As MTA cuts hit, some Able-Ride commuters take last trip

For four hours a day, three times a week, Margaret Gullo gets her life-extending dialysis treatment at the Syosset Kidney Center. But starting with her next appointment Friday, she has "no idea" how she is going to get there.

Gullo is one of many disabled bus riders who, starting Thursday, will be affected by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's $1.2-million cut to its Able-Ride bus service in Nassau. The cuts will eliminate door-to-door service for disabled customers who live or travel to locations more than three-quarters of a mile from a fixed Long Island Bus route. That includes many locations in northeastern Nassau, including all of Syosset.

A federal court ruling last week allowed the MTA to enact the cuts, despite legal challenges by disabled riders. The agency honored all reservations made by May 26, but the last of those trips happened Wednesday. Ridership rose to a record 395,000 last year, up 12 percent from 2007.

Among those taking their final trips Wednesday was Gullo, 82, of Bethpage, who has battled kidney failure for four years and uses Able-Ride to get to her dialysis treatment on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

"I think it's terrible," said Gullo, as she used her walker to step onto the bus' mechanical lift. "I'm going to have to try to get people to help me."

Craig Salzman, of East Meadow, paid Able-Ride's round-trip fare of $7.50 to get to and from his job at an answering service in Syosset. But starting Thursday, he'll be paying $30 in cab fare to get there, not including tips.

"It almost doesn't pay to go to work," said Salzman, 41, who has diabetes and epilepsy and cannot drive. "I thought the MTA should have worked with us. . . . We're at a point that we should have never reached. This is pathetic."

Transit officials have said the cuts are necessary as the MTA battles an unprecedented fiscal crisis that has led to service cuts throughout the entire system. Worsening Able-Ride's financial woes, MTA officials say, is Nassau County's refusal to properly fund Long Island Bus. Nassau owns the bus company but contributes just $9.1 million toward its $130-million annual budget.

The issue was a key topic at the United Spinal Association's third Disability Policy Summit Wednesday at Hofstra University. James Weisman, the association's general counsel, said the $1.2 million the MTA is trying to save will pale compared to the cost of disabled people losing their jobs and no longer going places to spend money.

"The cost is staggering. They'll have to depend not only on their family and friends, but on us as taxpayers," Weisman said. "The department of social services must be cringing."Among the attendees at the summit was Frank Murtagh, 54, of Long Beach, whose commute to and from work will not be affected by the service cuts. But he said he will still feel the impact, as will all Able-Ride users.

"I will not be able to go to restaurants or visit friends," said Murtagh, who has cerebral palsy. "All we want to do is to have the ability to go and do things just like anybody else. But we're considered to be not worthy, I guess, of what a lot of other people take for granted."

Michael Martino, spokesman for Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, said, "Shame on the MTA.

"They should be cutting their bloated expenses, not the disabled," he said.