Second Ave. Sagas

LI Bus fate to be determined tomorrow

Written by

Benjamin Kabak

in

,

As the MTA has already voted to withdraw funding from Long Island Bus by the end of the year, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano is moving forward with a plan no one thinks will succeed. According to Newsday, Mangano will unveil the private company picked to operate the popular Nassau County bus service. The winning bidder will be Veolia Transportation, MV Transit or First Transit and will have to be approved by the county legislature before it can begin to operate the buses next year.

The MTA and Mangano have been at odds over Long Island Bus funding for a while. Despite funding agreements fund the transit network, Nassau County contributes just $9.1 million to the bus system’s operations, and the MTA has asked for upwards of $26 million more. Mangano has refused to do so and has insisted that a private company acting without increased subsidies and turning a profit will be able to offer the same service for the same fares.

Transit advocates are rightly skeptical, but the county executive is moving forward with the plan anyway. “Financially, it doesn’t make sense,” Kate Slevin of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign said. “They’ll have to contribute a lot more money if they want it to function even remotely like it does now.” For more on this long-simmering dispute, check out my archives. I don’t think Nassau Country commuters are going to think too highly of the entity that emerges from this move.

Comments

16 responses to “LI Bus fate to be determined tomorrow”

  1. Lawrence Velázquez

    Good thing I never go to Long Island, then.

    Reply
  2. pete

    1. Metrocard transfers are gone.
    2. North Shore and South Shore service is gone. If you dont live in a 5 mile radius of Downtown Hempstead, no bus for you.

    Also who owns the shiny new busses? What will the contractor use? The ex-MTA Orion 7s, presumably owned by Nassau County? or the contractor will lease a bunch of 1980s clunker buses? Or will the contractor cost-plus lease them from the MTA and send Nassau the bill?

    Reply
    1. pete

      Points 1 and 2 are me assuming.

      Reply
    2. ajedrez

      I agree that it will probably mean the end of MetroCard transfers (though they’ll probably keep them if you are traveling within Nassau County).

      I think that the service reductions will be similar to the ones proposed by the MTA. Maybe they’ll save a couple of extra routes (the N54/N55, N57/N58, N79, and N88) because of their high ridership.

      Reply
    3. Al D

      IF MTA bought the buses, they should move them to the NYC fleet. I don’t see why or how they would leave them for some independent operator.

      Reply
  3. Scott E

    Another question — who owns/operates the intermodal bus/rail station at Mineola? There is the LIRR, and then there are bus slots with nice pedestals, color electronic arrival/departure signs with a big “MTA” above it. Not to mention the big parking garage, also with MTA on it.

    Reply
  4. Frank B.

    Great. About time the MTA stops running a deficit for a completely ungrateful county. Perhaps we can use those savings to cover a deficit for the rest of the MTA.

    Reply
  5. Pete from Nassau

    I live in Nassua and use the bus system alot. I am proud of this bus system because you can go anywhere with it on the island, it takes longer but its cheaper and reliable.

    Mangano doesnt speak for all of us. Manganos math is beyond retarded. He’s willing to put 400,000,000 on tax payers backs for a new colosseum but not willing to put another 15,000,000 and say the county cannot afford it.

    So many people depend on this bus system and it saddens me to see that 1 guy has so much say over this issue that will effect over 100,000 daily riders. These riders could easily vote mangano out but they aren’t the voting class. Many probably dont even know what is going on.

    I’m also skeptical about how much the bus system costs and do think costs could be lowered. Its articles about mismanagement, pensions, union rules, LIRR workers taking 250,000 home in one year that make me question how much the bus system costs. At the same time I realize even though the system is screwed up, its the best option we have.

    Manganos privatization is nothing but bad news for the people who use the system the most.

    Reply
  6. Alex C

    The bus fleet is an interesting part. The old Orion V’s are owned by Nassau County. The new low-floor Orion VII’s are owned by the MTA. So says Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L…..rent_Fleet), so take it with a slight grain of salt. But *if* I read that correctly, Nassau is in deep, deep trouble. MTA has no reason to just hand those new Orions off to Nassau. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M….._2005-2010) That’s 140 Orions VII’s that Nassau could lose. And again, if I’m wrong, please correct me.

    Reply
    1. Bolwerk

      Heh, I hope it’s that simple. Maybe the MTA was just saved some $ by Nassau’s stupidity.

      Reply
    2. RailBus63

      The Orion VII’s were purchased with Federal funds for use in Nassau County, so they will stay.

      Reply
      1. Alex C

        Thanks. Damn, so whatever private agency comes in gets to use shiny new Orions. Bah humbug.

        Reply
  7. Emmett Schmenke

    Nassau should be sure to educate itself to the dispute between Veolia and First Transit over a similar recently awarded contract in Las Vegas. Messy and ugly. And the likely litigation will almost certainly be costly. Just my two cents.

    Reply
  8. Roy

    I dunno anything about MV Transit, but if I were a Nassau County bus rider I’d be worried about the other two bidders. Veolia (née Connex) was stripped of both its UK rail franchises for poor performance, and First Group is better known in the UK as “WorstGroup”.

    Reply
  9. Al D

    This idea is either the dumbest idea connected to transit in recent memory, or someone stands to make a whole lot of money behind the scenes.

    The commuter van thing was pretty stupid, but this eclipses it by miles.

    Reply
  10. LI Bus fate to be determined tomorrow | Josh – Lipolitics

    […] Read the rest of the story on 2nd Ave Saga. […]

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