Staten Island commuters endure ‘painful’ waits, crowded express buses after depot closure

Four months after a temporary bus depot closed on Staten Island, commuters from the borough report that they are enduring “painfully” long waits for overcrowded and broken express buses.

Now, they are calling on the MTA to open a fourth bus depot.

Staten Islanders, who rely heavily on express buses to get into and out of Manhattan, raised concerns after the MTA closed the makeshift Meredith Bus Depot at 336 Meredith Ave. on Jan 3, reducing the borough’s number of bus depots from four to three. At the time, transit advocates and riders said that fewer depots would result in fewer buses on the road.

Those concerns have come to light for the thousands of straphangers who use the borough’s express bus system. Transit advocates told amNewYork that a fourth bus depot is needed to service buses and reduce the burden placed on the remaining garages.

Four months after a temporary bus depot closed on Staten Island, commuters from the borough report that they are enduring “painfully” long waits for overcrowded and broken express buses.Marc A. Hermann / MTA

“The closing of Meredith has put unnecessary stress on the three other depots that do bus repairs and maintenance,” said Filippa Grisafi, a Staten Island express bus advocate. “They aren’t being done in a timely manner.”

When Meredith closed, it offloaded all 75 of its express buses to the borough’s remaining Castleton, Yukon and Charleston depots. As buses wait to get serviced, commuters are stuck enduring longer waits at bus stops, sometimes over 30 minutes, Grisafi added.

“A fourth depot is needed,” she said.

‘A negative situation’ for Staten Island

Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella explained that the situation is so extreme at Castleton, that long lines of buses waiting for service often overflow into oncoming traffic.

“Cars are trying to circumvent buses, going around buses, accidents waiting to happen,” he said. “It’s not right. This is a negative situation for the people of Staten Island, particularly this area. And it has residual effects across the board. Not just congestion here but delays for commuters.”

ATU Local 726 President Danny Cassella explained that the overflow in the street is causing problems for local businesses, too.

“Members have to park in the streets, taking up spots for customers that would use these spots,” he said. “Autobody shops [by Castleton] can’t even get a customer in the door because the buses have it blocked all the way down to Richmond Terrace.”

He said another bus depot would help ease stress for commuters, traffic congestion and business owners.

“I really implore transit to open up another location to alleviate all of these problems,” he said. It’s not going to go away. It’ll only get worse.”

Trips canceled ‘every day’

Meanwhile, one express bus rider said she encounters canceled trips “every day” on the SIM35, which runs from Port Richmond to Lower Manhattan. She said that she frequently has to change her route at the last minute because some trips get canceled in both directions.

“Three buses were canceled in a row on May 13,” she said.

MTA officials said in 2024 that the Meredith depot was not designed to be permanent. It opened on Dec. 14, 2009, to absorb overflow from the Castleton and Yukon sites as the Charleston depot was being built.

Last year, the MTA decided not to renew the depot’s lease, which saved the agency an estimated annual cost of $2.6 million.

“There’s enough space in and on the depot property to park the buses, so fundamentally it’s not a bus issue,” Frank Annicaro, the MTA’s senior vice president of buses, said.

He suggested that the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) could step up parking enforcement.

“I encourage DOT, just like we say out here in the streets, to enforce the bus right of ways and also enforce the streets,” he said. “Illegal parking, double parking. I’m sure if you look around [Castleton] in that area, there’s illegal double parking.”