Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano said yesterday that the county would slash its contribution to Long Island Bus from $9 million to $4.1 million a year, cut ties with the MTA, and privatize the system, potentially imperiling transit riders and the county’s economy. According to Newsday, Nassau’s goal is to “offer better service and be more efficient than the MTA.” But the math just doesn’t add up.
The county and MTA together pay over $30 million of LI Bus’s $140 million annual budget, while neighboring Suffolk County contributes $24 million a year for its smaller, privately operated system. A county spokesperson claimed that a bus system could be run for just $2.1 million annually. But it’s not likely that Nassau has discovered a way to get a dollar’s worth of service for a dime, and the spokesperson admitted that “it is unclear whether privatization would result in fare hikes or service cuts.”
Under an earlier proposal floated by the MTA, the system faces the loss of 25 of its 48 routes, and the loss of 18% of Able-Ride paratransit service. This week, local television stations will start running the following 30-second public service announcement, which highlights the impacts these will have:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIdp6lp5Jy4[/youtube]
The ad was paid for by Tri-State, the Long Island Federation of Labor, LI Progressive Coalition, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Transport Workers Union of America, Local 252.
The groups have also taken out print ads in local newspapers urging Long Islanders to call their elected representatives and help save Long Island Bus. An MTA public hearing on the planned cuts will take place at Hofstra on March 23, and local advocates are preparing a rally beforehand. Learn more and take action on TSTC’s website.
Nassau is short only $5 million. Just add 25 cents to the current fare and the problem is solved. The math works and no service is cut.
My proposal would avoid a private give-away of public assets and a large fare increase that the private providers will demand.
Westchester pays for subsidizing their local buses.
Suffolk pays for subsidizing their local buses.
Rockland pays for subsidizing their local buses.
NYC pays for subsidizing their local buses and subways.
If Nassau will not pay their fair share of supporting their local bus service then let it all close.
It will mostly hurt Nassau’s lower middle class and poor, but they don’t vote, or don’t vote Republican, so it’s no wonder why the Nassau Republicans don’t want the county to pay.
Of course if the 55+ school districts in Nassau County consolidated into only 3 to 5 districts, the savings of firing over 50 sets of administrations and administrators would pay for better in class education for all the county’s kids, plus enough to fund 10 LI Bus systems.
But that would mean your kids might have to share a class room with “those” kids, meaning any kids not looking exactly like a carbon copy of yours.
[…] and disabled, as well as the possibility that Nassau County will end its relationship with the MTA, slash county funding to virtually nothing, and turn the bus system over to a private […]
[…] 2010, making the total local contribution to the system $33 million last year. But county officials have claimed a private bus system could be run with as little as $2.1 million in county funds annually — […]
[…] to $4.1 million a year, cut ties with the MTA, and privatize the system by the end of the year. The county and MTA together pay over $30 million of LI Bus’s $140 million annual budget, but Nassau officials have claimed that a privately operated bus system could be run with as […]
[…] million — even though privately operated systems in Suffolk and Westchester Counties receive considerably larger subsidies. So far, the county has refused to divulge information about the three bids it has […]
[…] Executive Ed Mangano cut funds to the system this year and plans to privatize the system in 2012, likely meaning further cuts. The MTA hasn’t shown much interest in running LI Bus, let alone whatever new transit service […]
[…] Members of the public and advocates were denied entry to Mangano’s press conference in Mineola. The county executive reportedly said that fares and service levels would be maintained through 2012, but it wasn’t clear what would happen after that. Sources told MTR that some parts of the deal between Veolia and the county will continue to be negotiated through the end of this year. That means it’s unclear what the deal will cost the county in future years. County officials have previously said a private system could be run with county funding levels as low as $2-4 million a year, math which just doesn’t add up. […]
[…] Mangano has estimated savings of between $2 and $4 million a year. But the math, according to the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, just doesn’t add up. Privatization in other parts of the country has often resulted in […]
[…] The news comes two days after County Executive Mangano’s second State of the County address, where he barely mentioned the plight facing LI Bus riders, workers and businesses. A week ago, State Senators Dean Skelos, Chuck Fuschillo and Jack Martins showed incredible leadership by increasing state funding for the system by $8.6 million, preventing proposed cuts through the end of the year. But the County Executive used his speech to lambaste the MTA and continue pushing a vague plan to privatize the bus system and run it on a shoestring budget. […]