The MTA is adding an HOV/bus lane on the Verrazano Bridge that could shave up to 15 minutes off Staten Islanders’ commutes, officials said yesterday.

The agency plans to add the lane — open to buses and cars with at least three people — as part of work on the bridge’s upper deck. It will connect with an existing HOV lane on the Staten Island Expressway, which is being lengthened by the state Department of Transportation.