Politics & Government

County's Proposal to Privatize Long Island Bus Questioned

Residents fear inability to commute to school, work if buses privatized.

Nassau County residents came before the County Legislature during Monday's session to both plead with and chide legislators over a proposal to privatize the Long Island Bus system.

Faced with an $800 million budget gap, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced plans in September to eliminate $26 million in funding for Long Island Bus and increase bus and subway fares to augment revenue by 7.5 percent. The move would leave upwards of 100,000 riders stranded.

New York State enacted a payroll tax last year to help fund the agency. The tax charges all employers within the MTA service area 34 cents for every $100 of payroll. Nassau County recently filed a lawsuit claiming the tax is unconstitutional.

Find out what's happening in Rockville Centrewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"The State of New York slapped an MTA payroll tax on the backs of every business and every resident of this county," said Nassau County Legis. Peter Schmitt, R-Massapequa. "They extract that money and they take it into the state and then they turned around and they raised the fares, and then they turned around and they cut the funding to the bus service to zero."

Schmitt agreed that a federal audit should be conducted on the MTA. "We don't want to shut it down and stop the busses from running," Schmitt explained. "What's left is to explore if privatization offers a lifeline that can keep those buses running and keep people having transportation to get back and forth to work." 

Find out what's happening in Rockville Centrewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

At a hearing on Sept. 16 at the Garden City Hotel, Nassau County Legis. Wayne Wink, D-Roslyn, questioned the MTA board as to capital plan money available to conduct a study on the regionalization of the bus system.  "To my understanding that money has never been utilized and they have no plans to do that study," Wink said. "That to me is the first thing that should be done here."

The MTA agreed to take over the Long Island bus system in 1973 when private operators were on the verge of bankruptcy, at first contributing $14 million to the bus system. That has since climbed to an estimated $41 million.  "Where did that come from at all?" Wink asked.  "In studying it, the only basis for that dramatic increase that I find is just accounting."


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