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Passengers unload from the N19 NICE bus which runs from...

Passengers unload from the N19 NICE bus which runs from Freeport to the Sunrise Mall in Massapequa, at a stop on Merrick Road in Massapequa Park, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2017. Credit: Steve Pfost

Nassau County’s bus provider will fill its latest seven-figure budget gap without cutting service or raising fares, the agency’s chief said Thursday.

The rare bit of good financial news for bus riders in the county came at a meeting of Nassau’s Bus Transit Committee, which voted to approve the $130 million annual operating budget for the Nassau Inter-County Express, or NICE Bus.

In September, NICE chief executive Michael Setzer told the committee that the county bus system was facing a $2 million budget gap — the fifth such deficit in the six years that NICE has existed.

But, Setzer said at the Mineola meeting Thursday, NICE expects to be able to fill its budget hole, in part because of increases in financial aid from the state and from the county, which is kicking in $7.7 million — the highest county subsidy since NICE was formed in 2012.

“With that revenue picture, we are able to maintain all of the service that is operating today,” Setzer told the committee. “I think after the last couple of years it’s a relief that we’re not having to talk about service reductions at all.”

With minimal contributions from the county, NICE, which transports about 27 million people annually, has repeatedly shrunk past deficits by raising fares or cutting service — sometimes deeply. The agency eliminated a half-dozen routes a year ago, reducing total service by about 8 percent.

“This looks like it’s the first time in a long time that we’re talking at a feast, rather than a famine,” Transit Committee member Joel Berse said. “It feels a lot better sitting up here, being in that position.”

With NICE’s financial fortunes taking a turn for the better, Berse, and some public speakers, called on the agency to consider increasing bus service in underserved communities. Setzer said he hoped to be able to do that later in the year, especially if the state legislature votes to increase state aid to regional transit systems by more than the 1 percent increased proposed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in his executive budget.

“What you’ve heard from all these people . . . is that there are unmet needs for transit all over Nassau County, and that for the past few years we were forced by funding to make those situations worse,” Setzer said. “We are all, I’m sure, hopeful that we have bottomed out and can begin to make some of those situations better.”

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