Long Island Bus riders and employees blasted a proposed Nassau county plan to privatize the bus system at a contentious public hearing held by the Nassau County Legislature on Monday.
“Privatization is not interested in the individual, they are interested in making profit for themselves,” said Ann J. Wells, chairperson of the Economic Opportunity Commission for Nassau County “If they aren’t making a profit, they will discontinue our service and where will this leave our people who have no other alternative for travel? An increase in price and decrease in service will make it impossible for the public to use this private service.”
After waiting two hours for the meeting to start, the crowd of more than 200 people booed Nassau county Executive Edward Mangano as he stepped to the podium to open the public hearing at the county Legislative chambers in Mineola to discuss his proposed plan to replace the MTA with Veolia Transportation as operator of county bus service.
Each audience member echoed one another as they vehemently opposed the county’s plan, claiming that it was rushed and there was no public input until Monday’s public hearing.
If awarded the contract, Veolia will take over operation on Jan. 1, 2012 of a bus service that provides transportation to 100,000 riders daily.
The proposed contract, which was approved last week by the Legislature’s rules committee in a vote along party lines, must be approved by the full Legislature and then the Nassau Interim Finance Authority. The Legislature is scheduled to vote on Dec. 19,
Fears raised by audience members included Veolia cutting routes, raising fares, decreasing benefits for workers and the lack of transparency.
“I’m wondering if I have to bend over and kiss the Hitler boots of Mr. Mangano’s office for creating the most secret society ever, due to the lack of transparency in regards to the privatization of Long Island bus,” Behrous Shirazi of Port Washington said.
Nassau County Legislature’s Majority Leader Peter Schmitt (R-Massapequa) interrupted Shirazi’s comments, saying “Don’t write this garbage down.”
Schmitt’s conduct was continually questioned throughout the meeting. Several complained that he did not look at speakers, even when asked to. At times he was reprimanded by speakers for laughing with other legislators as audience members spoke.
“We are human beings, not animals,” one speaker said. “You should learn some respect, and laughing at us is so disrespectful to the public.”
For months Mangano has called for the privatization of Long Island Bus as an alternative to the MTA, which he said has done a poor job at running the bus system and demanded too much money from the county. Earlier in the year the MTA asked Nassau for $26 million more, but when the county refused to pay, the MTA cancelled their contract with the county.
“Those were the facts that I had to deal with as your county executive,” Mangano said. “Find $26 million more in the worst of times. We did not accept that. We looked for another way.”
One Long Island bus driver said she had a 90-year old passenger who takes her bus every day.
“If Veolia is able to cut routes, do you really want this woman having to walk a mile down the road to the next stop?” she asked.
Stephanie Sapiie an assistant professor of political science at Nassau Community College said she relies on Long Island Bus to bring her work and it plays an integral role in student’s lives.
“We need reliable, affordable, and publicly accountable transportation to make it possible for our students many of whom are working parents to combine work and higher education,” Sapiie said.
“For these students who are unable to pay higher fares and expensive taxi rides, the loss of the bus will mean further hardship. I think every effort has been made to delay this plan, the contract and we need to have better oversight. I urge you to delay and ultimately reject this contract.”
Legislators said the meeting was delayed, because before the meeting started they were meeting with Mangano to add some amendments to the proposed Veolia contract. They included a guarantee that fares will not go up in 2012, that Able-Ride, which serves disabled Nassau bus riders, will not be cut for three years, and also provides for a more thorough public hearing process if fare hikes or service cuts are proposed.
The amendment also reduces the number of lines that Veolia can eliminate in the first half of 2012 from six to five.
During his presentation at the hearing, county bus consultant Mark Aesch told the public that the newly privatized system, which would be called the Nassau Inter-County express (NICE) will stabilize fares, improve the quality of service and preserve jobs.
“Some say Veolia might walk away from this contract, but Veolia has not walked away from a contract in 150 years,” Aesch said. “For the first time in 40 years, riding the bus will be nice.”
Aesch’s comments were met with a steady stream of boos and cat calls from the audience, as people shouted “liar” and told him to get out.
