{"id":233729,"date":"2026-05-16T13:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T13:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/233729\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T13:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T13:15:08","slug":"albany-blocks-bill-to-guarantee-staten-island-representation-on-mta-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/233729\/","title":{"rendered":"Albany blocks bill to guarantee Staten Island representation on MTA board"},"content":{"rendered":"

Legislation that would have mandated a voting seat for Staten Island<\/a> on the MTA board has again stalled in the state Assembly after being voted against in the committee earlier this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Assembly Member Michael Tannousis (R-Staten Island\/Brooklyn) introduced A.4605 to ensure each borough has direct representation on the state-run transit agency\u2019s 23-member board, a powerful authority that oversees the largest public transit system in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Currently, NYC\u2019s mayor can recommend four members to the board; the other members are recommended by the county executives of nearby service-area counties: Nassau, Suffolk<\/a>, Westchester, Dutchess, Orange, Rockland and Putnam.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is, however, no legal requirement that the NYC appointees represent specific boroughs, Tannousis explained. He said the bill was introduced to address the lack of direct representation for Staten Island residents, who currently do not have a seat on the board despite being part of the MTA service region.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cStaten Islanders pay into the MTA system just like every other borough, yet we are expected to accept having no voice at the table where critical transportation decisions are made,\u201d Tannousis said. \u201cThat is unacceptable. This legislation was about fairness, accountability and ensuring every borough has direct representation on one of the most powerful public authorities in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"groupMTA Board member Andrew Albert takes the microphone to discuss slow buses in NYC.Photo by Barbara Russo-Lennon<\/p>\n

Under the proposal, five of the MTA\u2019s voting members would be appointed specifically to represent each New York City borough. The legislation would also maintain balanced representation throughout the broader MTA service territory, the Assembly member explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although Staten Island does not have an underground subway system, it does rely heavily on the MTA\u2019s services, including express and local buses, the Staten Island Railway, and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, for which cars pay $7.46 with E-ZPass to cross ($4.19 with a Staten Island resident discount).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Borough residents have expressed a multitude of concerns about public transit<\/a> in recent years, most notably express buses, including frequent cancellations, unreliable schedules, overcrowding and fare hikes (a one-way express bus trip is $7.25).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s toll hikes, congestion pricing, transit access or major infrastructure projects, Staten Island residents are directly impacted by decisions made by the MTA every single day,\u201d Tannousis said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bill, however, is not new. Versions of A.4605 have been reintroduced each year since 2015, which is the same year long-time Staten Island representative Alan Cappelli<\/a> ended his term on the MTA\u2019s board. The last time Staten Island had a representative on the board was from 2016 to 2019, when Peter Ward held the position<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The MTA declined to comment when contacted about the bill\u2019s failure to advance.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Tannousis can reintroduce the bill, which is still being held in the Assembly committee; it has not yet advanced to a full vote. The bill would have to go through the legislative process before becoming law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Legislation that would have mandated a voting seat for Staten Island on the MTA board has again stalled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[7389,91671,9,24,63,7733,134,136,135,85527],"class_list":["post-233729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-express-buses-in-nyc","tag-mta-board-members","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-mayor","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news","tag-verrazzano-bridge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}