In an attempt to capitalize on additional State Transit Operating Assistance (STOA) included in the recently adopted New York State budget, Suffolk County Legislator Jay Schneiderman filed a resolution last week that, if adopted, dedicates the $2.01 million windfall to Suffolk County Transit (SCT) to expand bus service to Sundays. The resolution, expected to be taken up by the Public Works and Transportation Committee on April 23, would direct the County to maintain its existing contribution to the bus system and not divert the funds to the County’s General Fund — which faces a $250 million deficit — while also directing the Department of Public Works to identify a plan to use the new funding to expand service to core Sunday routes and later into evenings.

Legislator Schneiderman has long championed a seven-day-a-week bus system and advocacy groups have called on Suffolk County, and in particular, Suffolk County’s delegation in Albany, to increase funding for Sunday service. In recent years, the State has funded Westchester’s Bee-Line and Nassau’s NICE bus systems at much higher levels than SCT. By comparison, the State contributed approximately 50 percent to the operations of Nassau County’s bus system in 2012, while only contributing roughly 30 percent to Suffolk County’s system. Expanded service on Sundays would build upon the already successful summer Sunday service pilot program on two East End lines, and would provide the system’s approximately six million annual riders a transportation option that won’t break their wallets or pocketbooks.