Our No. 1 wish: Mass Transit
New poll reveals Islanders see
better bus, rail, boat service as key to alleviating borough's
traffic mess
Staten Island Advance
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
The vast majority of Staten Islanders think there
are serious traffic problems in the borough and that mass transit is
the best weapon to fight growing congestion and escalating commute
times, according to a poll released yesterday by the College of
Staten Island.
Seventy-two percent of Staten Islanders polled said
the transit problem had reached "very severe" or "crisis" levels,
and 62 percent said that the borough needs more service on its bus,
boat and rail lines.
The poll, conducted last month by researchers at the
CSI's public issue-focused Staten Island Project, paints a numerical
portrait of Islanders' mounting frustration with daily traffic and
increased travel times that chip into the quality of life for
thousands of Island residents.
"Clearly, most people who think that problems exist
are at the end of their rope," said Steven Johnson, who produced the
report along with six other faculty and staff members.
Eighty-four percent of those polled said they
experienced traffic problems on Staten Island -- most during rush
hours, when schools are dismissed, or on weekends when they did
chores.
While anybody stuck in slow traffic along the Staten
Island Expressway could testify on rough commutes, the poll "gave us
more specific information than we've gotten to date," Johnson said.
He said the survey, which was funded with $14,000
from Consolidated Edison, came from a random telephone sample of 600
people -- a group more representative than those found at community
meetings or informal surveys on transportation issues.
Even though most Islanders drive to work, "We were a
little bit surprised at how many Islanders thought mass
transportation might be a solution to the problem," Johnson said.
"There have been some assumptions about how some residents prefer
their automobiles, but it's clear that two-thirds think we should
expand mass transportation."
TRANSIT CONFERENCE
Johnson said he hopes the findings will be a
springboard for discussion at a transportation conference to be held
next month at the College of Staten Island, which will include
government transportation officials and experts.
Though tens of thousands of Islanders take public
transportation to work and to get around, most people get into a car
whenever they leave home -- about 68 percent of those polled.
About 28 percent of commuters ride a bus at some
point in their weekday trek, mostly on city express buses, while 9
percent said they rode the ferry and 4 percent said they used the
Staten Island Railway.
That ratio changes dramatically during the weekends.
Weekday bus riders become weekend drivers, getting
into their cars to run errands and go to movies and restaurants on
and off the Island on their days off, jamming the local roads.
Eighty-seven percent of those polled said they drove
while doing chores, with only 13 percent reporting they took the
bus.
Knowing that Islanders want more mass transit is
"axiomatic," according to Jon Orcutt of the Tri-State Transportation
Campaign.
Orcutt said that increasing express bus service
should be a top priority, as should finding better ways to move
Staten Islanders within the borough. He said that the poll responses
"contribute to the sense that we need to do something."
Most people said they had a favorable opinion on the
possible twinning of the Goethals Bridge, even though the Port
Authority backed down from that proposal last year. The poll did not
ask about other proposals under consideration -- including building
a new span across the Arthur Kill.
IMPROVEMENTS SOUGHT
Poll respondents also gave high marks to a series of
proposals to create rail links with Brooklyn and New Jersey, though
some of these links are not currently being planned.
Most supported the idea of a fast ferry to the
Mid-Island and South Shore, and a High-Occupancy-Vehicle lane on the
Staten Island Expressway, though the vast majority of those polled
said they had not heard of the proposals previously.
"It doesn't sound like the questions are
corresponding with some of the things that are out there," Orcutt
said. "What would be great would be to develop some basic concepts
that could work for Staten Island and get the political
establishment behind them. I think that's something that hasn't
happened."
CSI professor Jonathan Peters, who helped coordinate
the study and write the poll questions, said, "No matter what we
asked, they were in favor of it, and I think it's an indication that
there's a high level of dissatisfaction with what the current system
is."
Peters said that Staten Island was at least $1
billion short of a modern, viable transportation system, a figure
that pales compared to the $25 billion he said was currently
allocated for capital improvements in Manhattan over the next five
to 10 years, including money to build the Second Avenue subway.
"I didn't need a study to tell me it's a mess out
there," said Huguenot resident Charles Cama, who retired in 2002
after 35 years commuting to work over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.
Cama said that adding an additional lane to the
Staten Island Expressway was essential to alleviating traffic, and
that transportation planners should consider extending Capodanno
Boulevard through Miller Field toward Oakwood to relieve congestion
on Hylan Boulevard.
After decades of inaction and millions in studies,
"Somebody's got to do something," Cama said.
by Seth Solomonow
Reprinted here with permission from the
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