Long Beach eyes bus cuts to Point Lookout

City officials call on county for more funding to operate service

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J. Anderson boarding the Shoppers Special at Long Beach Road and Broadway on her way to Stop & Shop. The city is also looking to reduce service on the Shoppers Special, which provides transportation to shopping districts in the east and west ends.
J. Anderson boarding the Shoppers Special at Long Beach Road and Broadway on her way to Stop & Shop. The city is also looking to reduce service on the Shoppers Special, which provides transportation to shopping districts in the east and west ends.
Photos by Kristie Arden/Herald

The city is looking to cut bus service to and from Point Lookout on Saturdays, saying that it is losing money and can no longer afford to operate the trips without additional funding from Nassau County.

City officials are also looking to reduce service on the Shoppers Special, which provides transportation to shopping districts in the east and west ends, from five days a week to Tuesdays and Fridays, saying that not enough residents use the service each day to make it financially viable.

Still, those who rely on both services — seniors, health care workers and others who do not drive — voiced their concerns about the changes at a meeting with Deputy City Manager Mike Robinson and other officials at City Hall on March 23. They said that the changes would impact seniors, workers, students, people with disabilities and those who use the buses to visit bars and restaurants and local businesses.


“I think it’s going to impact more people who are represented here,” said Long Beach resident Barbara Toney. “We’re talking about cutting service to an unknown population. I think the numbers are higher. You’re taking a service away from elders when there may be other changes that could be made. You’re not really looking at the true numbers.”

“There was talk of eliminating the service altogether,” Robinson said of the Shoppers Special, adding that it averages only 20 or so riders per day. “The way it’s working now isn’t working. It’s costing too much money.”

It costs the city $98,000 per year, he said, to operate that service five days a week, in the morning and afternoon — which includes drivers’ salaries, fuel and maintenance — but the city takes in only $5,300 in passenger fares annually, as well as a $10,000 state subsidy.

“The ridership is down on the Shoppers Special and we’re averaging about 20 people a day, but those 20 people include the same people coming and going, so it’s roughly 10 riders, and the majority of the riders qualify for the reduced rate, which is a dollar,” Robinson said after the meeting, at which officials agreed to twice-a-week operation based on residents’ feedback and assist those who rely on the service. “The majority of the riders that take it qualify for the Paratransit program, so we had them fill out applications.”

As city officials prepare for budget season, Robinson said they are examining other transportation expenses. The city currently provides bus service between the Long Island Rail Road station and Lido Beach and Point Lookout via the N69 route, which runs throughout the day Monday through Saturday.

Officials are looking to eliminate Saturday service beginning April 1 and run several times in the morning and evening during peak hours.

Currently, buses travel to Point Lookout Monday through Saturday beginning at 6:45 a.m. and to Long Beach starting at 7 a.m., according to the city's website. Under the new schedule, buses would leave the LIRR station for Point Lookout beginning at 7:45 a.m., and depart from Point Lookout to Long Beach at 8 a.m., according to the city.

Since 2005, Nassau County has paid the city $75,000 per year to operate the service through an intermunicipal agreement, without any increases over the years to cover rising costs, officials said.

“As we have previously made the county aware, Long Beach taxpayers cannot continue to subsidize services that are the responsibility of Nassau County,” City Manager Jack Schnirman and the City Council wrote in a letter to County Legislator Denise Ford (R-Long Beach) on Monday, calling on the county to offset the cost.

“Our projected expenses for 2017 are $208,000, with projected revenue of $124,000, which includes the county’s $75,000 payment,” officials wrote. “This leaves the city with an estimated loss of $84,000. The city of Long Beach can no longer afford to offer bus service in and out of Lido Beach and Point Lookout at such a great financial burden to the city and its taxpayers.”

Robinson said that the N69 averages nearly 50 passengers during peak hours, but just eight riders on Saturdays and during off-peak hours.

“We heard from some people that work in some of the restaurants in Point Lookout, and we heard from a home aid caregiver,” Robinson said. “If it was breaking even, it wouldn’t be an issue, but it’s costing us to operate.”

City officials also expressed concern about proposed cuts by the Nassau Inter-County Express, or NICE, bus system to its N33 line on Sundays beginning next month. The N33 provides service from Far Rockaway to Long Beach.

Ford — who attended a rally in Lynbrook earlier this month to protest the elimination of the N36, the only line that serves East Rockaway — said she has spoken to residents who rely on the local service and that she hoped to work with city and county officials to secure additional funding and avoid cuts or service reductions. In February, the Nassau County Bus Transit Committee approved cuts to NICE service that could impact about 5,400 riders next month amid a $6.8 million county budget deficit.

“I don’t want to see any of those routes eliminated,” Ford said of the Long Beach lines. “We really need to come up with a better solution — we’re always under the gun when it comes to cutting routes. We are working with New York state and speaking to [Senate Majority Leader John] Flanagan and the county executive to see where we can pull in some money to keep these buses operating.”

One rider, a health care aide who identified herself only as Maria, said that she and others rely on the N69 to get to their jobs in Point Lookout. “We took those jobs because … the bus had very good hours,” she said. “I cannot change my job.”

Broadway residents Beryl Nuding and Jackie Anderson said they rely on the Shoppers Special to get around town. “I use it almost every day to go to the grocery store, post office, to pick up my prescriptions and the bank,” said Nuding, who has lived in town for 45 years. “It’s the only way I get out. My husband is 93 and he can’t drive. It should be a courtesy. All cities have specials for seniors.”