The re-routing of a Suffolk County bus that had been criticized as impractical will be undone and the service restored to its former route after Legislator Stephanie Bontempi intervened.
The route of the S1 bus, which runs through Huntington along Route 110 from Halesite south to Walt Whitman Shops and beyond, was changed in the fall to add a stop at Huntington Hospital. That meant that buses were diverted onto Madison Street and the hospital on Park Avenue before returning to New York Avenue. Residents between Madison and Mill Dam Road who previously were picked up at stops on New York Avenue had to walk to those streets for service.
The change in routes also meant the buses were sent onto Madison Street, where no commercial traffic is permitted. Bontempi, who recently rode the S1 with aides, said that no one from the hospital was boarding at the new stop.
After a call Thursday with the county’s Department of Public Works, economic development and traffic and safety teams, Bontempi said that the county agreed to switch the route back as of March 3.
Bontempi said that the Town of Huntington’s H20 bus stops at Huntington Hospital and connects to the S1 bus at three points: New York Avenue and Park Avenue, New York Avenue and the Huntington LIRR station, and the Walt Whitman Shops.
She encourages residents to ride the buses. “I was very impressed by the bus in general. It was clean, and the driver was very professional,” she said.
