It has been the “fall of fare hike fights” here at Tri-State.
MTR has documented at length the bus and rail fare hike fights in Connecticut as well as the fight to stave off cuts in Nassau County’s contribution to LI Bus over the past weeks and months. Well the results are in, and they are a mixed bag.
On the bright side the Connecticut General Assembly and Governor Rell finally agreed to restore the previously cut funding for rail and bus operations earlier this month (some other parts of the budget are still being debated). This means, for now, rail and bus fare increases, initially envisioned at 10% and 40% respectively, will not be enacted.
In Nassau County, the picture is a bit cloudier. In advance of yesterday’s Nassau County Legislature hearing on the 2010 county budget, Tri-State, with Vision Long Island, Long Island Progressive Coalition and the Long Island Federation of Labor, held a press conference to protest the proposed 27% cut in Nassau County’s contribution to the LI Bus system. The groups also offered alternative budget cuts that legislators could make to ensure that LI Bus is fully funded, such as not filling some job vacancies or using part of the county’s contingency fund.
The efforts of advocates seemed to pay off. Sort of. Democratic county legislators responded by passing an amendment to the budget that will reinstate $1.4 million of the $2.8 million cut.
The move only goes halfway to restoring full funding from the County, and cuts to LI Bus service or fare increases loom in the coming months if additional funding is not found. Still, it’s important to thank those legislators who stood up for transit riders, including Presiding Officer Diane Yatauro and Legislators Kevan Abrahams, Judi Bosworth, Wayne Wink, Norma Gonsalves and Denise Ford — though the Campaign still urges them to try to find the additional funding needed to stave off cuts to a system that serves 33 million riders a year. At the same time, Long Islanders might want to ask County Executive Tom Suozzi why his administration isn’t taking its financial responsibilities to LI Bus seriously.
[…] year, TSTC has stopped transit service cuts and reduced fare hikes in Connecticut and New York and helped secure funding for a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River. […]
[…] This is good news, to be sure, but will Mangano come through for riders and restore the $1.4 million in annual LI Bus funding that was cut by the previous […]
[…] Much of the second half of the year was consumed by a protracted debate between Gov. Rell and the legislature over the state’s 2010-11 budget. Although Gov. Rell originally proposed a budget that increased transit operating funds, she then released a second budget in June that included a 40% fare increase on bus riders and a 10% fare hike on Metro-North. Advocates and legislators strongly criticized the fare increases over the summer, and fare hikes were canceled in October. […]