By Joseph Morales

                Hylan Blvd is not only one of the busiest streets in Staten Island but also the longest street in all of New York City at approximately 17 miles long.  According to NYCDOT data, around 33,000 bus riders ride the bus along Hylan Blvd daily between the S59, S78, S79-SBS as well as eight express bus routes that go to Manhattan. In addition to traversing the East Shore of Staten Island, buses on Hylan Blvd connect riders to major destinations such as the St. George Ferry, Staten Island Mall and Bay Ridge, Brooklyn where riders can transfer to other bus/subway routes to travel throughout Brooklyn. Thus, Hylan Blvd is one of Staten Island’s key transit arteries. 

                Due to congestion on the busy street slowing down buses, the NYCDOT had decided to expand the bus lanes on Hylan Blvd an additional 4.7 miles between Nelson and Guyon Avenue in August 2020, completing the project in October 2020 about two years ago. The move had made sense based on the results from the initial construction of bus lanes along the corridor. In September 2012, bus lanes were active on Hylan Blvd between Midland Ave and Clove Rd as part of the new Hylan Blvd SBS project and played a major role in increasing bus speeds between 13-19% on the S79-SBS, increasing bus ridership on the S79-SBS by 10.8% and 6.6% on the combined S59/78/79 based a final report the NYCDOT published on the  S79-SBS. The project also was found to have no substantial impact on traffic flow, possibly indicating that the bus lanes can work on other parts of the boulevard. Transit-signal priority has also improved bus speeds along the corridor.

                Sure enough, the 4.7 mile bus lane extension built on previous success increasing bus speeds during peak periods 28% in the northbound direction during the AM peak and 71% in the southbound direction during the PM peak. Now, the MTA plans to even further upgrade these bus lanes by mounting ABLE(Automated Bus Lane Enforcement) cameras on S79-SBS buses to stop cars from blocking bus lanes. These cameras will be able to take a picture of the license plate information of the cars blocking bus lanes, as well as photos, videos along with location and timestamp information that would be sent to the NYCDOT for processing and then the Department Of Finance would issue fines. During the first 60 days of operation, the cameras will issue warnings to bus lane blockers in a grace period. After that, fines will start at $50 and reach up to $250 for repeat offenders.

                     According to a report by bus-news.com, the MTA recorded around a 17% increase in bus speeds on bus lanes after ABLE enforcement was enabled on buses, indicating the method is effective in speeding up buses. In addition, the MTA says 20% of drivers issued violations do not commit another, indicating the program is a deterrent for drivers to drive in, park in, or otherwise block a bus lane. By the end of the year ABLE cameras will be enabled on eight other major bus routes in The Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn such as the Bx12-SBS and the B25, which will cover about half of the city’s bus lanes. The MTA plans to add the cameras to an additional 60o buses by the end of 2023 which would cover about 85% of the city’s bus lanes. MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber told the Staten Island Advance, “Improving the bus network must be at the top of the MTA agenda.” We have made tremendous progress over the last few years with new strategies designed to speed up our buses, and now we are doubling down by using technology to clear out bus lanes so MTA buses can keep moving.”

                     As the MTA and NYCDOT, continuously take steps to improve bus speeds along Hylan Blvd, hopefully similar steps can help improve bus service across the five boroughs.

Works Cited

Bascome, Erik. “’Bus lanes are for buses’: New MTA bus lane enforcement cameras coming to this S.I. route.” SILive.com, 3 October 2022, https://www.silive.com/news/2022/10/bus-lanes-are-for-buses-new-mta-bus-lane-enforcement-cameras-coming-to-this-staten-island-route.html. Accessed 8 October 2022.

“ICYMI: Better Buses: DOT Announces Dedicated Mid-Island Bus Lanes Along Hylan Boulevard Are Now Complete.” MTA, 5 November 2021, https://new.mta.info/press-release/icymi-better-buses-dot-announces-dedicated-mid-island-bus-lanes-along-hylan-boulevard. Accessed 8 October 2022.

May, Tiana, et al. “New York MTA to Deploy Automated Bus Lane Enforcement Cameras.” Bus-News, 11 August 2022, https://bus-news.com/new-york-mta-to-deploy-automated-bus-lane-enforcement-cameras/. Accessed 8 October 2022.

New York City Department Of Transportation. “1 Updated 1/2018.” NYC.gov, http://www.nyc.gov/html/brt/downloads/pdf/brt-transit-signal-priority-july2017.pdf. Accessed 8 October 2022.

Dunn, Danielle Muoio. “Can camera enforcement speed up New York’s sluggish buses?” Politico, 31 August 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/31/camera-enforcement-new-york-buses-00054057. Accessed 8 October 2022.

New York City Department Of Transportation. “S79 on Hylan Boulevard.” NYC.gov, https://www1.nyc.gov/html/brt/downloads/pdf/2014-hylan-blvd-final-report.pdf. Accessed 8 October 2022.