The new Staten Island express bus routes proposed by the MTA. (Staten Island Advance/Thomas Erik Bascome)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Staten Island commuters got a chance to voice their opinions on the proposed express bus changes coming to the borough at an MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) open house in Eltingville Wednesday night.

The proposed plans, likely to take effect sometime in 2018, will combine certain routes and eliminate underused stops in an effort to reduce travel times and increase reliability.

Borough President James Oddo, as well as several Staten Island commuters, were in attendance to learn more about the proposal and voice their opinions on the possible changes.

Many Island residents were fine with the proposed changes on the Staten Island side, but objected to what was being done on the Manhattan side.

"I'm okay with the changes on the Staten Island side because I feel like they don't need to stop every few blocks,'' said Margarite Genovese of Dongan Hills. "I feel like it will save time getting off the Island."

The new plan will consist of 19 routes, 11 of which would travel to Midtown, with the other eight traveling to Downtown Manhattan.

While these changes were proposed in an attempt to reduce time spent on the Manhattan streets, it has left commuters upset with the area in between that would no longer have express bus service.

"The biggest complaint is that they're proposing to take out everything from Worth Street to 23rd Street, and the whole entire West Side. This whole area would have no bus service," said Genovese.

"This proposal does not cut it for so many reasons,'' said Leah Gebhardt of Oakwood. "Any time that you would save if you are fortunate enough to be up in this area or down in this area would be lost if you work anywhere between 23rd and Worth Street."

The MTA research has suggested that 85 percent of one-seat riders will continue to have a one-seat ride, with the others likely to use a free transfer to a Manhattan subway or local bus.

"The whole reason you're paying for the express bus is because you never want to get on that subway," said Genovese.

The MTA has identified four major improvements that they believe can be made through their proposed changes.

Frequency through simplicity: These plans will simplify the express bus networks by offering fewer routes, but with more frequent service. Streamlined Manhattan Routing: Routes will be divided into either Midtown or Downtown, with MTA research showing that 96 percent of riders get off in these areas, with only 4 percent getting off somewhere in between. Less frequent stopping: The new routes would change the average distance between stops from every 0.25 miles to ever 0.41 miles, reducing time spent at stops. Directness and Speed: The proposed changes will offer more logical, direct routes and allow for flexibility if traffic issues arise.

The MTA has stressed that services are not being cut, and that the same number of buses will be on the road. They will simply be spread across fewer routes, increasing the frequency of buses.

For those concerned about losing their stop on Staten Island, the MTA has said that the new stop will be no more than a five-minute walk away and will ultimately reduce their commute time as a whole.

According to MTA research, the average end-to-end route running time will be reduced by an estimated 20 minutes.

The newly proposed Staten Island stops can be viewed above and will be available on the MTA website in the near future.

There will be two more opportunities for Staten Island commuters to voice their opinions on the proposed changes:

Wednesday, Oct. 11, at the Regina McGinn Education Center at Staten Island University Hospital, 475 Seaview Ave from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 12, at All Saint's Episcopal Church, 2329 Victory Blvd from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

For more information on the proposed changes, visit www.mta.info/SIExpressBus.