Transcript of Jacqueline Hlavenka's Interview with Kat Slevin

Interview with Kat Slevin, Associate Director of The Tri-State Transportation Campaign (TSTC)

1) How is the Long Island Bus funded?

Slevin: Every year, the president of Long Island Bus doesn’t know how much money he’s going to get because they go through the county budget process and the state budget process, and there’s no sort of shared funding agreement. We’ve called it the stepchild of the MTA system because no wants to pay for it. Ridership is way up and it has been for a number of years. The funding for the system hasn’t increased that much. The county’s contribution is actually lower than it was in 1999. It still needs more revenue to profit. There’s so much demand out there for better bus service.

2) What about threats of service cuts? How does that affect Nassau County?

Slevin: That all goes back to the allocation problem. If the Long Island Bus doesn’t get enough money from the county or the state or MTA, they can’t operate the system without revenue. Then, they have to go into cutting service.

3) Have there been any cuts this year?

Slevin: No, I don’t think so. You should call Long Island Bus on that. There was talk of it because they were missing about $3 million and there was a budget gap, but I think they worked that out.

4) What if the proposed fare increase happens on local buses?

Slevin: You never want to raise transit fares, and in this case, the MTA is in a significant financial bind. But, you’d like to think you’d get something out of your higher fare. If the Long Island Bus doesn’t have a stable funding source, it’s much harder to give that back to the riders, like better service, faster routes.

5) Do you think a government subsidy would help the system?

Slevin: Every transit system is subsidized. They provide an economic benefit to society by giving transit to people. But as far if it’s from a strictly financial sense, they would always operate in the red because it costs a lot to run a transit system and fares never make up 100 percent. That’s why the buses are subsidized by the county, state and MTA—to make up for what the fares don’t cover.

6) How can service be improved in the future?

Slevin: They need a more regional bus system. They need an operating agreement between the MTA, the county and the state, not only an operating agreement, but a financial agreement, to figure out who’s going to pay what each year. From there, they need to figure out how to expand bus service.

(Interview and photo by Jacqueline Hlavenka, Nassau News)