page_title: History of the Staten Island Railway
section_title: Service cuts and the discontinuation of service: 1948–1953
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Staten Island Railway / Service scaledowns and the end of B&O operation: 1947–1971 / Service cuts and the discontinuation of service: 1948–1953
caption_attribution_description: This is a poster that is attempting to get people of the local communities on Staten Island to protest against the planned discontinuation of passenger service on the North Shore Branch and South Beach Branch of Staten Island Rapid Transit.
context_page_description: The Staten Island Railway is the only rapid transit line in the New York City borough of Staten Island and is operated by the Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority, a unit of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The railway is considered a standard railroad line, but only the western portion of the North Shore Branch, which is disconnected from the rest of the SIR, is used by freight and is connected to the national railway system.
  While the first rail proposal for rail service on Staten Island was issued in 1836, construction did not begin until 1855 after the project was attempted a second time under the name Staten Island Railroad. This attempt was successful due to the financial backing of William Vanderbilt. The line opened in 1860 and ran from Tottenville to Vanderbilt's Landing and connected with ferries to Perth Amboy, New Jersey and New York, respectively. After the Westfield ferry disaster at Whitehall Street Terminal in 1871, the railroad went into receivership and was reorganized into the Staten Island Railway Company in 1873.
context_section_description: On October 28, 1947, Mayor John Delaney of Perth Amboy created a plan to fight the SIRT's proposal to abandon service between St. George and Tottenville. The Mayor criticized the railroad for failing to notify the city of its intentions. This effort to discontinue service failed, but on July 1, 1948, the New York City Board of Transportation took over all of the bus lines on Staten Island. As a result, the bus fare on Staten Island dropped from five cents per zone (twenty cents Tottenville to the ferry) to seven cents for the whole island, to match the fare of the other city-owned bus lines. The cheaper bus fare resulted in an exodus of passengers from the SIRT. In 1947, the SIRT had carried 12.3 million passengers but after the decrease in bus fares the number decreased to 8.7 million in 1948 and to 4.4 million in 1949. Three months after the change, passenger traffic dropped 32 percent on the Tottenville Division and 40 percent on the other two divisions. The buses saw a 25 percent increase in ridership.
  Due to the loss of ridership, on August 28, 1948, the SIRT announced it would reduce service on all three branches on September 5. Service would be reduced from 15-minute intervals in non-rush hours to 30 minutes during that time, and from 5 to 10 minutes in rush hours to 10 to 15 minutes during rush hours. The day afterwards, Richmond Borough President Cornelius A. Hall and Staten Island civic organizations announced they would oppose the proposed cuts. The PSC elected not to prevent the cut in service on September 2, 1948, and the cut went into effect three days later. 237 of the previous 492 weekday trains were cut and the schedule of expresses was reduced during rush hours. In addition, all night trains after 1:29 a.m. were eliminated. The reduction of trips resulted in the firing of 30 percent of the company's personnel.
  On September 7, 1948, Borough President Hall continued to oppose the SIRT's cuts at a PSC hearing in Manhattan. Commuters testified that trains were missing connections to ferry boats and that some trains were being held at the St. George Terminal during rush hour to wait for two boatloads of passengers. Previously, they said, the trains pulled out with only one boatload of passengers. On September 13, 1948, the SIRT agreed to add four trains and to extend the schedule of four others. On January 5, 1949, the PSC recommended the SIRT restore the service cut; if it refused, the PSC would order the SIRT to restore the service. Hall suggested lowering the fare to 10 cents or a 20-cent round trip to make the service more competitive with the buses on the island. On January 29, 1949, the PSC ordered the SIRT to restore five trains and to reschedule seven other trains for public convenience, and gave the SIRT until February 13 to carry out the order.
  On May 20, 1949, the SIRT announced it intended to discontinue all of its passenger services and that it would seek permission from the PSC to do so, citing the loss of $1,061,716 in 1948. The PSC response was to rule that the railroad must continue its operations or substitute them with buses, otherwise the city should take over the railroad service as part of the municipal transit system. The SIRT made another request to discontinue its passenger service on June 3, 1952, with a date set of July 7. On June 16, the PSC ordered the SIRT to continue all of its passenger services pending a decision on the line's request to abandon its service. On July 9, hearings concerning the proposed abandonment of the railroad began. On July 16, the PSC counsel stated the operating deficits that had been charged to the SIRT's passenger service would disappear if they were included with the freight profits of the B&O in the New York area. After the hearings, the SIRT changed its planned abandonment date to September 12, 1952. The commissioner council said a provision for an additional two months of service, extending it to November 12, 1952, needed to be made.
  On December 19, 1952 the PSC gave the SIRT permission to discontinue service on the North Shore Branch and South Bea
caption: This poster called for people, and public officials, to rally against the scheduled discontinuation of service on the North Shore and South Beach Branches later in March 1953.
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