This morning Long Island Jobs with Justice and the Long Island Bus Riders’ Union were joined by Tri-State Transportation Campaign, Vision Long Island, TWU 252, Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE) and other transportation advocates in a call for New York State to increase it’s contribution to non-MTA transit systems all across the state, especially on Long Island. Non-MTA transit systems, both up-and-down state, will once again see little or no additional state assistance if the proposed budget goes through; due to rising operations costs, pensions and healthcare Long Island buses cannot survive at the current state funding levels, we NEED more funding!
Tag Archives: Nassau County
Bus Riders Demand Public “Thank You” from Veolia and Nassau County for Bus Bailout
Garden City, NY—
On Tuesday, September 2nd, the day after Labor Day, bus riders and public transit advocates demonstrated outside of NICE Bus Headquarters where the Long Island Bus Riders’ Union released and delivered a “Bus Rider’s List of Demands” in response to the recent decision to increase bus fares to partially fill NICE Bus’ $3.3 million budget deficit. This fare increase comes with no plans to expand bus service.
While both Nassau County and Veolia contributed financially to offset the budget shortfall, many bus riders, like Kimberly Saget, felt it was unfair for them to pay more without seeing improvements in service.
“I work hard for the money I have. Knowing that NICE bus is taking more money but not giving anything in return is frustrating. If NICE wants to keep riders happy, taking our money and not improving service is not the way to do it,” said Saget.
Aaron Watkins-Lopez, Organizer with the Long Island Bus Riders’ Union expressed a similar frustration.
“Once again, Veolia and Nassau County are looking to us, the riders, to bail them out. Our concerns and requests are reasonable – we want affordable and accessible service and we want to be part of the decision-making process,” said Watkins-Lopez.
The Nassau County Bus Transit Committee held public hearings where bus riders were given the opportunity to provide their input. The two scheduled public hearings were held during normal business hours – 2pm and 5pm – when many bus riders are at work and unable to leave. Many riders, like Nassau County Community College professor and bus rider, Stephanie Sapiie, felt that rider’s concerns have fallen on deaf ears in the past and wants NICE Bus and Nassau County to finally add riders in to the decision making process.
“Bus riders are only asking for a say in the decisions that affect their commutes and working-lives. We think that NICE Bus should not only listen to bus-riders but should also incorporate our needs into decisions made about service, routes and fares,” said Sapiie.
Cindy Tropeano, a former MTA and NICE bus driver, expressed her concern with the future of the bus system in Nassau County.
“I’ve seen the profession I love deteriorate tremendously in the last two and half years. Veolia has brought down the standards and quality of Nassau County Bus,” said Tropeano.
With the rising cost of fares, service cuts and changes, and late buses, bus riders are forced to take more expensive, and sometimes less safe, modes of transportation.
“I really wish there were more n49 service at night especially after midnight. I used to pay cab $10 from work one-way, now I pay $13 with tip every night. I may have to consider getting a new bike to ride to and from work if this keeps up,” said Long Island Bus Riders’ Union member Richard Clolery.
“We need stronger financial oversight when it comes to matters of this size. We hope that the Nassau County Legislature and Veolia can devise a system that will prevent budget shortfalls and that the County can identify a steady funding stream so that bus riders do not have to endure fare increases like this again,” said Anita Halasz, Executive Director of Long Island Jobs with Justice.
Included in the list of demands were the following: keep fares affordable, use fare increase money to improve and expand service – not to fill budget shortfalls, invest in routine trainings for drivers, add a bus rider and community advocate to the Bus Transit Committee, make future public hearings accessible, and issue a public “thank you” to bus riders for paying more to fill the budget deficit.
To see the News12 story check it out here!
To check out our List of Demands download them here!
My FARE Increase
If YOU could decide, what would you want YOUR additonal 25¢ to go to?
Stephanie Sapiie, Professor
That is the question the Long Island Bus Riders’ Union has been asking Nassau bus riders.
On September 1st, Nassau County and NICE Bus will be imposing a 25¢ fare increase on cash paying customers as one solution to help fill NICE Bus’ $3.3 million budget shortfall. Does anyone else smell a bailout? Nassau County and NICE Bus have also agreed to chip in, but do not be fooled by this gesture – the buses have needed more money since 2012 and Nassau has not delivered! To top it all off, with little to no public notice, Veolia (NICE Bus operator) held two virtually INACCESSIBLE public hearings with barely any riders’ present. Without any public support, a fare increase was approved, and Nassau County and NICE bus have decided that bus riders should be the ones to pick up the tab and bail them out.
Mary Frances, Nassau Community College Student
This (un)fare increase comes with no improvements to bus service, yet riders are expected to pay, and for what?!
Anonymous Rider, Mother of Three
As a response, the Long Island Bus Riders’ Union launched the “My FAIR Increase” Campaign, demanding that Nassau County and NICE Bus give bus riders a public thank you for bailing them out! Aaron and Kimberly will be visiting bus terminals and bus stops until September 2nd to speak with riders about what they want their 25¢ to pay for (see the pictures). We will deliver these demands to NICE Bus on September 2nd, the day after the implementation of the fare increase, where we will demonstrate outside of the NICE Headquarters (700 Commercial Avenue, Garden City) at 6:30PM. We will also visit Nassau County officials on September 8th at their legislative meeting (1550 Franklin Avenue, Mineola) at 1PM (see flyer below for details).
Simja Bezalel, Medicaid Service Coordinator for the Disabled
Please join us on September 2nd and the 8th as we tell Nassau County and NICE Bus that if they want our money then they need to listen to US, the riders!
Aaron Watkins-Lopez
Organiser
Long Island Bus Riders’ Union
And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
Nassau County Legislators Ride NICE bus
This week, Executive Director Anita Halasz and Organizer Aaron Watkins-Lopez rode the bus with Nassau County Legislators Siela Bynoe (LD2) and Laura Curran (LD5) through their districts to speak to riders and find out what the experience for daily bus users is. With the threat of upcoming service cuts due to a $3.3 million deficit, the support of county Legislators is amazing! #NICEneedsNassau
Jobs with Justice Calls for Sandy Transparency Bill for Nassau’s Sandy Funds
Mineola, NY–Today, Long Island Jobs with Justice called for a transparency bill to be introduced by the Nassau County legislature as funds continue to come in from Superstorm Sandy. Executive Director Charlene Obernauer spoke at a meeting of the Nassau County Legislature, saying that more transparency is needed to ensure that funds are being spent appropriately, and that workers’ rights and OSHA regulations are being followed.
“There are a lot of investigations going on right now. We don’t know yet if anything has even been done wrong, but we do know, moving forward, that more standards need to be put in place,” said Obernauer to the Legislature on Monday afternoon.
Long Island Jobs with Justice has been watchdogging the Sandy rebuilding process since the storm, recently unveiling massive wage theft in a $10.1 million dollar Sandy contract on Fire Island. They believe that a bill would prevent these kinds of abuses from happening in the future.
“We don’t want this bill to be a bi-partisan effort, we want it to be non-partisan. Superstorm Sandy recovery and rebuilding is a concern for all of us,” Obernauer concluded, urging the legislators to work together to create a better process for public funding in the future.
Watch Charlene Obernauer’s testimony at the legislature online here.
Long Island Jobs with Justice 
