Bus praised as a help during LIRR disruption

As bad as last week's commute was for those affected by the Long Island Rail Road's service disruptions, riders could have been in a much worse situation if Long Island Bus had not been not there to lend a helping hand, supporters of the beleaguered Nassau bus system said Thursday.

An electrical fire at a switching tower at Jamaica station disrupted LIRR service during much of last week, on some days affecting as many as 120,000 of 265,000 daily riders of the nation's busiest commuter railroad. Ten of the system's 11 branches converge at Jamaica.

Coinciding with those disruptions, Long Island Bus saw increased ridership on several lines, LI Bus spokesman Jerry Mikorenda said. They included the N4, which travels between Jamaica and Freeport, the N36, which travels between Oceanside and Freeport, and the N40, N41 and N43, which go between Roosevelt/Uniondale and Freeport.

In addition, LI Bus provided some of the 375 extra MTA buses that were used to help transport LIRR riders between stations that lost train service last week, including along the West Hempstead and Far Rockaway lines.

"We're glad we were able to help them," said Mikorenda, who noted that LI Bus has partnered with the LIRR many times before, including in shuttling thousands of golf fans between Farmingdale station to Bethpage State Park for last year's U.S. Open championship. "There's a long history of cooperation among all the agencies in the MTA family."

Long Island Bus is in danger of shutting down because of an ongoing funding dispute between the MTA, which operates LI Bus, and Nassau County, which owns it.

The MTA has said it will pull its funding from LI Bus next year. Without $100 million of new funding over the next four years, LI Bus could cease operations, officials say. Nassau says it cannot afford anything close to that amount.

Patrick Foye, a Nassau deputy county executive and MTA board member, said last week showed that "the MTA's misguided proposal to terminate Long Island Bus in the county would create a public safety hazard were it implemented." The availability of LI Bus as an alternative for some commuters helped reduce crowding on trains and at stations, he said.

MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin, while recognizing the importance of LI Bus, put the funding issue squarely in the county's lap.

"Under the MTA's leadership, Long Island Bus has become increasingly vital to mobility in Nassau County. I think that speaks to the job that we've done in improving service and in integrating it with the rest of our system," he said. "But it doesn't change the fundamental funding issue, which is that funding the system is the county's responsibility."

Ryan Lynch, spokesman for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a nonprofit group dedicated to finding alternatives to auto travel, said LI Bus helped keep untold numbers of additional cars from clogging roadways during the LIRR's service disruptions.

"Long Island Bus is always vital, but I think it was really brought to the forefront last week," Lynch said. "It really speaks to the importance of transit. The train system shuts down and you have the bus system that steps up and accommodates riders."