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The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company wanted to build a subway to Staten Island, and construction of a short section of a tunnel connection to Brooklyn was started but to fully answer your question we have to look at events a few years prior to the tunnel construction. Why does Staten Island not have a direct subway connection to the rest of New York City. It is simple - finances, politics, technology changes, attitude changes in people, and the various changes on the ground that make a subway system more difficult to build.The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company started in 1896 taking over the operations of various street car lines and surface railroads, and over time fashioning these systems into a cohesive network within Brooklyn and Queens. In addition the BRT handled many of the electric elevated lines in Brooklyn, and converted some of those street car lines to elevated transit lines. We can trace the lineage of the BRT’s influence within the history’s of today’s NYC subway lines J through Z (except the V-line), as well as through several bus lines in Brooklyn and Queens.The blizzard of 1888 which covered the New York City region, snarled elevated and street railway lines, downed power - telegraph - telephone and other wiring, and killed plenty of folks - lead to major changes within the city. In terms of transportation one major idea of exploration was the moving of transportation systems underground, as well as the movement of city utilities underground - into a weather proof environment. It should be noted that the “city of New York” in 1894 consisted of Manhattan and western parts of the Bronx. A vote by the residents of the counties of the Bronx, Queens, Kings (Brooklyn), New York County (Manhattan), and Richmond (Staten Island) voted to consolidate and create the “city of Greater New York” - what we call “New York City” was effective in 1898. It should be noted that the residents of Brooklyn were almost evenly split between voting to remain a separate city, or joining New York City - there were only a few hundred votes that carried the day. In any case the traveling of folks through out the city and its various parts was a major operation. Plenty of folks no longer lived within walking distance of where they worked, shopped and carried on other activities. Various sections of the city were becoming specialized as centers for commerce, residence, etc. Plus many sections of Manhattan and Brooklyn were over-crowded and the expanding transit systems opened up sections of the city for new homes, businesses, etc.After the opening of the city’s first extensive subway in Manhattan in 1904, the race was on to build or expand subway train service within many parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island. The Inter-borough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) had a kind of lock on Manhattan and the Bronx with its Second Avenue Elevated, Third Avenue Elevated, Sixth Avenue Elevated and Ninth Avenue Elevated train lines. as well as its new (in 1904) subway system consisting of parts of what we now call the #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 and #6 lines, and the Times Square-Grand Central shuttle. The Manhattan IRT subway took 4 long years to build, with expansion plans occurring soon after it was opened due to the very heavy ridership. The IRT’s Second Avenue Elevated line carried more passengers in a single day than all of the railroads in the country carried in a single year, and the profits were coming in hand over fist. Elevated, subway and surface transit was a money making operation, and a boon to real estate and other interests.The first municipally operated public transportation system was the Staten Island Ferry that connected Manhattan to the St. George area ferry terminal and railroad station in 1905, with service to 69th Street, Brooklyn in 1906.The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company opened its first subway segment at the Essex Street and Delancey Street station in 1908 by diverting its elevated trains over the Williamsburg Bridge (opened in 1903), instead to ferries at edge of Brooklyn. There were elevated train and street car tracks across the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, the Williamsburg Bridge, and the 59th Street Bridge. Many, but not all of the BRT’s elevated and street car systems ended at a major terminal at Park Row off of the Brooklyn Bridge in downtown Manhattan near City Hall.There were a variety of subway expansion plans made by the various public authorities, the private transportation operators and real estate interests of the time. In addition, as the various elevated transit and street car lines were converted as quickly as possible into subway level service operations, there were also changes within the railroad networks that converged within New York City (proper), Long Island and New Jersey, and beyond. Frankly a lot of folks wanted a piece of the transportation “pie” for financial and other reasons. Some of these plans bore fruit as actual construction projects while others remained dreams upon paper. One plan was the building of the BRT Subway under Fourth Avenue in Brooklyn to connect with its planned Manhattan subway under Broadway. This is what today we would call the N & R trains in Manhattan, with the D, N, R, Q and B trains within Brooklyn today.The planning for the Brooklyn Fourth Avenue subway began in 1905, but was awarded to the BRT in 1908 with further plans to connect this subway to the existing West End elevated line (the current D-train in Brooklyn) and the surface Sea Beach railroad (today’s N-train in Brooklyn) making a consolidated whole. It was this subway line that was to have a direct train connection to Staten Island (at the current 59th Street-Fourth Avenue N & R subway station), as well as service to the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn! The Dual Contracts to build this and other subway lines was signed in 1913, with construction proceeding soon after. The Dual Contracts provided the funds to build the expansion of the IRT subway lines in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx (today’s #1 through #7 lines), and the expansion of the BRT elevated and subway lines all over eastern and southern Brooklyn, and the joint operation of IRT Elevated, IRT subway, and BRT subway lines in Queens to Astoria and Corona, Queens. Except for major parts of the Independent Subway lines (lines A through H), it was the Dual Contracts that supplies the majority of the subway system as we know it today. The Dual Contracts also froze the transit fare at 5-cents, which at the time was a generous amount, but over time with inflation and cost of living changes would prove to be financially crippling.To sum up - this period was the period of subway system growth within the new city as various transit lines (existing, planned, converted) were shaping the city landscape. This included Staten Island which had its own system of street cars and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad which opened in 1899 which connected Staten Island to the larger B&O Railroad network in New Jersey and beyond. Like Brooklyn and Queens, Staten Island consisted of a small number of towns that as transportation and other urban changes occurred connected these former towns into a kind of un-planned whole. In the 1800’s it was simpler to live not very far from where one worked, or for farms and other agricultural operations to take place within the city limits. As “progress” and urban change occurred these places begin to take on their current characteristics. The St. George area of Staten Island become the seat of the county government and later the city government, with its nearby ferry terminal to Manhattan and Brooklyn. The B&O Railroad network consisted of there branches, the “North Shore” route connecting to New Jersey along Richmond Terrace, the “eastern shore” (today’s remaining Staten Island Railway operated by the MTA), and the “South Beach” line operating near today’s Verrazano Bridge area. All of these branches met at the St. George Railroad and Ferry Terminal.To sum up - there was a plan to build and connect the B&O Railroad on Staten Island to the BRT Fourth Avenue Subway as early as 1913. So what happened? The B&O Railroad for a time operated a ferry that connected Staten Island to Manhattan near its terminal at St. George. The B&O Railroad at St. George maintained a very large freight operation with train storage tracks, and piers for handling freight trains and boats. Until the construction of the Staten Island Yankees Baseball Stadium and the conversion of the remaining land into parkland, one could easily detect the remains of the former railroad facility. It is upon this land that a future shopping mall, parking lot and tourist wheel attraction is being built.From the NYCSubway.Org website:“The signing of the Dual Contracts in 1913 made the Brooklyn Rapid Transit a real player in future subway expansion. The formation of the majority of today's routes unfolded as construction continued. Additional provisions for routes never built continued to be made, and engineers proposed yet additional routes, long before the Independent City-Owned Rapid Transit System was a gleam in Mayor John Hylan's eyes. But as time went on, the BRT got cocky and adapted a "public be damned" attitude, with poor customer relationship management techniques. The "Beggars, Robbers and Thieves" rule of the land began deteriorating in earnest with a strike in late October 1918. As a result of pressing untrained motormen into service to cover the striking workers, the worst accident to befall rapid transit in New York City, the Malbone Street wreck, occurred on November 1st, 1918, where at least 93 people lost their lives. This was the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back" and the company went into bankruptcy shortly thereafter. It remained in receivership until 1923, when it was reorganized as