On Sunday, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano was able to display his 1969 Chevy Corvette at the county’s second annual “Cruise to the Show” parade and vintage car show. Bus riders didn’t have such a pleasant weekend, thanks to some ominous news from Veolia Transportation Vice President Michael Setzer.
Setzer, who will run Long Island Bus next year if the county goes through with its plan to privatize the system, implicitly stated what advocates have been worried about for a year and a half: That the future for LI Bus riders includes massive service cuts or fare hikes if County Executive Mangano’s privatization scheme moves forward. Newsday reports:
Setzer would not say whether Veolia intends to cut service after next year. But he did note few options are available to make up the $35 million in MTA and county subsidies that LI Bus stands to lose next year. “You can’t save $35 million by turning off the lights,” Setzer said.
No kidding. Veolia could, however, “save” $35 million by raising fares and cutting service drastically, which it increasingly appears it is preparing to do. (The company has proposed an overall budget of $106 million.)
According to Nassau County’s recently released fiscal year 2012 budget, County Executive Mangano plans on providing $2.5 million to support a privately operated LI Bus. This seems to be woefully inadequate considering fuel for LI Bus cost $8.3 million alone in 2010, according to the Transport Workers Union. It remains to be seen how much the County will have to pay the MTA for use of its farebox system and the intermodal facilities in both Mineola and Jamaica.
County Executive Mangano has repeatedly said that service and fares will remain the same while costing taxpayers less under a privately operated system. The company he has hired appears to be saying otherwise. County and state elected officials should remember that the ’60s and ’70s were a great time for classic cars, but a terrible one for Nassau County bus riders. They endured, in the words of the New York Times, a “jumble of badly run private bus lines” that eventually had to be rescued with a state bailout.
New Yorkers can ask their elected officials to support a “Bus Riders’ Bill of Rights” which includes service and fare guarantees through TSTC’s website.
They are supposedly going to give twice the service of Suffolk County for 1/10th. the County subsidy? Is Mangano the Wizard of Oz?
[…] New LI Bus CEO: “You Can’t Save $35M By Turning Off the Lights” […]
[…] takes over the LI Bus network. “You can’t save $35 million by turning off the lights,” Setzer said. In other words, there’s virtually no way Veolia can operate the bus system with its current […]
Maybe with the lights off, people won’t notice if you pick their pockets at the same time? What’s the difference between sneak thieves and taxes upon taxes for everything, down to, and including, the air we breath. (EPA CO2 regs)
Is it possible for the buses to do on-street pickup at Jamaica and Mineola, to save on the costs of paying rent for space?
[…] previously noted that Veoila appears to be contemplating service cuts and fare hikes when it takes over operations for LI Bus. In fact, it is virtually […]
[…] has repeatedly insisted that fare hikes and service cuts are off the table in 2012, but Veolia’s public statements and website indicate […]
I am a bus operator for Long Island Bus, I would rather not give my real name. As an operator I see customers throwing away remaining money on their metro cards and paying with another card because they didn’t have any change to cover the first card, throwing hundreds of dollars of unused fares back into the MTA’s pocket. This equates to millions of dollars. Passengers adding additonal money to a card of a dollar or less to pay the fare of 2.25 have to pay again on the subway because the paper transfer from the bus doesn’t get them on the subway. The farebox clocks are not all clocked with the same time, shaving off 5 to 10 minutes from the 2 hour time in between transfer points. In a nutshell I work for a corupt company that isn’t on the side of the customer. When the metro card first came out it offered customers an extra free ride, and the customer never had to worry about adding change to pay their fare. Instead it has become a delibrate attempt to scam the customers out of their loose change. Where is the money for these daily transactions? There is the money that could keep Long Island Bus alive with the MTA.