On Friday, December 1 – and at the start of yet another weekend with no R train service from Bay Ridge to Sunset Park – a bevy of politicians from both sides of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge penned a letter to the MTA urging for increased bus service connecting southern Brooklyn and Staten Island.
Specifically, the pols requested that additional buses be added to the S79 bus route, which runs primarily along Hylan Boulevard in Staten Island but also makes stops near Fort Hamilton Parkway and 86th Street in the Ridge. All in all, the line runs between Bay Ridge and the Staten Island Mall which, despite high ridership, has an insufficient number of buses on the route during peak hours.
That lacking, the letter read, leads to long lines and wait times at the stops before the bridge on either side.
Among those who signed the letter – which was addressed to Phillip Eng, acting president of MTA New York City Transit – were Assemblymembers Nicole Malliotakis and Pamela Harris, State Senators Marty Golden and Diane Savino and Congressmember Dan Donovan.
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