the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation, or the BMT.”Early Rapid Transit in Brooklyn, 1878-1913What is the Malbone Street Wreck - you ask? Let’s go back to Park Row, the BRT’s major terminal for elevated train lines in Manhattan that came across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was the BRT’s foot-hold in Manhattan while its subway lines were being built and expanded in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Among the train lines served at that terminal was the Fulton Street elevated line in Brooklyn, that had a turn-off at Franklin Street with that route terminating at a major terminal called Coney Island. Today we would called those sections the “Franklin Avenue Shuttle”, and “B and Q” trains along the Brighton Beach line. At the time of the accident the BRT was building a major tunnel under Prospect Park connecting the Brighton Beach line to its very large connection station at DeKalb Avenue. The BRT was also in the process of building its 14th Street subway line connecting Manhattan and Canarsie, Brooklyn with a direct modern subway line. Frankly the BRT was laying out a lot of cash building and expanding its subway network. So what was the Malbone Street wreck?The Malbone Street Wreck was the worst disaster in transit history for a number of reasons. One 93 folks died on November 1, 1918 when their train operator having gotten only two hours of subway train operation instruction during a labor strike crashed his train of wooden-body subway cars at high speed (100 miles an hour) near the current Prospect Park subway station on a low-speed “S-curve” (rated for 6-miles an hour), killing and injuring over 200 hundred folks. In those days train operators received 60 hours of instruction before operating in service trains. Trains of all types simply do not “stop on a dime” but take time and distance to come to a complete stop. Typographically it is a 70-foot drop from Crown Heights and the Park Place station, and the Prospect Park station near Flatbush Avenue. However the newly not well trained train operator never used the regular or emergency brakes to attempt to stop the train.What were the results of the Malbone Street Wreck? For starters in December 1918, one month after the accident the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company was placed into receivership - meaning it was bankrupt. This action delayed payments to the survivors for three years, with the company paying out over a million and a half dollars in damages. That was a huge amount of money in 1918. The name of Malbone Street was changed to Empire Boulevard. Within the subway no more wooden body cars could ever be used, all metal and all steel subway cars had to be used. While on elevated lines wooden body cars would be remain in service for a number of years, on the subway lines new train cars would be needed further depleted the finances of the companies. In addition there came distinct differences between subway service and service on the elevated lines. In addition, Mayor Hylan, a foe of the private interests involved in transportation pushed for the building of the “Independent Subway” system - today’s subway lines A through H. In order to see and attend to the wreckage at the time, many cars were involved using their headlights to light the area, and to attend to the dead and wounded. In the 1920’s the car was becoming a major force in the transportation of masses of folks.So what happened to connecting Staten Island to the rest of the subway system? Well the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company was reorganized into the Brooklyn Manhattan Transit Corporation or BMT which took over the majority of the operations of the BRT in 1923. The BMT was cash strapped, it simply did not have the cash to handle and fund all of the expansive projects that the BRT had, as well as fund new transit expansion, buy or build new subway cars and facilities. etc. The BMT basically finished the projects that were already underway, and began to consolidate projects where it could. There were efforts by BMT officials to appeal and rise the transit fare, and change certain contract provisions due to the increased costs, inflation and the lock-box of the five-cents transit fare. All to no avail, with the public authorities then in charge. New York City Mayor John Hylan, an initial proponent of the tunnel connecting Staten Island to Brooklyn canceled the project in 1925. The planned subway tunnel connection to the South Beach B&O line was cancelled and that included the 150-foot of tunnel constructed within the area of the future former Verrazano Bridge toll plaza area. The 100 or so B&O train cars that had been modeled upon BRT subway cars of the era would never see Brooklyn subway service, as well as the newly electrified tracks on the Staten Island railroad. In addition a new player in the urban transportation scheme would emerge - Robert Moses.So what happened to connecting Staten Island to the rest of the subway system? Mayor Hylan nursed a grudge with the private interests involved