Nassau County's Executive Ed Mangano has decided that the county can no longer subsidize Long Island Buses so he has decided to hand it over to a private property damaging and finally its relationships with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). As of January 1 2011, LI Buses will belong to Veola Transportation and its name will change to NICE (yeah right!) an acronym for "Nassau Inter-County Express."
Let's look at some statistics and information, since it always seems to, more or less,
1. make one seem to know the subject
2. grab people's interests towards a topic
Long Island Bus — formed in 1973 by the combination of ten private bus companies into a unified transportation system — operates throughout Nassau County and in western Suffolk and eastern Queens. Its lines link 96 communities, 47 Long Island Rail Road stations, five New York City Transit subway stations, numerous industrial parks, colleges, hospitals, corporate headquarters, and major shopping malls. To reduce vehicular congestion and increase mobility in its Long Island service area, LI Bus coordinates its services with the LIRR, configuring routes to meet north-south travel demand, and running specialized shuttles that give Long Islanders new access to jobs, educational institutions, and retail sites.
MORE THAN 100,000 PEOPLE RIDE THESE BUSES ON AN AVERAGE DAILY BASIS (me being one of them).
Nassau County is also one of the richest counties in the United States and the richest per capita in NYS with a median household income of $93,579.
SO CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN TO ME WHY THE EXECUTIVE OF NASSAU COUNTY DOESN'T WANT TO SUBSIDIZE LONG ISLAND BUSES WHEN SO MANY PEOPLE DEPEND ON IT?
WHY CAN'T OUR COUNTY EXECUTIVE PROMOTE CONSCIOUS ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE BY ASKING PEOPLE TO DRIVE LESS CARS AND TAKE BUSES TO WORK, TO THE MALL, OR TO SEE THEIR DOCTORS?
BUT......instead he chooses to give up on the neediest people in Nassau County who depend on these buses to move from one place to another in LI. Freeport, Roosevelt, Inwood, Hempstead, Uniondale are just some of the villages with the poorest inhabitants in Nassau who can't afford cars nor fare hikes more than losing their jobs if their buses stop commuting to their workplaces.
I take these buses everyday, and I know its going to affect me incredibly, especially commuting to school, if this exchange really goes through. I don't think its fair for this county to ditch the bus company to a private operator who hasn't even contacted its commuters of the possible changes we will have to deal with. And whether it is for better or worse, I think it is important for our government to be able to provide for its inhabitants in all ways possible and not make our lives even harder.
If Nassau County receives a high amount of taxpayers' money compared to many other counties across the nation, why can't they help their taxpayers? Maybe its because the wealthiest taxpayers are pressuring them to use their money on something else? Even then it would still be unfair for them to do that if it turns out to be true.
Ed Mangano doesn't obviously care about the environment nor Nassau bus commuters if he goes through with this deal.
