Long Island Bus, to cut costs, is changing its stripes

Long Island Bus is changing its stripes - literally.

In an effort to cut costs, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced it no longer will paint the sides of buses with the traditional MTA blue stripes.

Instead, the stripes will be applied in the form of a vinyl strip, set against the buses' usual white background.

Joe Smith, chief of the MTA's bus operations, reasoned that it costs less to paint a bus one color than two, and that the cosmetic difference is negligible.

"From what I hear, you can't tell the difference that much," LI Bus spokesman Jerry Mikorenda said.

The MTA's buses in New York City will get the same treatment. In total, the change is expected to save the MTA some $375,000 a year, Mikorenda said.

The MTA paints about 1,000 buses in its fleet a year and buys about 500 more buses annually that also get painted.

Use of the vinyl also is more environmentally friendly than paint, Smith said.

Last year, Long Island Bus underwent another significant change involving paint, as the agency did away with its decades-old orange, white and blue color scheme in favor of a simpler white and blue scheme on all of its new buses.

Smith said that change not only saved money but also brought Long Island Bus in line with the color scheme used for years on other MTA buses.