Rockville Centre Letters to the Editor

RVC needs bus routes

To the Editor:

On behalf of the residents of Rockville Centre, I would like to express our extreme disappointment in the decision to eliminate bus routes within the village. I urge NICE to reconsider the elimination of these bus routes, as this will create a true hardship for a number of people that depend on these routes to get to school, work and health care. I implore NICE to reconsider alternative ways to cut costs while mitigating the difficulty it’s causing.

The N14 route, known as the Rockville Centre Loop, provides transportation for residents that depend on getting to and from the Long Island Rail Road and to local merchants. The N17, which runs from the train station north on Peninsula Boulevard to Mercy Medical Center, allows employees, patients and hospital visitors access to Mercy without a car. The loss of the buses on these routes will impede the quality of life for people who depend on this transportation for needed health care and employment.

Without these bus routes, riders who cannot afford other means of transportation will be devastated. Other riders will be forced to use cars that will not only increase our carbon footprint, but will create the need for more parking in an area that is at maximum capacity.

It is my hope that NICE will reconsider its decision and the consequences for many people in our area.

Francis X. Murray

Mayor, Rockville Centre

NICE cuts are anything but

To the Editor:

Reading about the cuts to NICE bus service in last week’s paper (“NICE to cut RVC bus routes”), several thoughts came to mind.

I was reminded of the reason that Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano decided to remove Long Island Bus and its parent agency, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, as the designated operator of the county’s bus service several years ago: the MTA demanded a larger county subsidy, or else it would slash service. The county chose a new operator, Veolia, to take over the system, in effect privatizing it. Veolia initially required a lower subsidy than the MTA.