to the MTA’s OMNY system, which will replace the MetroCard beginning in 2026.

The survey noted, however, that many seniors and express bus riders have still not made the transition from MetroCards.

Over 50% of respondents also said they would take advantage of a proposed fast ferry connection between Staten Island and Brooklyn, something which Hanks has long supported.

Based on responses to the survey, Hanks made a number of recommendations for transportation in the borough, such as: deploying additional buses on critical routes; piloting higher occupancy “accordion buses” on certain routes; increasing transit security presence at key hubs; and starting on a local bus network redesign on Staten Island.

According to a press release from Hanks’ office, the survey results and findings have been shared with officials at the city’s transportation agencies, like the MTA.

MTA response

“We appreciate Councilmember Hanks’ commitment to transit riders and will review the survey results,” MTA Spokesperson Eugene Resnick said when asked about the survey.

The agency representative also pointed to the results of the MTA’s customer satisfaction survey in the spring, where bus customer satisfaction was up across all boroughs, especially in areas like waiting times, travel times, service reliability, and crowding.

“This survey is not the end — it’s the beginning,” Hanks said in a statement. “With this data in hand, we will push the MTA and City agencies to take action. Staten Islanders deserve faster, safer, cleaner, and more reliable transit, and I will keep fighting for that.”

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