Babylon to pay for study of rapid bus system

The Town of Babylon has awarded a contract to a company to study a proposed bus rapid transit system on Route 110.

Town officials chose Parsons Brinckerhoff, of Manhattan, after sending out a request for proposals for technical assistance and consultation services on the proposed BRT line. The company’s fee -- $449,996 -- was in the middle among the three proposals, with one company coming in $18,000 lower and one $44,000 higher.

Payment for the contract will be broken down as follows: 80 percent by a grant from the Federal Transit Administration, 10 percent by the state, and 10 percent by the town. The study will be a logistical study, the next step after the town’s feasibility study completed two years ago. The study is expected to take 15 months, said town spokesman Kevin Bonner.

The final step is implementation, which he said would likely occur one to two years after the study is finished. The town would contract out for the buses, he said, and hopes to pay for the line through state and federal grants.

Bonner said the BRT line is expected to start near the LIRR station in Amityville Village and end near the Huntington Station train stop. The line is primarily geared toward workers in the Route 110 corridor but retail shoppers can also benefit, Bonner said.

Suffolk County is studying possible implementation of BRT lines elsewhere, such as Nicolls Road.