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Restore Nassau County’s Cuts to Long Island Bus! Nassau Legislature restores 50% of Suozzi's cuts to Nassau Bus Long Island Bus riders have repeatedly been singled out by decision makers for drastic fare hikes and service cuts, even in the best economic times. For these Long Islanders, a cut in bus service means they cannot get to work. Owning a car is a luxury that all Long Islanders do not share. Long Island Bus ridership reached an all time high of 33.1 million in 2008, while County funding remained stagnant. According to the most recent census data, LI Bus riders make, on average, $20,000 less than commuters who drive alone to work and $62,000 less a year than those that commute via the Long Island Rail Road.
A Local 338 representative also noted that in these hard economic times, budget cuts affect not only the riders who need to get to work, but also mean a loss of jobs in the bus system itself. After highlighting some of the major challenges that would be incurred by these cuts, the organizations provided three alternative solutions to the cuts. By having the County make minor adjustments—to levels no lower than those that existed in 2008—the cuts could be avoided entirely. The suggestions included:
By early Monday morning, it was believed that the County Executive’s plan had been reduced by half to $1.4 million in cuts. Although advocates for bus riders were happy to hear that some attention had been giving to how this would affect ridership in Nassau County, sentiments of disappointment were echoed that the full $2.8 million had not been restored to the system that is already underfunded. Special thanks go out to Presiding Officer Diane Yatouro, Legislators Wayne Wink and Judi Bosworth for their firm leadership in restoring the cuts. Other legislators who were involved in the negotiations for restoration included David Denenberg, Jeff Toback, Denise Ford, and Norma Gonsalves. We apologize to any Legislator that we missed on this list, as there likely were numerous activities done without our knowledge with many more folks to acknowledge in this effort. We urge you to call the County Executive’s office TODAY at 516-571-3131. Tell him that you oppose these cuts and want to see the full amount restored: it is not fair to balance the County budget on the backs of bus riders particularly when there are other items in the budget that can be cut. In addition, call your Nassau County Legislators and thank them for restoring half of the cuts. We’ve still got a long way to go, however, and we need to keep the pressure on the County Executive to fully restore the cuts. For more information, read Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s coverage and Newsday’s coverage. |
At the press conference, Vision Long Island’s Tawaun Weber noted that in an area such as Nassau County, where leadership favors downtowns, the bus and train systems are integral to connecting these downtowns and to their very survival. As the County prepares a transit study of the Nassau Hub, creates a new master plan, and weighs in on the Lighthouse project, transit is always included as a key strategy. These budget cuts are contradictory to the rhetoric. Vision’s Eric Alexander said, “We should be encouraging people to take transit, not making it more difficult. These cuts will lead to poorer service, causing more congestion which hurts our economy and environment. Any vision for a “New Suburbia” needs to have transit as a central piece of the initiative, particularly for working people.”SMART GROWTH NEWS Newsletter Editor: Michelle Dutchen, Communications Director We strive to provide continued quality publications such as this each week. If you are interested in becoming a newsletter or news blast sponsor, please call the office at 631-261-0242 for rates and opportunities. If you have any news or events that you would like to add to our newsletter, submit them to info@visionlongisland.org for consideration.
For more information about Vision Long Island, visit http://www.visionlongisland.org or contact us at: |
