Restructuring Routes Near The SI Mall

Restructuring Routes Near The SI Mall

     One of the major problems with service near the Staten Island Mall is that the needs of those who need to travel to the area by Marsh Avenue are ignored. This includes not only residents, but also students going to that educational complex along Marsh Avenue. (I forget exactly what it includes, but I know it includes at least one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school, and I know that elementary school is P.S.58, and there's McGowan High School and CSI High School). Riders looking to go up the Richmond Avenue corridor have to walk across the mall parking lot to get to the other side, which can be desolate early in the morning, and is a long walk at any time of the day. At certain times, the S44 & S59 have trippers running down to the school, but it would be nice if there was service available all day (and it could possibly save the MTA a little bit of money by allowing them to cut a few trippers, since the regular trips would be passing by the schools).

     The other major problem is that riders aren't able to take advantage of all of the options available to them, due to the fact that different routes stop on opposite sides of the mall. For example, if somebody wanted to go to the Eltingville Transit Center (ETC), they could take the S55, S56, S59, S79, or S89. However, the S59/S79 stop at the "front" of the mall, and the S55/S56/S89 stop at the "back" of the mall. Since the S59/S79 run more frequently, most people opt to go to the front, meaning the S55/S56/S89 have wasted capacity and potential. Likewise, for those going up the Richmond Avenue corridor, the S44/S59 stop at the "front" of the mall, and the S89 stops at the "back". Again, since the S44/S59 are more frequent, most people opt to go to the front of the mall, leaving the S89 with wasted capacity and potential. (Northbound in the PM rush, I've seen packed S44s and S59s, with an empty S89 right behind them)

    In order to solve these issues. I have a plan that would involve restructuring the S44/S59/S94, S55/S56, S79, and S89. Keep in mind that if the S79A were to be implemented, it would follow the same path as the S79. The portions in red are all the portions that would be discontinued (for that particular route). The portions in blue are the new routing that would be used instead. For the S44/S59/S94, there's an alternate new routing that I'll discuss below.

   By doing so, the MTA would be using each route to its full potential as far as serving riders traveling from the mall, meaning buses would be more evenly loaded. So instead of packed S44s and S59s followed by near-empty S89s, you'd have moderately crowded buses on all three routes. And instead of packed S79s pulling into the ETC, followed by a near-empty S55 or S56, you'd have a more reasonably crowded S79, followed by an S55 or S56 with a decent-sized load (of course, once it leaves the ETC, the S55 or S56 would likely be close to empty as it is now, although my proposal to extend one or both to New Jersey should fix that. I'll get to that another time).

    By the way, I just want to give a little background about S89 ridership. Northbound in the AM rush, it gets a decent amount of people, because it has all the commuters going to Bayonne to catch the HBLR, as well as schoolkids (the largest group being Port Richmond High School students). Southbound in the AM rush, the mall isn't open, and there aren't too many reverse commuters from Bayonne, but it gets a lot of students, and then adding that onto the people who use it as an alternative to the S59 to go towards the South Shore, nets it a decent amount of ridership. Southbound in the PM, it has the Bayonne commuters, plus people heading to the mall, plus people going home to the South Shore. However, northbound in the PM, buses are usually pretty empty because there's little to no students, and a handful of reverse-commuters. So unless it happens to come before a northbound S59 at the Eltingville SIR station or the ETC, that bus is going to have a handful of people going all the way up to Bayonne. There's been trips where I've been the only one on the bus, or maybe with 3-6 other people on board. The most crowded S89 I've been on that was traveling northbound in the PM rush had about 25 people, but the S89 in front had gone missing, and there was a long gap between it and the previous S59, with no S79s passing by in the interim, so it was a complete abnormality. (This was on the day before Thanksgiving last year, so all the buses were screwed up. My S84 got to the ETC 50 minutes late because of all the traffic, and I figured the S89 was supposed to come in a few minutes, so I passed up two S59s that came right behind each other, and ended up waiting another 20 minutes for the S89. In the meantime, no S79s were coming towards the mall, so I imagine Hylan Blvd traffic must've been a nightmare). But other than that, northbound S89 buses carry very few people at that time, and there's unused potential for those trips.

  Additionally, riders would have more frequent service due to the fact that they would have all of their options on one street. With the S55/S56/S59/S79/S89 all at the same stop, riders going to the ETC would have a bus every 2-5 minutes during rush hours. Is it really necessary to have service that frequently? No, but if it can be done at little to no cost, why not? Along Richmond Avenue, the S89 would also add a little bit of frequency for those going up the corridor.

