Advocates for people of color, the poor and disabled are questioning the equity of Long Island transportation services. Pushed to the limit by the closing of an ten more LIRR stations on March 16, and inadequate transit services for former welfare recipients to get to new jobs, advocates have made transportation equity a major focus of discussions underway among civic, economic development and environmental groups on the Island.

Poor suburban transit service and low-density land uses explain why 75% of Long Islanders who commute to Manhattan use the LIRR, but only 2.5% of people who live and work on Long Island reach work with transit. 57,000 households on the Island are carless.

Ironically, Long Island's transportation system includes a rich transit network consisting of the MTA's nine LIRR branches, with 134 stations serving 256,000 passengers daily, and its LI Bus division, with 319 buses on 52 routes serving 85,000 Nassau County bus riders daily. LIRR is designed primarily to transport workers to and from Manhattan. It is difficult to use LIRR to destinations within Long Island except along the same east-west corridors, and high fares preclude lower-income people from regularly using the railroad. Connecting bus service at LIRR stations, which could help bridge the gap, is rare. Only 45 station stops in Long Island have connecting Long Island Bus service; riders complain that it is too infrequent to be meaningful while transit planners say that with few riders, frequent service is unwarranted.

Under Title VI of the federal Civil Rights Act, transit agencies must file a report every three years demonstrating that services, including routes, location, levels and quality of service, do not discriminate against minorities. (Thus far, LIRR's attorneys have not responded to Tri-State's request for these reports.)

Similarly, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), transit agencies must file a "Key Station Plan" identifying stations to be made handicapped accessible. One measure of accessibility is whether there is a continuous pedestrian path to the station. Others are ridership levels, rail-to-rail connections, intermodal connections, logical termini and whether the station serves major activity centers. In the 1980s, LIRR was sued by Eastern Paralyzed Veteran's Assn over closure of certain stations, and in 1990 agreed to a settlement making 20 stations (including Penn Station NYC) accessible, with 18 more to follow in "diesel territory" when accessible coaches are deployed there. However, in the 1992 Key Station Plan, only 23 of LIRR's 134 stations were designated, meaning LIRR could close the remainder of its stations without any further notice or comment by the public or action by federal or state regulators. Advocates participated in the Key Station Plan, and won an increase in key stations from 18 to 23; they had wanted between 11 and 28 more stations to be designated. Some citizens whose only transportation is LIRR but who live at bypassed stations such as Center Moriches and Yaphank have appealed to the Federal Transit Administration and USDOT Secretary.

Advocates also point to the lack of frequent bus service or service that fails to match work schedules to major employment centers such as hospitals and universities, including University Hospital at Stony Brook, and businesses along the Route 110 corridor in Suffolk County. Night service and service to child care centers along LI bus routes is a problem as well; bus service often ends as early as 6 pm.