I have written to the SIEDC and wanted to know the rationale for sending the line over the West Shore Expressway as opposed to Richmond Avenue. While it does make sense to send a line near areas of higher population density, I thought of several reasons as to why they would choose the West Shore Expressway.

Cost: It may be cheaper to build in the median of the Staten Island and West Shore Expressways than to build an elevated structure over Richmond Avenue. For the most part, there would be an embankment for the tracks, instead of having to build a whole new elevated structure.

Parking: Although there are some lot of opportunities for Park-and-Rides along Richmond Avenue, the open nature of the West Shore Expressway means that it would be a lot easier and cheaper to find space to build the parking lots.

NIMBYs: The fact that it would be in areas of higher population density would mean that there would be more people to complain about noise, etc.

Development on the West Shore of Staten Island: The Teleport is on the West Shore of Staten Island and it is easier to access from the West Shore Expressway than Richmond Avenue. The presence of a light rail might encourage more businesses to be in the Teleport. The problem is that some plans for the North Shore Line have it as a light rail down South Avenue to the Teleport (by the way, I disagree with the idea to make it a light rail. Heavy rail would be better, and it would be possible to have it as an elevated line over South Avenue.

Access to the South Shore of Staten Island: It might be easier, engineering-wise, to have it on the West Shore Expressway to the South Shore than to have it go from Richmond Avenue to the South Shore, and would compete less with the SIR in the South Shore.

I live near where the West Shore Line would run. In fact, it would benefit me more, as far as access to NJ (marginally, as I am also fairly close to Victory Blvd) if the Expressway Alignment were chosen.

I think that, if they use the Expressway Alignment, they should make it possible to construct a branch to the Staten Island Mall down Richmond Avenue, or run the line as a shuttle to connect to the Staten Island Mall and possibly the Eltingville Transit Center.

Except the part about the BQE and buses. I take the express bus to Manhattan from SI’s North Shore every single day – there are dedicated bus lanes on the Staten Island Expwy and the BQE, both of which work quite well. From the time I step on the bus until the bus arrives in Manhattan takes about 30 min. most days. Of course, this would be longer from the South Shore, but if a bus lane were built in the median of the West Shore, not by a whole lot. Of course, there’s still getting from downtown to your destination in Manhattan, but that’s another issue entirely. Furthermore, I’ve tried commuting via Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and PATH – it’s no faster than taking the express bus.

Bottom line, though, is Staten Islanders need more transit options, both locally and regionally. Putting a light rail line down Richmond Ave. AND bus lanes in the West Shore median is the best way to do this.

….only if they commute at 3 AM….. I’m assuming you mean go through Bayonne to the Holland Tunnel or into Brooklyn and take the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. The BQE is isn’t “quick” during either rush hour and neither is the Verrrazano Narrows Bridge. I suppose they could make a bus lane in the Holland but that’s not going to be very popular. And there are no highways in Bayonne so that “quick” bus ride means a trip on local streets through Bayonne and Jersey City…. Extend the Hudson Bergen Light Rail and they can get to PATH, two seat ride but they won’t get stuck in traffic. Or use frieght ROW to connect with the Northeast Corridor line in Linden or Elizabeth. From the images on Google it looks like it’s still active in Staten Island. You either going over unused ROW to get to Linden/Elizabeth or through freight yards to Newark but there is railroad already there.

The Richmond Ave. route does not necessarily preclude park-and-rides. There’s plenty of room for park and rides at many of the stations, and there should be park and rides – in addition to pedestrian access. A West Shore Expwy route is a death knell for the latter, because nobody lives by the West Shore Expwy. Pedestrians and park-and-rides is not an either/or proposition (Huguenot SIR station, for example, is good for both).

Most of the West Shore will be occupied by a park in the future. Once again, people will not live there.

Richmond Ave. does have a decent number of buses, but they’re famously slow, unreliable local buses, at the end of the day, middle-income people – i.e., SI residents – will not ride on local buses. Hell, I don’t. But, people who will not ride on a local bus will take a train (or an express bus/BRT route). And there’s really no reason to “serve” the West Shore Expwy corridor with transit because, once again, nobody lives there.

That’s not to say they should do nothing with the West Shore Expwy. median. A better idea would be run the light rail along Richmond, and fit the West Shore median with a BRT lane, which could be used to provide South Shore commuters with a quick, one-seat ride to Manhattan – a key SI transit problem.

In any case, I think everyone agrees that the North Shore line should be a priority – and it is.

However, while the SIEDC was conducting this study and collecting public input, it seems that the majority of folks who attended stated that the West Shore expressway was their preference. I am not sure of the reasons behind this, but to speculate:
1. Nimbyism. People want the trains to run where they are furthest from homes.
2. They drive on the west shore expressway and therefore automatically assume that transit should go there, too
3. They assume that a Richmond Avenue line would be slower (which might be true)
4. SI residents want park-and-rides, not walk-up stations and TOD. There would still be opportunities for park and rides on the Richmond Avenue route, though.
5. Real estate development on the west shore. But there’s plenty of opportunity by the Mall and the shopping centers, too.
6. The one reason i’ve heard that actually seems somewhat reasonable in my opinion is that the Richmond Avenue corridor is already served pretty well by buses.

In any case, I agree with Yonah that building the North Shore line – but as an extension of the existing Staten Island Railroad rather than as a disconnected light rail line or BRT – should be the top priority.

Stops (north to south): Port Richmond, Forest Ave., Victory Blvd/CSI, Travis Ave., Staten Island Mall, Arthur Kill Rd./Transit Center, Annadale Road, Huguenot.

Most of the right-of-way for this route is either a)in medians or b)alongside Richmond Ave. (the line could run opposite the shopping plazas on Richmond in the center of the Island – there’s literally nothing there. Further north, it would skirt the CSI campus and Willowbrook Park – once again, nothing there). It would require little more right-of-way acquisition than the currently proposed route and would serve far more people. The fact that they want to run this thing down the West Shore Expressway shows a disheartening lack of creativity – or outright foolishness – on the part of the borough’s leadership. This has been Staten Island’s problem for too long. A rather obvious route is there for the taking – why not take it?

If any readers are on SI and want learn more, there’s a Community Board 3 meeting on the issue tonight: http://www.silive.com/news/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/1237203903324670.xml&coll=1 (scroll to the bottom). I’ll be there

The train lines are good in theory, but considering the point of view of the politicians, the benefit of the lines would be minimal. The first thing Borough President Molinaro said after the announcement of the project is that he is accepting suggestions for where to build the park-and-rides. It’s as if his goal is to generate more parking (and driving), not promote transit. He will of course oppose higher-density zoning changes that are necessary for the West Shore rail line to be successful.