in subway transportation operation and construction, and proceeded with plans to build a municipal subway that would be “Independent” of the “robber barons”, etc. of private transit. This new modern subway system built with high engineering standards and materials would service areas of the city not well served by the then current subway systems, directly compete with and remove elevated subway lines within Manhattan and Brooklyn. We call what was built the current basic A through H subway lines. Built over the Great Depression years of the late 1920’s and opening in 1932 the Eighth Avenue “A-train line” and its planned expansions directly competed with and lead to the removal of the IRT’s Ninth Avenue Elevated, the IRT’s Sixth Avenue Elevated, major portions of the BRT’s Brooklyn Fulton Street Line, and other BRT elevated lines in Brooklyn. These sets of lines were called the “First System” of the Independent Subway System. The last of these planned routes consisted of the building of the IND’s Sixth Avenue line which opened in 1940, and was constructed directly UNDER the open and operating IRT Sixth Avenue Elevated Line! At 34th Street- Herald Square in Manhattan is the most complex arrangement of subway and suburban railroad tracks in the world with each of these lines - BMT, IND, PATH, PENN Station tracks for New Jersey Transit, Amtrak and Long Island Railroad, and the former IRT Sixth Avenue Elevated Line all existing at the same time in the same spot with station platforms above and below each other, as well as commuter train track tunnels.It should be noted that in Brooklyn the Independent subway line under Fulton Street (today’s A and C train lines) were built directly UNDER the open and operating BRT Fulton Street Elevated line during the late 1920’s and opening in 1932 to Rockaway Avenue and Fulton Street. Later subway extensions, the conversion of former BRT stations and tracks in Queens after World War II and the acquisition of LIRR stations and tracks in the Rockaways in the late 1950’s lead to the Brooklyn and Queens A and C train lines of today.So what happened to connecting Staten Island to the rest of the subway system? A number of transportation proposals evolved to support public transit or the moving of freight between Staten Island and Brooklyn were brought up - with most never evolving past the proposal stage. None ever evolved into the building phase for various reasons - some political, some financial, etc., by both public and private interests.So what happened to connecting Staten Island to the rest of the subway system? As the first segments of the “First System” of the Independent Subway System were underway, the plans for the “Second System” of the Independent Subway were announced on the eve of the Great Depression in 1929. Certain aspects of this “Second System” can be seen today where those lines crossed the subway tunnels or connected with parts of the First System. For example in Brooklyn at the Fulton Street and Utica Avenue station, the provisions for the (Second System) Utica Avenue subway stop exist within the middle of the existing A-train station (First System). In Brooklyn, near the Church Avenue station of today’s current G and F lines, the lower level layup tracks beyond the platforms that the G-train uses to return to Queens were to be extended and run under Fort Hamilton Parkway to 86th Street, and then on to the St. George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island. This Second System would have also meant of the removal of existing elevated lines such as the J and M lines in Brooklyn, building a major Second Avenue trunk line Manhattan that would consume the #2 and #5 lines in the Bronx, expansions into southern eastern Queens, building a transit tunnel along 61st Street to connect to expanded Queens subway service, and other major changes. So what happened to the Independent Subway “Second System” - it was never built because the funds dried up during the Great Depression of the early 1930’s. In fact major portions of the IND’s First System would not be completed until the 1940’s and after World War II, with the consolidations with other elevated and commuter railroad lines.The 1940’s-1950’s represented the consolidation and REMOVAL of public transportation lines. The last remaining elevated line in Manhattan on Third Avenue lasted until 1955! The BMT and IRT systems were bankrupt and were converted to municipal control leading up to the creation of the New York Transit Authority, which also handled the formerly private and now bankrupt bus, trolley and former street car system. The New York City Transit Authority while full of ambition did not have much cash. In fact a bond issue floated to build the Second Avenue Subway in the 1950’s had to be used to repair the existing horrible subway stations, trains and other facilities. This is the period where IRT trains and stations were expanded to 10 cars. While all of the originally built Independent Subway stations were built to handle 10 cars, the former BRT / BMT stations were not - so the push was on to convert, upgrade and merge these systems. There were other numerous system wide improvements such as new lighting - no more hot light bulbs in the trains or subway stations! Trains that remained in service from the earliest years, most never washed during their decades of service to prevent rust, were finally replaced by newer trains.So what happened to connecting Staten Island to the rest of the subway system? Robert Moses. Robert Moses was not a public transportation guy. As the master planner, the leader of 14 separate city and state government agencies, and as the man doling out toll monies from the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, doling out monies from the federal government for urban renewal projects, highway building and other New Deal projects - Robert Moses was a force to be reckoned with, but few dared. As the builder of the region’s highways and tunnels, and a vast number of public works - Robert Moses shaped the whole NYC area. The plans for the regional highway network began in 1929, with a plan that unified the various vast parts of the New York City, Long Island and New Jersey region. Thus each part of the highway / roadway plan fit into the other parts of the highway / roadway plan making each part integral to the whole highway / roadway plan. Thus the Cross-Bronx Expressway, and the Verrazano Bridge - Staten Island Expressway fits into a whole plan with the Brooklyn / Queens Belt Parkway, and the . . ., and so on and so on. All of this was planned by 1929 - even if would take decades for each part to be built. Folks with vast real estate and other political interests could and would take advantage of the expansion of the vast urban area.So what happened to connecting Staten Island to the rest of the subway system? The subway system does not in exist in isolation to the other “systems” around it, but benefits from the convergence of those “systems”. The subway system needs and uses concentrations of people, and transports folks to places of concentration. Folks are concentrated and collected at places called “stations” and are taken to other places called “stations”. For example, the Madison Square Garden Boxing Center is a place of concentration - even when it moved from its original home near 23rd Street, to its long time time on 49th-50th Street-Ninth Avenue, and its current home on 34th Street - Penn Station. In each case subway or elevated train transportation enabled the concentration of folks and their eventual travel to places of lesser concentration - their homes. The usage and building of apartment buildings - concentration of residences - enhances and supports subway transportation. The major building periods of the subway and elevated train systems was during a period 1900–1940’s when there was major typographical growth within the city, which also depended as the result of the expansion of street car and trolley lines within the city. The ability to live, work and perform other activities in places well beyond walking distance was a major boon to the city as a whole.For the New York City Transit Authority of the 1950’s and 1960’s building a subway tunnel direct to Staten Island was simply out of the question. Not only were the subways bankrupt, but railroad transportation was at a cross-roads with the PENN Central Railroad bankrupt, the Long Island Railroad bankrupt, the New York Central Railroad bankrupt, the B&O Railroad bankrupt in New York City, the Trans-Hudson Railroad bankrupt, as well as other transit systems. While needed railroad transportation was no longer profitable - the farebox (and other funding streams) could no longer support the operation of the railroads. All of these systems become under public control where the general idea was to keep want was working in terms of ridership, raise fairs, borrow money to buy new cars or vehicles, borrow money to renovate facilities and stations.Yes, it is this period with the PENN Central Railroad bankrupt that the very large PENN Railroad Station is torn down, and a Madison Square Garden Sports Arena is built on top of the under-ground commuter railroad station that would service the newly publicly acquired New Jersey Transit, Long Island Railroad, and the federal Amtrak railroad systems.So what happened to connecting Staten Island to the rest of the subway system? The period after the 1940’s to the 1970’s was a period of growth of the suburban ring, the period of expansion into areas less well settled. What aided that expansion was the car! The “car” does not “concentrate” folks to one location - walking distance of a subway station or bus stop - but disburses folks along vast areas. The period from the 1940’s to the 1970’s was the period of the creation of “suburbia” the vast areas of single family tract homes, the creation of the suburban shopping mall, and the movement of office locations and other work places outside of the city limits. All places subway systems and railroad transportation systems did not or could not service well.So what happened to connecting