LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Happy 13 years, express buses

Posted

To the editor:

It was 13 years ago in 2005 when New York City completed the purchase of seven remaining private bus operator franchises. This included Liberty Lines Bronx Express, New York Bus Service along with the Green Bus Lines, Jamaica Buses, Triboro Coach Corp., along with Queens Surface, plus Command Bus, providing service in Brooklyn.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority created a new operating agency — MTA Bus — to continue service previously provided by the private bus operators. 

Subsequently, they entered into 50-year lease agreements to utilize and operate all of their garages.

This deal was supposed to benefit riders and taxpayers.

Prior to 2005, the city’s transportation department — using a combination of city, state and federal funding — provided both capital and operating assistance to all seven private bus operators. Virtually all of the capital funding was provided by grants from the Federal Transit Administration.

For 35 years, these grant funds paid for replacement buses, radios, fare boxes, bus stop shelters, bus washers, facility improvements, and new bus garages for Queens Surface in College Point, and Command Bus in Canarsie. All seven bus companies could not survive on fare box revenues alone. 

With insufficient income, they all counted on DOT starting in the 1970s to begin purchasing replacement buses, fare boxes, radios and other support equipment for their respective aging bus fleets. 

In many cases, bus operators had to operate and maintain buses well beyond the industry standard useful life of 12 years, or 500,000 miles.

Too many buses in revenue service were between 12 and 27 years old, with far more mileage. It took DOT too many years to complete any bus procurements before operators received and could provide the riding public with new modern buses. 

Give MTA Bus credit for purchasing hundreds of new buses, and investments to upgrade antiquated bus garages far more quickly than DOT ever could.

The operational savings for taxpayers never appeared. 

Instead, the $100 million per year the city subsidy formerly provided to the private bus operators has grown to more than $200 million for MTA Bus. The private bus company owners earn several million per year from MTA Bus for leasing their facilities.

Potential operational savings by consolidation of duplicative routes between NYC Transit Bus and MTA Bus never took place. The same was true for reducing deadheading costs by reassigning bus routes between MTA Bus and NYCT Bus to closer garages for reduction of operating costs.

Work rules and contracts between different labor unions representing employees of NYCT Bus and MTA Bus have prevented any changes to the status quo.

We have gone full circle from private to public operators over the past 60 years. Was it worth it for riders of the original routes operated by the old companies? Ditto for taxpayers?

Time will tell.

Larry Penner

Larry Penner

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