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Posted by
Gold_12TH
on Thu Sep 20 21:05:02 2012
edf40wrjww2msgDetailB:detailStr fiogf49gjkf0d Weekend service on the Huguenot-based X17 express route will become a little bit slower for Staten Islanders at the end of the month, when the buses will start making a stop in Brooklyn en route to Lower Manhattan.
Beginning Sept. 30, the X17 will exit the Gowanus Expressway and stop at Dahlgren Place and 86th Street in Brooklyn on Saturdays and Sundays. While some commuters are grumbling, the MTA says the extra stop in Brooklyn will add only two minutes to the hour-long trip.
Officials note that Bay Ridge's only weekend connection to Manhattan is the R subway train and a Saturday express bus. An MTA spokesman said the agency wanted to cover the entire weekend for Bay Ridge residents at a "minimal cost."
Recent changes to certain routes have irked some Island commuters.
"On the Island, I don't see how this change effects anything positive," said Dongan Hills resident Larry Ortiz. "I'm glad that a lot of people in Brooklyn have the buses come a little bit more often for them."
Ortiz's observation that Brooklyn residents seem to be getting better service at the expense of Staten Islanders was echoed by Brooklynite Nancy Puccini.
"They're getting more service, more buses every 10 to 15 minutes," said Ms. Puccini, who admitted she rarely visits the Island. "Before, you had to wait longer, that I did notice. But the 78 is horrible. It's still the same."
Other complaints involved stops that were removed from the S79 route.
"I take the 79 to the Mall, and the stop that I go to usually, it got put off the road," said Luli Kulla of Dongan Hills. "It kind of bummed me out because now I'm going to have to travel about 15 blocks to get to the nearest one. I have to go out of my way to just go where I want now."
---http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/09/staten_islands_x17_express_bus.html
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