January bus cuts avoided

“We have three yes votes and three no votes, so the resolution fails. There will be no January cuts.” That was the announcement made by Nassau County Bus Transit attorney Samuel Littman after the committee split the vote on a plan that would allow Nassau Inter-County Express to cut nine bus routes in January.

NICE officials said they had hoped to close a $12 million budget gap by eliminating bus routes that were deemed to have low ridership. Some of these included shuttles in Rockville Centre, Freeport and Wantagh, as well as the Elmont Flexi. Also on the chopping block was a Rockville Centre shuttle to Mercy Medical Center.

There was scattered applause from the audience after Littman’s announcement. About 40 people attended the Dec. 7 evening session, the second meeting of the day, but only half remained to witness the vote.

“I hope they’re right,” said NICE CEO Michael Setzer after the session. “We’ve boxed ourselves in a little bit now that we don’t have the $2 million in savings from those January cuts, so that’s a little more money that has to be found.”

John Michno, of Westbury, spoke fervently about problems he perceived of the NICE service’s practices, including prioritizing new paint jobs over buying new parts, not maintaining the bus fleet with regularity and driving away ridership with fair increases and poor reliability. “I guess I, too, will be relying on the train even more now,” Michno said.

“You have no business running a bus system,” he said, addressing Setzer. “Hand it over to the [Metropolitan Transportation Authority], and let it be run like the Long Island Rail Road.”

Board members Aaron Watkins-Lopez and Joel Berse, who vehemently opposed the plan, started by voting down the proposal. Dawn Falco and Chairman Sheldon Shrenkel evened the score with affirmative votes, but Jean Duroseau clinched the rejection by also turning down the plan. Livio Tony Rosario voted yes to create the tie.

But the commuter victory could only be temporary. At the Dec. 8 meeting, the Nassau County Bus Transit Committee only considered January reductions affecting nine routes.  During Setzer’s presentation to the board, however, he presented a scenario for additional service cuts that would take place in April 2017: If additional operating funds are not available, seven other bus lines would be in jeopardy, while 11 others would have adjusted schedules.

Setzer cited rising operating expenses and declining revenues as the reason for the budget shortfall.

“It breaks my heart to see those [routes] on the chopping block again,” said Nassau County Legislator Laura Curran, a Democrat from Baldwin, who attended the meeting and offered her opinions on the issue. Curran is running for county executive.

She suggested dipping into the county’s fund balance to make up the NICE deficit, saying that “it seems a shame really that we’re sitting, as a county, on this pot of money that we can’t use, and meanwhile we’re hurting our most vulnerable people by cutting buses. It just doesn’t seem right.”

NICE based its recommendations to the committee on ridership data and the amount of subsidy per ride, according to NICE spokesman Andy Kraus. While these routes may be less used, NICE recognizes that their elimination would be a hardship for the people who ride them. To the people who rely on these routes, they are the most important ones in the system, officials said.

“NICE and Able Ride are people’s lifeline to work, school and the community, particularly when they have a disability and don't drive,” said Kelly McClean, of the Long Island Center for Independent Living in Levittown. “If you take away their transportation, you create increase barriers to living a full life.”

If approved, the proposed April cuts would include the elimination of five routes and service adjustments in 12 more routes. Additionally, there is the potential for associated reductions in para-transit service, which is provided in conjunction with fixed route service.

“The impact of the drastic services reduction in 2011 and 2012 are still strongly felt throughout the disability community. Introducing further cuts would only increase the marginalization experienced by the community,” McLane said.

NICE is currently in the early stages of formulating its 2017 budget, which will be finalized next spring when the state operating subsidy, its largest source of revenue, will be finalized in Albany. These April reductions may be the subject of future discussions by the Nassau County Bus Transit Committee.