Staten Island to the rest of the subway system? Remember how the bridges that connected Manhattan to Brooklyn - the Williamsburg Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge, the 59th Street all carried public transit or elevated trains across their spans? Well - NONE of Robert Moses bridges would or could EVER carry any subway, public transit or elevated trains across their spans! None of the four bridges that carry automobile traffic both to and from Staten Island ever carried public transit rail vehicles. In addition concerning the way that Robert Moses constructed many of his early highways and parkways - the usage of commuter buses was also prohibited. So Staten Island developed as a place where except for places near the public bus network or the remaining Staten Island Railroad line - living and conducting life’s activities without a car becomes a difficult proposition.So what happened to connecting Staten Island to the rest of the subway system? The opening of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in 1964 allowed vast areas of Staten Island to be easily accessible from Brooklyn and New Jersey - allowing many folks from Brooklyn to move to their first suburban style of living, while still staying within New York City. Staten Island’s population began to grow as well as a building boom on Staten Island.By 1968 the Metropolitan Transit Authority, and the Port Authority of New York were created to use their funding from highway tolls, their bridge toll monies and other operations to fund and upgrade their rapid transit operations. Yes, the control that Robert Moses had over the direction of the city was coming to an end as his Tri-Borough Bridge and Tunnel Authority was now a part of the MTA, and the toll surpluses were used to fund and improve mass transit all over the region.In about 1968/1969 the MTA came up with its master plan to build the often proposed Second Avenue subway in Manhattan and the Bronx with its proposed Super-Express extensions into southern eastern Queens (along Archer Avenue) using a brand new subway tunnel under 63rd Street to handle expanded LIRR train service to Manhattan. So what happened? Well the 63rd Street Tunnel and a section of the Archer Avenue in Queens were built and opened a few decades ago. Recently a three station section under Second Avenue was opened. There is no telling when the major remaining parts of the Second Avenue subway will be built in midtown or lower Manhattan, as obtaining funding is difficult under current political winds. The MTA plans for changing public transit all over the city, and New York City's Master Plan during the 1968 period did talk about a proposed direct tunnel between Staten Island and Manhattan as wildly expensive, preferring instead to create faster ferries and other improved connections to Brooklyn. In public transportation - the big issue is funding. Without funding there is no project - there is simply no enough funds from the farebox to support improvements to public transportation.So what happened? The mid-1970 city fiscal crisis and President Ford telling New York City to "Drop Dead."Staten Island became one of few boroughs to gain population while the other boroughs were losing population during the city’s mid-1970’s fiscal crisis years. It was during these fiscal crisis years that the abomination (my words) I call the “hourly ferries” was created for the weekend and night periods. For the next 35 or so years travel by Staten Island Ferry between Manhattan and Staten Island was constrained by this kind of ferry schedule - helping to solidify the usage of the car for all trips that were not work-related. The building boom on Staten Island created vast areas of the island that are simply not easily reachable by the existing public transit bus network and Staten Island Railway.So what happened to connecting Staten Island to the rest of the subway system? In the 1970’s the cost of building one mile of a subway tunnel exceeded 1 million dollars. This meant that many worthwhile subway transportation projects no longer became affordable across the nation. The problem has only grown deeper with the continuing to rise in costs of building the Second Avenue Subway, and other transit projects. Building new public rail transit lines on the less dense Staten Island urban area is thus very unlikely. In many areas of the city, proposed Select Bus Service, a kind of bus rapid transit has been built and operated using city streets to improve bus service and travel speeds. Politicians on Staten Island have done every thing they could think of to slow done or impede the single SBS bus line on Staten Island that operates on Hylan Boulevard, which is named after the mayor that cancelled the subway tunnel that would have connected Staten Island to Brooklyn in 1925.So what happened to connecting Staten Island to the rest of the subway system? It is simple - finances, politics, technology changes, attitude changes in people, and the various changes on the ground that make a subway system more difficult to build.