No one remembers the long forgotten proposed tunnel between 69th Street in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and St. George, Staten Island. The concept was to extend subway service from the Brooklyn BMT line to Staten Island. Ground was broken with entrances at both ends in the 1920s, but the project quickly ran out of money and was abandoned to history. When living on Shore Road in Bay Ridge Brooklyn, friends and I would look to no avail in attempting to find the abandon site filled in decades earlier. At that time, the estimated cost was $60 million. Flash forward 97 years later and it would cost $6 billion today.
Another concept was to build a subway tunnel connecting St. George with either the #1 South Ferry or R subway line Whitehall Street, Manhattan subway stations. This second concept, which would require a far longer tunnel across New York Bay, would cost $10 billion.
Construction of any new freight or public transportation tunnel or bridge project can take decades by the time all feasibility studies, environmental reviews, planning, design, engineering, real estate acquisition, permits, procurements, construction, budgeting, identifying and securing funding is completed. This is before the project reaches beneficial use.
In 1925, Tompkins Bus Company began providing service on numerous routes. Staten Island Coach Company did the same on other routes starting in 1933. Staten Island Coach Company took over Tompkins Bus Company in 1937. They subsequently went out of business in 1946 and re-emerged as Isle Transportation Company. In 1947, the NYC Board of Transportation assumed operations of a bankrupt Isle Transportation Company.
In 1953, the old NYC Board of Transportation passed on control of the municipal subway and bus system, including all its assets to the newly created NYC Transit Authority. That same year, the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad threatened to terminate all service on Staten Island due to financial losses. NYC agreed to begin providing public subsidy for continued operation of the Tottenville line along with the end of service on the North and South Beach branches.
In 1971, the passenger operations of the former B&O Railroad Staten Island Rapid Transit Railway Company were sold to NYC for $3.5 million. Later that year, NYC passed on control to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The MTA created a subsidiary, the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority (SIRTOA). It is managed by the MTA NYC Transit's Department of Subways. SIRTOA would be the step child to NYC Transit receiving hand me downs or some of the oldest subway cars in the fleet. Since that time, primarily MTA funding was used for capital improvements. In recent times, the MTA initiated using Federal Transit Administration funding for some SIRTOA capital investments including stations upgrades. Delivery for sixty-four new subway cars promised for SIRTOA under the previous MTA $32 billion 2015 - 2019 Five Year Capital Plan are already several years late. They will not arrive, based upon the most recent contractors recovery schedule until 2023.
There is a continuing series of feasibility studies sponsored by various governmental agencies and public officials over decades to improve transit connections for Staten Island residents. They generate money for consultants along with free publicity for elected officials who promise a bright future but leave Richmond County residents holding an empty bag. At the end of the day, the long abandoned Brooklyn to Staten Island subway will stay buried.
It will be a miracle to find $600 million for funding the North Shore Select Bus Service. The same is true for other new bus rapid transit, light rail or extending existing SIRTOA service from the South Shore to support any resumption of service in your lifetime on the old North Shore branch which was abandoned in the 1950s. Ditto for $1.5 billion to pay for West Shore Bus Rapid Transit. The odds of financing and building any subway extension from either Manhattan or Brooklyn to Staten Island are the same as you or I winning a $100 million dollar lotto.
Don't let any elected officials waste your hard earned tax dollars for another feasibility study to build a direct subway connection to either Brooklyn or Manhattan. It is a sure bet that it isn't going to happen for another 97 years. When it comes to public transportation improvements for commuters, Richmond County continues to be the forgotten borough of NYC's five counties.
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Larry Penner is a transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously worked for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 NY Office. This included the development, review, approval and oversight for billions of dollars in grants which provided funding for capital projects and programs to the NY MTA, NYC Transit, Long Island and Metro North Rail Roads, MTA Bus, NYC DOT, NJ Transit and more than 30 transit agencies in New York and New Jersey.
Larry Penner
Larry Penner is a transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously served as a former director for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 New York Office of Operations and Program Management. This included the development, review, approval and oversight for billions in capital projects and programs for New Jersey Transit, New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, NYC Transit bus, subway and Staten Island Railway, Long Island and Metro North railroads, MTA Bus, NYCDOT Staten Island Ferry along with 30 other transit agencies in New York and New Jersey.
