Prior to the vote, Long Island Bus riders, workers and transit advocates urged county legislators to avoid the cuts. The groups said bus service is critical to Nassau's economy, environment and workforce. They also said the amounts in question are small, and do not warrant putting bus riders, transit managers and elected officials through another protracted fight over service cuts.

"County Legislators could create all kinds of problems for Long Island Bus and its riders for a lousy $4 million, when the real budget fights are over items that are much larger," said Long Island ACORN president Atlanta Cockrell, referring to County Democrats' plan to slice $4 million from the bus budget in 2001. "We call on county legislators to put bus cuts behind us. We need to move on to the creation of new bus routes and adding service to existing lines, to give all Nassau citizens convenient access to jobs and other destinations."

"The County Legislature is putting bus riders and workers back where County Executive Gulotta had us last year," said the Transport Workers Union's Pete Dempsey. County Democrats propose a $7 million bus cut in 2002, identical to the emergency cuts Gulotta proposed last winter. Gulotta's proposed cuts generated a strong outcry around the county, and many County Legislators joined in the protest.

Long Island Bus continues to post record ridership numbers. An Oct. 10 agency press release stated that Long Island Bus provided an average of 108,000 passenger trips on September, 2000 weekdays, the highest weekday average of any month in LI Bus' history.

"Clearly, Nassau County needs more, not less mass transit. County leaders need to make up their minds to be part of the transit solution," said Lisa Tyson of the Long Island Progressive Coalition.

County leaders appear to have another state bail-out of LI Bus in mind. "Looking to Albany for 'emergency' funding may work for a year or two, but other parts of the state won't buy it for long," said Neal Lewis, director of the Long Island Neighborhood Network.