Flashing lights on Select Bus Service vehicles are designed to help riders distinguish between pay-before-boarding SBS and pay-onboard local service. After years of operation without issue, Staten Island lawmakers exploited a minor state law to have the MTA turn off the lights 16 months ago. Bills in Albany to find a solution are stuck in committee, and now the bill's most powerful sponsor is backing away.
State law restricts flashing blue lights to the vehicles of volunteer firefighters. Bills from State Senate Co-Leader Jeff Klein and Assembly Member Micah Kellner would allow purple lights, designated for use on buses by the DMV, only on routes that require riders to pay before boarding.
This would exempt the S79, the sole SBS line on Staten Island. But it failed to appease State Senator Andrew Lanza, an SBS critic who opposed the lights with Council Member Vincent Ignizio. The bills failed in Albany last year and remain stuck in committee.
Klein's office indicated that the SBS bill isn't on his agenda at this time. “Senator Klein wants to see Mayor de Blasio's Vision Zero plan come to fruition this year and that will be his transportation focus this session," said spokesperson Anna Durrett. (Streetsblog asked if that means Klein will amend his speed camera bill to allow more cameras and fewer restrictions. We'll let you know if we hear anything back.)
Meanwhile, Kellner said he would push hard this session to pass the bill in the Assembly and put pressure on the Senate. “I’m going to sit down and talk to Senator Klein, I’m going to talk to Senator Lanza, and see if we can come to an agreement," Kellner said. “The nice thing about both Senator Klein and Senator Lanza is that they are very reasonable people...If not, we’ll seek another Senate sponsor."
Kellner added that he has filed a "Form 99" to push the Assembly's transportation committee chair to act on the bill during this legislative session, which ends this year. An NYU review of Albany procedure called this tactic "ineffective" because it does not force the bill to be reported out of committee.
The push to pass the bill is also complicated by Kellner himself, who has been sanctioned by the Assembly ethics committee for sexual harassment violations and is not seeking reelection this year.
Kellner's constituents rely heavily on SBS along First and Second Avenues, and Manhattan Community Board 6 passed a resolution this week asking Albany to bring the lights back. “My constituents call on a daily basis wondering why the lights are turned off," Kellner said, adding that he has never received a complaint from a motorist who thought "two simultaneously flashing lights that flash very slowly" on a bus looked anything like an emergency vehicle.
Kellner expressed frustration that the issue has languished. "Our bill specifically exempts Staten Island," he said. "This should not be a controversial thing."
