By the end of this month, the NY State Department of Transportation will open "HOV" lanes along another 9 exits of the LIE. Yet last week Newsday reported that vehicles intended to be the route's biggest HOV's of all - LIE express buses the DOT operates in Suffolk County - are failing.

The buses run from Farmingdale, Islandia and Selden (at the eastern end of the carpool lane) to the western-most exit, Rt. 110, and then to office complexes along Rt. 110. Presently the 10 runs (five in the morning and five in the evening) carry between 110 and 140 passengers and cost the State DOT $22 per passenger. State DOT has said that if ridership is still low in the fall it will "re-evaluate" the bus service.

Why don't buses priced at $1.50 and bypass bumper-to-bumper traffic compete with drive-along commuting? Almost everyone agrees that commuters need more incentives. Since parking is free at most sites served by the buses, why should motorists pay $3.00 to forego the convenience of door-to-door car commuting ?

Clearly, paving a lane is insufficient, and policies to reinforce transit's attractiveness are required. NYS DOT points to the 1996 repeal of a legal employer trip reduction mandate at the same time the bus service began. Still, DOT has done little to make up for loss of the regulation. Proposals to give employers incentives to try creative programs like "cashing out free parking" (see last issue) seem just now to be emerging from DOT's LITP study.