Long Island Bus must be saved

Economists tell us that the Great Recession of recent years is over. The economy is growing again, albeit ever so slowly. Long Island’s jobless rate has dropped to below 7 percent. Housing prices in a number of area neighborhoods are starting — mind you, starting — to creep up. And we hear anecdotal evidence that people are beginning to spend again.

All good news.

Still, we are seeing the ripple effects of the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression. County and state governments, which depend in part on sales-tax revenues to fill their coffers, were hit hard when people who lost their jobs — or feared they would lose their jobs — stopped spending. Nassau County and New York state have been bleeding red ink since 2008. Red ink inevitably means cuts.

Enter the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is threatening to eliminate $40 million in funding for Long Island Bus. The MTA says Nassau County should contribute a greater amount in subsidies to the bus system, which serves more than 100,000 people a day. The county now contributes less than $10 million to Long Island Bus, half of what it gave a decade ago, according to Kate Slevin, executive director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. To help balance the county’s budget without raising property taxes, the administration of former County Executive Tom Suozzi slowly, steadily reduced the county’s subsidies for Long Island Bus.

If the MTA’s proposed cuts were to go through and Long Island Bus were eliminated (except, perhaps, for a handful of high-use routes), the poor, who cannot afford cars, and the elderly, who may be unable to drive, would suffer most. The result: Lower-wage workers might be unable to get to work. That would hurt employers, many of whom are already considering moving off the Island because of high rents and high property taxes. And many of the elderly, who are already suffering because of cuts to senior programs, might become trapped in their own communities.

Last year the state enacted the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Mobility Tax, a.k.a. the MTA payroll tax, which affects employers — including schools, hospitals and the self-employed — in the five boroughs of New York City and Rockland, Putnam, Nassau, Suffolk, Orange, Dutchess and Westchester counties, which make up the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District. The tax amounts to 0.34 percent of every 1 percent of payroll. It is simply unacceptable that the state would enact such a tax to help eliminate the MTA’s $1.8 billion deficit and then turn around and threaten the elimination of Long Island Bus, one of the Island’s few –– and most vital –– public transportation networks.

Clearly, the MTA, Nassau County and New York state need to work together to ensure that Long Island Bus continues to serve Nassau and Suffolk counties. The possible demise of the bus system represents a first-rate emergency.

Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano, a Republican elected last November, has proposed the creation of a committee to explore the possible privatization of Long Island Bus. We applaud the effort. At a time like this, any and all options to save the system should be on the table. A public-private partnership could benefit everyone.
On the other hand, any private company that would take over would be seeking to make a profit, which could drive up transportation prices for the working poor and the elderly, who already have a hard time making ends meet.

We believe Long Island Bus must be saved, and we call on our elected and appointed leaders at the county and state levels to develop fiscally prudent plans to keep the system up and running.