Staten Island passed over yet again

Here we go again. Another mass transit plan for the city of New York, and yet another blind eye turned to Staten Island’s transportation needs.

Last month, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans to launch a new streetcar service called the Brooklyn-Queens Connector (BQX) that will stretch 16 miles from Astoria in Queens to Sunset Park in Brooklyn. It is anticipated to serve 50,0000 passengers per day.

It’s a $2.5 billion project that is being touted by city officials as filling an essential need in transportation for that section of the city, and an economic driver that could “spark more than $25 billion in economic impact over the next three decades,” NYCEDC President Maria Torres-Springer said.

It’s also yet another example of how, despite the serious need for a mass transit solution here in our borough — and despite the fact that the need is going to grow substantially with the projected influx of visitors to the Island with all the development underway — city officials continue to pass Staten Island over. Staten Islanders, and those who visit the borough, are forced to drive just about everywhere they want to go, and that makes the commute times on the Island some of the highest in the country. Different groups have proposed solutions to the problem — projects such as the North Shore Bus Rapid Transit and a West Shore Light Rail, for example. That North Shore BRT looks like it could finally happen, with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority last year approving funding for environmental and design work, but more is needed.

As borough officials have stated in response to the BQX, it’s not about pitting one city borough against another; it’s about addressing the needs of the people who live in the city, no matter what borough they reside in.

Staten Island needs some form of additional mass transit, and it needs it now. Will someone please answer our plea?