A ‘brutal’ schedule: Riders on this Staten Island express bus line urge MTA to make changes (2024)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- For those Staten Islanders who don’t have the good fortune of living near the borough’s lone train line, express buses are a foundational part of the morning commute.

Express lines like the SIM1, SIM8 and SIM33 offer commuters the ease of knowing that if they miss one bus, another isn’t far behind, and sometimes they can even take a different route that overlaps with their set route.

Yet some of the express lines on Staten Island don’t offer those luxuries, and straphangers are left wishing for better service.

“The SIM23 schedule is brutal, absolutely brutal. It’s not a comfortable way to go into work every day like this,” said EJ Carroll, who has commuted from the South Shore using express buses for 17 years.

“A lot of people I know have even went to different means [of getting to work], because they gave up with the schedule.”

A ‘wacky’ schedule

The SIM23 is one of two buses traveling on Hylan Boulevard briefly before turning up one of the South Shore’s major north-south thoroughfares, merging onto NY440, and eventually entering Midtown through North Jersey and the Lincoln Tunnel.

During the weekday, there are only six scheduled trips on the SIM23 route in each direction. The buses run between 5 and 8 a.m., but anyone trying to make it to work before 9 a.m. only has two options — the 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. buses.

Because of this very concentrated ridership, the SIM23 often fills up early into the run. During a recent trip on the 7 a.m. bus, only a few sporadic seats were left open by the time the bus was only around halfway through the route.

As Carroll described it, morning ridership on the bus spiked back in May. Since then, more and more riders have been stuck either getting off at the last stop before the highway, and facing being late, or standing while the bus crosses over the Goethals and enters New Jersey.

And in response, some straphangers said they are choosing to completely shift their morning routine just to avoid having to make that decision.

“I had one woman say to me ‘I used to get on two stops farther down, but now I have my husband dropping me off here now so I can get a seat,’” recalled Carroll, who added he is thinking of also getting dropped off earlier on the route.

Riders on the SIM23 said they are looking for some relief. As the issue has been stewing for months, some have their own theories about the best way to improve service.

Some said they believe the most direct way would be the addition of another scheduled SIM23 run, splitting the difference between the 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. buses.

“The schedule is wacky, it just doesn’t make sense. And we think the solution would be just one more bus,” said Carroll. “Just add another bus in there somewhere. It’s not huge, and I think that ridership would even pick up more.”

Another thought is to build some redundancy to the SIM23 and its sister route, the SIM24.

By adding anywhere from one to three stops at the beginning of those routes, the resulting overlap would allow some riders the option to take another bus in the morning and free up seats.

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“You got 55 seats and 75 people waiting [on the route],” said Frank Polemeni. ”Adding three stops picks up 20% of the people waiting because now they have a choice.”

“You’ve got to be able to service as many people as you can,” he continued. “First give people options, then you can start adding buses.”

When asked about the possibility of expanded service for the express bus line to address commuter concerns, MTA spokesperson Meghan Keegan said: “We appreciate customer feedback and are reviewing the SIM23 and SIM24 service schedule.”

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A ‘brutal’ schedule: Riders on this Staten Island express bus line urge MTA to make changes (2024)
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