Long Island Bus in nominally an MTA agency, like NYC Transit and Long Island Railroad. However, LI Bus does not receive a share of surplus revenues from MTA Bridge & Tunnel toll collections, or from various taxes dedicated to the MTA. Like Suffolk Transit or Westchester's Bee-Line, LI Bus relies for its budget on fare revenue, a county contribution and an annual appropriation of NY State transit operating assistance.

But because the MTA is responsible for administering and operating LI Bus, it convened the hearing on service reduction. MTA board members, including Chairman E. Virgil Conway, listened for almost seven hours to over 100 testimonies against the bus cuts. Nassau County Executive Thomas Gulotta did not attend, and no representative of county government sat on the panel that heard the testimony. However, the entire LI Bus service problem began when, in December, Gulotta unilaterally axed $7 million from the county's contribution to LI Bus' operating budget.

MTA officials tried to make it clear at the hearing's outset that they had not sought the cuts, and that the problem had originated in Nassau. Some testimony, including that by Transport Workers Union Local 252 and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, reinforced this message and called upon Gulotta to act to end the bus service crisis. Some, however, including a Republican Nassau County legislator, tried to further confuse the issue, referring to the "MTA's surplus."

At the hearing, hundreds of bus cut foes spilled from the auditorium into the lobby and the hospital's front steps. A large group of students mobilized by NYPIRG chanted against the cuts. Eight different television crews recorded the agitation. Channel 5 estimated at 10:15p.m. that at least 1,000 opponents of the bus cuts had shown up at the hearing or its environs.

At the podium, village mayors of Hempstead, Rockville Centre and Freeport, and a number of state legislators argued that many of their constituents would lose jobs if the cuts take effect. Disabled riders and their advocates shared stories about how LI Bus service allows them to remain self-sufficient.

The Tri-State Campaign commended the steps to fill the budget hole taken that day by State Senator Skelos and County Legislator Toback (see last issue), both of whom testified at the hearing's outset.

Senator Skelos was especially forceful, stating that Nassau County should be debating how to increase, not cut bus service, and that deep cuts would drive riders away from transit for years.