STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Straphangers this week were left waiting at bus stops at the Staten Island Mall in New Springville, after the MTA buses that travel within the shopping center property never arrived. Commuters loitered at the stops along Ring Road, the private road that surrounds the Mall, waiting for the S44 and S59. Instead of traveling along Ring Road, the buses made an unexpected detour on Tuesday — stopping near Richmond Avenue and Platinum Avenue, without entering Mall property.
A quick warning
One rider said a bus driver warned him about an S79 detour due to construction, but didn’t mention any disruptions to the S44 and S59. “That’s why i’m standing in the middle of this parking lot, so I can see in case a bus comes on Richmond Avenue instead of at the stop,” said the rider, who then ran off after seeing an S59 stopping along Richmond Avenue. The proposal, set to go into effect on April 1, was made public earlier this year after Brookfield Properties, the commercial real estate management firm that owns the Staten Island Mall, pushed to remove the S44, S59, S94 and S79 SBS stops from Ring Road. However,
both the MTA and Mall ownership have said they are working toward a solution that doesn’t involve moving bus stops off the property. “We’re still holding discussions with Brookfield properties and S.I. Mall management, and no re-routes [or] bus stops relocations have happened,” the MTA spokesperson told the Advance/SILive.com this week. Yet many riders waiting along Ring Road on Tuesday were scrambling to catch their bus after seeing buses stop on Richmond Avenue. And passengers dropped off next to the busy thoroughfare were forced to make the long walk across various parkings lots on Mall property. Adding to the confusion, some buses continued to stop along Ring Road. But over a roughly hour and a half period on Tuesday morning, an Advance/SILive.com reporter saw a majority of S44 and S59 buses stop in unmarked areas along Richmond Avenue, near Platinum Avenue.
Lack of alerts
And while the MTA app and website warned of a planned S79 SBS detour due to repaving at the Mall, no alerts were posted for the S44 or S59. Similarly, no notices were posted at the affected bus stops warning of any change. “I’m disabled, and this is my only means of transport, and now I’m standing here, in pain, waiting longer than I have to,” said Star Saccone of Westerleigh, while waiting at one on the stops on Ring Road. “And there’s nothing to tell me that I might be wasting my time?” Other riders said the same thing happened at the Mall the day before, on Monday.
‘Getting worried’
“[Monday] I waited maybe 45 minutes for a bus ... I was getting worried, and I didn’t want to be late for work, so I walked over to Richmond, in front of the Orange Theory over there, the next stop down, and got the bus there,” recalled Damien Ortiz of New Springville. A social media user posted the same thing happened to them on Monday morning. They added that their bus had let them out near the city Department of Sanitation depot on Richmond Avenue, and noted that some buses were stopping on Ring Road while others traveled along Richmond Avenue. Later on Tuesday evening it appeared that service was back to normal, as bus riders could be seen getting picked up at the S44 and S59 stops along Ring Road.
