The 2003 experiment pitting man against machine demonstrated what most Staten Island commuters have known for years: The bus route that winds through the hills of New Brighton on its way to the Staten Island Ferry terminal is snail-slow.

With an average speed of 11.1 mph, the S42 was singled out for the third time yesterday as Staten Island's Pokiest bus. The dubious distinction was part of the fifth annual Pokey Awards, presented to the city's slowest bus routes by the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign and Transportation Alternatives.

Though known for its glacial pace, the S42 is one of the borough's shortest routes, typically lasting only 16 minutes from the first to last stop, and it tackles some of the Island's steepest terrain -- factors that tend to make riders more patient.

After work, who wants to walk up that hill? said Sarah Tatum of St. George, explaining why she rides the S42 up Hyatt Street to her St. George home several times a week.

I don't mind the speed, agreed S42 rider Samantha Grant of New Brighton. It's cold and I've got to get home.

Rounding out the Island's pokey trifecta, the S61, which runs between the St. George Ferry Terminal and the shopping centers of New Springville, took second-slowest honors, with an average speed of 12.6 mph. The S60, which connects Clove Road and Victory Boulevard to the schools and colleges on Grymes Hill, moves at an average 13 mph.

But the slowest Island buses are blazing fast compared to routes in the rest of the city, like the Pokey Award winner, Manhattan's M14A, which creeps along at an average 3.9 mph -- slower than a pedestrian on a leisurely stroll.

But while Staten Island's buses aren't the city's slowest on the road, they make up one-third of the most unreliable routes according to this year's new survey category that measures how often buses arrive in bunches, leaving gaps in time during the day or late departures at night.

Six Staten Island routes -- the S76, S74, S44, S78, S48 and the S79 -- made the list of 18 routes with rates of unreliability exceeding 20 percent.

Speed is not the only indicator of quality bus service, said Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives.

A New York City Transit spokesman explained that the city's buses are slow because they operate in severe traffic congestion on narrow streets or heavily traveled shopping areas, and he pointed to the $22 million earmarked for the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) initiative as a way to improve their efficiency and dependability in the future.

The planned BRT routes, including one that will run along Hylan Boulevard to Bay Ridge, are expected to speed up service by implementing bus-only lanes and technology that can influence timing of traffic lights for smooth sailing.

Gene Russianoff, staff attorney for Straphangers, said he sees a lot of potential for BRT in the future.