Last week, the Democratic majority in the Nassau County legislature worked out a deal that restores at least some of the county funds that would have been cut from with Long Island Bus’ operating support under County Executive Thomas Suozzi’s budget proposal. The county will set its bus funding at $6 million — $2 million shy of the $8 million the County contributed this fiscal year. Long Island Bus agrees to seek cost cutting measures to make up the deficit, but if by the end of June 2004, these cannot be put into practice, the county will allocate the additional funds required to keep bus service whole. Suozzi appears to support the plan.

In a press release last week, the county legislature’s presiding officer, Judy Jacobs said, "The yearly battle to keep Long Island’s buses rolling is a fight we would like to see put to rest once and for all, with a long term solution." It is unclear how long this agreement is good for, but it seems Jacobs intends the $6 million level to stand as the county’s offering for several years. It’s likely that this is not the last of Long Island Bus’ funding woes. Nassau officials seem to think that the MTA’s proposed reorganization, which envisioned Long Island Bus being combined with NYC Transit’s bus division, may be the ultimate solution. There may be pitfalls to such a consolidation, such as "service rationalizations," that Nassau officials should consider.

However, if the economy picks up, stopping bus service cuts each year will not be enough.  Despite the budget struggles of recent years and the economic downturn, LI Bus has managed about a 25% increase in annual ridership since 1996, with no drop off in the last few years. Job growth in NYC or Long Island will push ridership demand still higher.

At a county budget hearing last week, the Campaign’s Kate Slevin testified that if county revenues improve, bus riders and advocates will look for the county to return some of the money it has taken out of the system since 1999 and use it for new service.

Transit advocates and bus riders mobilized by Long Island ACORN held a press conference two weeks ago at the county government building in Mineola, garnering substantial coverage of the bus budget problem. During the event, Jacobs invited participants into her office to discuss the issue.

Nassau County is in the midst of an ambitious effort to build new mass transit capacity to anchor re-development of the Nassau Hub (MTR #433). This effort, if successful, could provide a smart growth blueprint for other sprawling suburban areas. But the county needs to maintain a strong base of local transit ridership and stable transit funding to ensure that the new transit plan and associated projects are credible as they move forward. 

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