Proposed Budget Means More Of The Same For Long Island Bus
The long standing trend of local government shortchanging the MTA in terms of funding continues. This time we will focus on Nassau County which has a history of shortchanging Long Island Bus way before the MTA took over. The latest shortchanging comes from Nassau County’s 2009 proposed budget. The proposal calls for the county’s subsidy to be $10.5 million dollars.
If this budget & more specifically subsidy is approved, it will mark the 5th consecutive year that the county would only kick in $10.5 million dollars, this as ridership has grown during the same time period. The Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s Senior Planner Ryan Lynch has more in his entry:
Although Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi’s Proposed 2009 Budget Summary includes a property tax hike of 3.9% for the next fiscal year, none of that will be dedicated to increased funding for Long Island Bus. That’s because it was more of the same when it came to the County’s responsibility for funding the nation’s largest suburban bus system. If the budget is passed as proposed, Nassau’s subsidy to LI Bus will remain $10.5 million for the fifth year in a row
Click here for the complete entry.
The lack of funding for such an important cog to our transportation infrastructure is downright inexcusable although not surprising. Public transportation is something that has always been looked down upon & not being as important in Long Island. I speak from experience in having lived out here for years in the past & now again.
I honestly don’t see the lack of regard for transportation changing especially in terms of getting adequate funding for it. The only way the culture of disdain can be extinguished is to get new blood in office. However it is not easy when the constituents you tend to are mostly those who share in the culture of disdain to begin with.
Lets say if I ran for public office out here, do you really think I would pull out a victory being known as a huge supporter for better transportation options that do not include personal vehicles? The answer is no, so you can see how the lack of adequate funding for service that desperately could use it should come as no surprise to anyone. How sad……….
xoxo Transit Blogger
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
[…] money they are supposed to provide to help subsidize the service. Last I checked in on this issue, the county’s level of funding was staying the same even in the face of huge ridership […]