    Keep in mind that 4 new stops behind the mall (serving Sears & Macys) would have to be constructed. And the reason I say "constructed" (because most of the time, adding a stop is as simple as drilling a hole, sticking a pole in it, and then pouring concrete in to stabilize it) is because they would have to expand the sidewalk a bit, and add a shelter (which would probably involve taking over a few parking spaces, which shouldn't be too much of an issue. Aside from the holiday season, the mall doesn't have a shortage of parking, and if that's such a big concern, they can add back spots on the other side of the mall, since there would no longer be buses stopping there)

    Also, another issue is that the portion of Ring Road between the park-and-ride and TGIF (the restaurant) is only one lane in each direction. Well, you can either widen it in that portion, or just label it a transit mall (meaning, only allow buses in that portion). Here is where I would propose the transit mall. It's only in the portion where the street is one lane in each direction, so that people don't get stuck behind buses and get tempted to pass in the opposite lane, risking an accident. For the cars along that portion, they would have to make their way to Marsh Avenue. A barricade would be put up here (a simple guardrail or some Jersey barriers would do). It's at most, a minute of inconvenience for those drivers, and the bus riders get a huge benefit from this. And it would cost close to nothing, because it would just involve some signage, a single barricade for that one little street, and maybe some red paint on the ground if they want to demarcate it.

    Now, to explain the exact restructuring, my plan for the S55/S56 is simple. Instead of having northbound buses turn left onto Marsh Avenue, they would make a left at the light before (which is Ring Road). They would go up Ring Road, serve those two stops by Sears & Macys, and then terminate where they normally do. Going back towards the South Shore, they would pull out of their terminal, make the next right, then make a left onto Ring Road, take that down to Platinum Avenue, make a right, and continue their normal route.

    With the S79, it's the same idea: Turn left onto the eastern portion of Ring Road (right now, it turns left onto the western portion. The road makes a "ring" around the mall, hence the name "Ring Road"), serve the two stops by Sears & Macys, and then terminate where it normally does. The routing would be exactly the same as the routing the S55/S56 would take.

    Now, with the S44/S59/S94, it gets a little more complicated, because you have a couple of options on what to do. Buses would definitely be turning down the eastern portion of Ring Road, instead of the western portion. The question becomes what to do once you pass Macy's. Buses can either make their way to Marsh Avenue, make a left onto Richmond Hill Road, and then a right on Richmond Avenue, or continue up Ring Road, pass by those apartment buildings near the mall, and then make a left onto Richmond Hill Road, and a right onto Richmond Avenue.

    The advantage of running down Marsh Avenue is that you provide more service to the more residential portion of Richmond Hill Road. For instance, the people living in those townhouses off Lamped Loop would have easy access to the Richmond Avenue buses, compared to having them pass by the back of the complex without stopping because there's a fence separating Ring Road from the complex. People living on all those side streets off Richmond Hill Road would benefit as well. The only problem is that it would take a couple of minutes longer to reach the mall, and that extra distance might also make the S44/S94 a bit more unreliable for riders further up the route. (It's 4 more traffic lights to pass through, and 3 more stops to make). The S59 might also have the same issue, but north of the mall, it is supplemented by the S44/S94, whereas the reverse is only true west of Port Richmond).

   So that's why my alternate plan is to have the S44/S59/S94 pass continue up Ring Road, and pass by those apartment buildings. (That's the green line in the S44/S59/S94 plan). It still serves the commercial part of Richmond Hill Road (west of approximately Ring Road) while providing a faster ride for those going to and from the mall. (The travel time would be more or less what it is today). That's another issue: If you want to get to or from say, Wendy's or one of those stores along Richmond Hill Road, you have to cross Richmond Avenue to access the southbound buses. It's not a regular street, where you're only crossing a few lanes. You're crossing nine lanes of traffic, plus the two parking lanes (which people sometimes use to make turns). The only business on the western side of Richmond Avenue is Fedex/Kinko's, whereas the eastern side has Radioshack, Marshall's, Wendy's, and many more businesses.

    With the S89, we have those same two options: Have it go back to Marsh Avenue, which is slightly longer, or have it take the more direct route straight up Ring Road. The thing is that, being a limited, the only additional stop the S89 would make by serving Marsh Avenue would be the stop at Westport Street, so you're going out of the way to serve an additional stop worth of people. The more I think about it, the more I don't think it's worth it (especially since the nearest S89 stop would be 0.20 miles away), but it's just something to think about.  (Keep in mind that the S89 can always take a slightly different route than the S44/S59/S94 if necessary. You could have the S89 serve Marsh Avenue, while the S44/S59/S94 take Ring Road straight down, or vice versa).

    Part of the proposal entails constructing a little walkway right around here to allow residents living around Elmwood Park Drive to access the bus stops by Macy's. It would simply entail cutting out a little path (it doesn't even look like you'd have to remove any trees) and pouring some asphalt on it. Then you just remove a portion of that guardrail and you're done. (That would allow the riders to access the southbound stop. For the northbound stop, you can just extend the pathway a little further up)

   Questions? Comments? As always, leave 'em below in the comments section.