STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — As Staten Island digs out from a major winter storm this past weekend, snow at some bus stops continues to cause problems for commuters.
While some bus shelters and stops are clear enough for passengers to board, others still feature mounds of snow near the street and surrounding sidewalk space.
Even at bus stops where a narrow path has been dug out to the road, some customers said they still needed to trudge through snow and slush.
“They should have somebody cleaning these bus stops. Look at the people over here, one little skinny path? Hello? When we fall who are we going to sue?” asked O.D. Williams, a West Brighton resident who was waiting for the S48.
This photo shows the S62 bus stop located at Richmond Avenue and Victory Boulevard in Travis on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026.(Reader submitted)
In the immediate aftermath of the storm, commuters reported snow plowed up against the Island’s bus stops, leaving some to take to the streets instead.
“I am forced to walk directly in the street to reach my transportation. This is particularly dangerous during my early morning commute at 5:55 AM when visibility is limited,” one reader wrote the Advance/SILive.com on Monday.
Later, on Tuesday, an Advance/SILive.com reporter saw crews digging out bus shelters along some of the Island’s major roads, but some commuters said conditions at their stop mostly remained the same.
Snow and slush coat streets and sidewalks on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, after about a foot of snow fell over the weekend on Staten Island. Mounds of snow remain in front of a bus stop at Fingerboard Road and Hylan Boulevard in Grasmere.(Advance/SILive.com | Jan Somma-Hammel)
“They didn’t do a very good job, not at all,” said one S48 passenger who asked his name not be used. “[Tuesday] wasn’t any different, not the route I took. I took the 46 and it was still bad, it’s just calming down now.”
Three days after the storm, Staten Islanders sent in pictures of several bus stops around the borough. In many of the images, slush and snow are still present, making traversal difficult.
Some bus stops, such as the S52 stop at Cebra Avenue and Ward Avenue in Tompkinsville, were still blanketed by snow as of Wednesday morning.
This photo shows conditions at the S52 stop at Cebra Avenue and Ward Avenue in Tompkinsville on Wednesday, Jan. 28 2026.(Advance/SILive.com | Tom Wrobleski)
The sidewalk has a narrow path cleared, but there is no space for passengers to wait without blocking the path. To get from the sidewalk to the street at this stop, passengers must navigate sections of slush and snow.
Another submitted photo shows the S78, S79 and S57 stop near Hylan Boulevard and Tysens Lane in New Dorp.
This photo shows the S78, S79 and S57 stop near Hylan Boulevard and Tysens Lane in New Dorp on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026.(Courtesy Amy Nobles)
In the photo, the bus stop is covered by a layer of slush, with mounds of discolored snow plowed against it from the street.
The photo shows a slight path to the street, but one that looks more like it was made by feet rather than by shovels.
On Wednesday, an Advance/SILive.com reporter saw several bus stops on Forest Avenue where snow had been barely cleared or remained nearly untouched.
This photo shows the snowed-in bus stop located at Forest Avenue and South Avenue on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026.(Advance/SILive.com | Mike Matteo)
“I assume all bus stops are like these here. I don’t like that there’s one path over here to get out of the bus. And all bus stops don’t have a path, so what are [people] supposed to do?” Williams later added while waiting for the S48.
On Monday, Deputy Mayor for Operations Julia Kerson told reporters that “it is the Department of Transportation’s responsibility to clear bus stops, and we have activated extra resources from our contractor and our DOT staff to be working on that,”
When asked about conditions at Staten Island bus stops, a spokesperson from the Department of Transportation stressed that some of the conditions described were not the responsibility of the agency.
The DOT is responsible for the approximately 3,400 bus stops with shelters, and a contractor, JCDecaux, has cleared snow from 95% of them as of 7 a.m. Wednesday morning, according to the spokesperson.
For the vast majority of bus stops — such as those that only feature a pole in the sidewalk — the adjacent property owner is responsible for clearing any snow, according to the spokesperson, who also pointed to a city press conference on Tuesday where Kerson said that the sanitation department is “managing a workforce of more than 1,000″ who are “headed out to clear sidewalks additional bus stops without shelters.”