Bus travel is about to get a lot faster for some Staten Islanders.
A new Select Bus Service express line starts Sunday on the S79, a 16-mile route that connects Hylan Boulevard with the R train in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
It’s the first Select Bus Service on Staten Island, and the fourth in the city since the MTA launched the program in The Bronx four years ago.
MTA and city officials say it will chop travel time over the entire S79 run from 80 to 65 minutes.
“Staten Islanders take 120,000 bus trips daily, so speeding up buses lifts up the entire economy,” said Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan.
The service runs along dedicated bus lanes that are colored red, and police are ramping up enforcement against drivers who get in the way of the buses.
The new service will have just 22 stops, compared with 80 on the current line, but local service will be available on the existing S59 and S78 lines.
Unlike other Select Bus lines, riders will not have to pay their fare on the sidewalk. That’s because boarding times are not a problem on the existing service, officials say.
About 32,000 Staten Islanders ride Hylan Boulevard buses every day, the MTA says — including 9,000 on the S79.Select Bus Service was introduced on Fordham Road in the Bronx in 2008, and was expanded to First and Second avenues in Manhattan in 2010 and to 34th Street in Manhattan last year.