As a Staten Island resident, this sucks as usual. I lived here for 10 years, moved to Manhattan and recently moved back because I just can't get the same amount of space for the price in the other boroughs. The work on the Verrazano and SI Expressway has slowed down traffic to worse delays than before, and this island really needs some better transportation options.

Currently, I take the express bus every day to my office in the Flatiron district - this takes me on average an hour and 10 minutes door to door, but can easily hit 2 hours due to something happening on either the Verrazano or the FDR. Alternatively, I live close enough to the (there is only one) train on Staten Island that can take me to the Ferry - from there I would get off with everyone else and fight with the crowds taking the various subways up town. This commute is about an hour and 20 minutes, and is broken up in 3 parts that are mildly frustrating during each leg of the commute.

Obviously a direct subway connection to the island would be amazing, either to Brooklyn or Manhattan directly, but that plan was scrapped in the 20's and isn't likely to come back any time soon. Some transportation proposals include commuter connections to the NJ light rail via Bayonne; and there is a 20 year project ahead to improve and widen the Verrazano - I don't know how much of that time will cause more delays than there already are.

As the North Shore gets gentrified with the new luxury residential buildings like URL (Urban Ready Life - sigh - though it looks like it has now been renamed URBY...), the Wheel (the future world's tallest ferris wheel), Empire Outlets, etc - the area will become a hot new destination for those looking to escape the ever rising prices of the coveted Brooklyn and New Jersey areas like Williamsburg, Crown Heights, Jersey City, etc. Hopefully they have a lot more in store for transportation options when it comes to the island when these projects open to the public over the course of 2017.

Sorry for the rant...