Nassau Executive Ed Mangano announced Friday that Veolia Transportation would assume control of Nassau County’s bussing operation if the contract – still being negotiated by the county attorney’s office – is approved by county legislators.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority had proposed several options to the county in order to continue to operate the bus system in Nassau. The county currently provides a $9.1 million subsidy to the MTA to operate LI Bus with additional subsidies from the state and federal levels.
“We’ve actually been able to reduce our reliance on taxpayers’ dollars by 35-percent,” said Mark Aesch, outgoing CEO of the Rochester Genesse Regional Transportation Authority and who was retained by the county to oversee the transition, should the contract be approved.
The contract, which would undergo “a very public process,” according to Mangano, would first have to be approved by the County Legislature before being sent to the state oversight board in charge of Nassau’s finances.
According to county officials, the partnership would be at no additional cost to taxpayers, have no fare increase through 2012 and maintain all routes.
“It will provide stability for fares, it will provide stability for taxpayers and it will be a high quality experience,” Aesch said.
The county owns both the buses and the terminal in Hempstead and would continue to do so under the partnership agreement.
Nassau’s decision to sever ties with the MTA in pursuit of a public-private partnership has caused doubts among county Democrats. Legis. Wayne Wink, D- Roslyn, speculated that the private entity would act as a loss leader for a year before requesting additional subsidies from the county or fare increases.
“The only way I can see this working out quite honestly is if Veolia has a greater commitment to the public good than this administration does and I’m hard pressed to find that,” Wink said, flanked by protestors and union bus drivers.
Nassau County Director of Real Estate Carl Schroeter, who oversaw the bidding process, said one of the reasons Veolia was selected was that it would “restore” paratransit service to the handicapped. He added that continuing to use Metrocards on the buses would require negotiation, but they are used with private contractors in Westchester.
For example, last year Veolia received a local subsidy of $77 million to operate Phoenix’s bus system, and provided 1.9 million hours of service. By contrast, Nassau County contributed only $9.1 million to LI Bus (with the MTA paying another $25 million) and received 1.2 million hours of service. Veolia previously came under scrutiny because of reported ties to Nassau Republican donor and former U.S. Senator Alfonse D’Amato. Newsday also took an early look at the company’s U.S. safety record, finding that the company won a safety award in Phoenix, but was dropped in Florida after its shuttle vans were involved in two fatal crashes, and was audited in Georgia after three of its buses caught on fire. http://blog.tstc.org/2011/06/10/nassau-selects-private-firm-for-handover-of-li-bus/
- Conclusion and Recommendations: County Executive Mangano’s proposal to operate a system using only $4 million in County subsidies is unrealistic and will lead to service cuts, fare increases or the operation of vehicles by untrained and unskilled operators. The private vendors under consideration to run Nassau County’s bus system have shown, through many of their current or former service contracts, that operating a private bus system in Nassau County will only cost local taxpayers more money than what Nassau County could expect under a publicly run system. http://www.tstc.org/reports/LIBusReport_2011.pdf
http://blog.tstc.org/2011/06/10/nassau-selects-private-firm-for-handover-of-li-bus/
Several transportation advocates, bus riders, LI Bus employees and Democratic lawmakers Friday decried the deal. Nassau County Legis. Wayne Wink (D-Roslyn) said he believes Veolia is willing to take over LI Bus at a loss in the first year, with a longer-term plan to increase fares and demand a higher county subsidy. "As is often the case with this administration, the devil is in the details, and the devil has absolutely yet to emerge," Wink said. - Illinois company to run Long Island Bus Originally published: June 10, 2011 5:07 PM http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/illinois-company-to-run-long-island-bus-1.2947117
What was painfully clear at this particular meeting of the Nassau Hub "stakeholders" was that all that talk about the benefits to Nassau County areas outside the Hub was really just talk. There was no discussion of any proposed north-south routes (beyond some access from the South Shore to the Nassau Hub), beyond the idea of a "feeder" system into the Hub, though there was some mention of the inconvenience of having to make multiple transfers to get to a destination. The main focus is moving buses around the Hub. This is the second public session I have attended and left without a scintilla of practical information about the Nassau Hub project, except for the impression that this is a dog-and-pony show in order to meet the criteria to get that stash of federal funding. Tale of two transit worlds: Nassau Hub versus Long Island Bus June 16, 2011 10:59 am ET Karen Rubin http://www.examiner.com/populist-in-long-island/tale-of-two-transit-worlds-nassau-hub-versus-long-island-bus
So it is unbelievably baffling to me, as I sat through my second Nassau Hub "gathering" of what are referred to as "stakeholders" (they aren't really public hearings), as to what is the big mystery in how to create mass transportation into and around the Nassau Hub, and what could possibly warrant $8 million in a contract to the consulting company managing this ridiculous process, Jacobs Engineering. Well actually I do know: in order to qualify for federal funding, the County has to do a study of transit "alternatives". And it is taking so long because the Nassau Coliseum redevelopment is still up in the air, even though the planners said that the Hub study is "separate." I had the audacity to ask Jeff Stiles, the lead consultant on the Nassau Hub Transit Alternatives Analysis, why they don't just try out different routes. I mean it is okay that to survey passengers who already ride the bus - you know, "those" people who can't afford a car and use the bus to get to their jobs, to school, to doctors - but the idea (and this is where it gets rather humorous) is to get the affluent people who would much rather drive, to leave their Lexus, their Mercedes, or such in the garage when they go to their season seats at the Nassau Coliseum. http://www.examiner.com/populist-in-long-island/tale-of-two-transit-worlds-nassau-hub-versus-long-island-bus
Mangano must go. ---- Cutbacks likely under new LI Bus deal http://www.newsday.com/long-island/transportation/cutbacks-likely-under-new-li-bus-deal-1.3312718?p= Nassau's new private bus operator can eliminate up to six routes in the first half of 2012 and make deeper service cuts if it faces unexpected costs or shortfalls in revenue, according to the contract creating the county's new system, NICE Bus.
Jaime Sumersille Regional Editor, Nassau County
http://www.scribd.com/doc/72306325/Nassau-Bus-Contract
Remember that before the Democrats took this system from the private carriers, it made big profits.
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F14FD3F5C147A93C3A9178FD85F478785F9