Suffolk Bus needs a funding boost from the state

When it comes to public transit, Suffolk County faces an extraordinary challenge. 

With thousands of commuters working in the five boroughs, the county is clearly part of the New York City metropolitan service area and residents need transit options to commute, within Long Island as well as off it. But much of the county is sprawling, with little density of businesses, jobs, services and residents.

The result is a bus system that’s expensive to run, and has difficulty meeting residents’ needs. While fairness suggests those challenges should result in more state support for Suffolk’s system than denser downstate counties, the opposite is true. In the 2020-2021 budget year, Nassau County received $86 million in transit aid from the state, while Westchester received $71 million. Suffolk got $33 million.

The county's “Reimagine Transit” initiative was framed as a decision between two competing priorities: increased frequency for high-volume routes because riders who use the service to commute to work need buses running often, versus coverage to every part of the county with frequency on high-ridership routes sacrificed.

Based on public response, the majority favored prioritizing high-frequency service on key routes over blanket coverage. That’s not surprising, since more people live near those routes. But the finding was mostly common sense; people won’t use a system if the service options don't meet their commuting timetable. The county's blueprint now promises more frequent service along major corridors, quadrupling routes that run every 30 minutes from three to 12. That is projected to increase the number of available jobs within a 60-minute trip for the average resident by 48%.

But it would also eliminate half of the system’s 42 routes. Also on tap are big increases in weekend, morning and evening service. But under that plan, the number of residents not within a half-mile of a stop would increase 40%.

Suffolk County has benefited from bonus money lately, with huge pots coming from the federal government in the form of COVID-19 aid and $350 million in extra cash for Suffolk and Nassau promised from Albany’s election-year largesse. One-shots are not ideal to fund ongoing expenses, like transit, but they are smart mechanisms to test ideas which, if they work, can justify more state funding: Suffolk Bus has an on-demand pilot service in Southampton which the county intends to make permanent, and is planning to start another on-demand pilot zone in East Hampton, Amagansett and Montauk.

But many more Suffolk residents need better access to transportation. An on-demand pilot program for people living more than a certain distance from bus stops that uses ride-shares, cabs or county vans ought to be established. This could help alleviate the acute labor shortage on Long Island.

If these services are highly utilized, the state ought to see the utility and be willing to help. And if they aren’t, then they won’t cost much anyway.