Staten Islanders Keeping an Open Mind on Congestion Pricing

All elected officials who attended (Borough President James Molinarosent a representative) declared their support for some sort ofcongestion mitigation program––but only if Staten Island's share of thedollars on offer from the Feds were made commensurate with the problemsof a borough whose average commute is acknowledged to be the longest inthe entire country.

Patrick Hyland of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce expressedhis organization's support for Congestion Pricing, provided fivethoughtful recommendations that address a range of transit-relatedproblems experienced island-wide are implemented. Significantly, everyrecommendation involves mass transit.

•Reinstitution of rail service (roadbeds are deteriorated but right-of-way is intact)•Increase in the number of Bus Rapid Transit routes (the first and sofar the only such route was instituted earlier this year; ridership wassurprisingly strong from the beginning and continues to grow)•Fast ferry service to and from the South Shore--the most remote andleast well served by mass transit of the island's three community boardareas•Full extension of the currently limited-distance express bus lane on the Staten Island Expressway, and•A fourth bus depot (the third, already in the MTA capital budget, has already been outpaced by demand for express bus service)

I took the bushome. No one else from the hearing joined me. We've obviously got a lotof work to do on Staten Island. But the (very) conditional willingnessof many Staten Islanders to at least consider some sort of pricingscheme to reduce traffic and improve local mass transit services wasencouraging.