Nassau bus riders lament planned cuts

Riders at the bus station in Hempstead had a few things to say about Veolia Transportation and how it runs the bus system. Nice things.

More than a dozen riders interviewed Monday morning and afternoon praised the new operator -- which assumed management of Nassau County's bus routes in January.

"The buses are cleaner and the drivers seem to be kinder and more compassionate, too, especially with handicapped riders," said Debbie Mitchell of Uniondale, who was waiting for a bus to Mineola.

"They're doing a great job," another rider, a young man, said just before grabbing up his yellow backpack and joining the fast-moving line for the bus to Roosevelt Field.

But while riders heaped praise on the company -- as compared with what the buses looked like under Metropolitan Transit Authority stewardship -- most said they knew nothing about plans, announced last week, to selectively trim back service.

"Did I see the sign?" echoed Gerald Ford (yes, like the late president, but with "D" as a middle initial). "What sign?"

We walked back into the Rosa Parks bus terminal together, where I pointed out two signs advertising meetings this week about Veolia's intention to "redesign" the bus system -- which includes some service reductions.

There are also signs on buses advertising the meetings -- although, despite a large number of riders speaking Spanish as they waited for buses, I did not see any signs in Spanish.

"The bus works fine for me," said Ford, who rides six days a week from his home in Freeport to a job at Adelphi University.

"I didn't know about meetings or the reductions," he said. "I hope the reductions don't affect me, but even if they don't, they're going to affect other people and that's not a good thing."

Demetrice Bowens of Hempstead takes the bus to her physical therapist in Lynbrook two times a week. She has a car. But Bowens can't drive since she broke her right leg -- in three places -- in August and then hurt her rotator cuff in a January auto accident (she was not driving).

"The buses are cleaner, they get me where I need to go and they're on time," she said. "I haven't got any complaints."

She said she saw a television report on the company's plans to make changes. "I understand what they are saying," she said. "But it's going to be hard on this leg if I have to wait longer for a bus, especially if I miss a bus and have to wait for the next one."

Riders aren't the only ones concerned. Donald Astrab, president of Nassau Community College, and Legis. Judy Jacobs, a Democratic county lawmaker from Woodbury, fired off letters after hearing about the company's plans.

Jacobs said she'd planned to ask the company to expand services to the disabled. "I have to say I didn't expect to hear about cuts so soon," she said.

Astrab said that many of NCC's students use buses; and that the planned changes -- slated to take effect April 8 -- would hit students in the middle of the semester.

"If, in the middle of the semester, service cutbacks reduce the frequency of buses . . . ," he wrote, "then those cutbacks could affect students' ability to attend the classes that they have already paid for and are already in the process of taking."

It was cold and windy as Mitchell, a coat pulled tightly around her, watched her bus pull into the station. She said she understands Veolia's need to bridge a budget gap, but lamented that reductions would come so quickly.

"Everybody is still in the process of getting to know each other," she said, referring to riders and the company. "Everything is going so good."

The trick for Veolia -- especially with cash-strapped Nassau's refusal to properly fund county bus service -- is to keep it going the same way.