Patchogue bus stops to move, easing diesel fumes near schools

Patchogue is set to lose 168 bus trips from its village center as Suffolk County and local officials push a three-year plan to move the stops away from the train station and West Avenue, a change aimed at cutting diesel fumes near South Ocean Middle School and Holy Angels Regional School.

The overhaul is being led by Legislator Dominick Thorne, who said the long-running complaints about buses in front of the Patchogue train station and the smell of diesel had finally reached a point where the county and village were working together on a fix. The current stop pattern near the Suffolk County Court 6th District building, at 150 West Main Street, sends a steady stream of idling buses through an area already packed with pedestrians, court traffic and school-bound families.

Under the plan, the county’s $1 million jump-start grant will help create a new bus hub on Sutton Street in the back parking lot north of the tracks. Survey work and sampling are already underway. The project calls for building up the road, adding a driveway and relocating the shelters, while the county also plans to add lighting and security cameras. Officials are framing the work as both a transit shift and a neighborhood safety upgrade.

For riders, the biggest operational change will be at Bellport Village, where a stop that had very little ridership will become an on-demand stop instead of a major bus stop. Thorne said the buses do not belong on the side streets and argued that the new arrangement should reduce congestion near schools while still preserving service for people who need it. Suffolk County Transit, which runs 25 fixed routes and 2 on-demand zones seven days a week, 365 days a year, will have to make the redesign work without leaving regular passengers behind.

The routing matters because Patchogue is already a transit hub. Suffolk County Transit buses serve the courthouse at 150 West Main Street on routes 2, 6, 51, 53, 55, 66, 77 and 77Y, linking the village core to court business, downtown traffic and the station area. Holy Angels Regional School, at 1 Division Street, says it was founded in 1923 and became a regional school in January 1977, putting the bus fumes complaint squarely in the middle of an established school community.

The move also fits a broader public-health case. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says reducing idling is one of the easiest ways to cut diesel emissions from school buses, a point that has echoed in Patchogue before, as the village has previously taken steps against idling and other emissions-producing vehicles after residents complained about breathing fumes.