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It doesn't look good one way or the other. No MTA means no transfer to city bus or subway. It'll be just like LIRR in bus form. Monthly LI bus ticket/card and metro card.
For better or worse this may force people off the Island and into the city so the private bus may fail eventually due to lack of ridership.
It will fail in the end. There is a reason why the MTA was formed and took over the formerly privately owned subways, buses and railroads.
My thoughts exactly. A little history:
1965 NYS buys the LIRR from the Pennsylvania (Private and failing)
1966 Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority formed to manage the RR, apply for UMTA grants and buy new cars
1968 Renamed, removing the word 'Commuter', as it takes over control of the NYCTA which was created to take over control of the Private and failing BMT & IRT subways, and bus lines including MaBSTOA
Takes control of TBTA to fund the subway and LIRR
1971 Buys the Staten Island Rapid Transit from Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (Private and failing)
1973 Takes control of LI Bus from Nassau County
1983 Buys Conrail commuter rail lines to form Metro-North Railroad, Conrail was the consolidated operator of NY Central, New Haven & Hartford Railroads, that faltered and merged with the Pennsylvania to form Penn Central in 1966. (all private and failing)
2002 Takes control of Jamaica Bus, Green Bus Lines, (and I think one other), as MTA Bus for Queens (private and failing)
The MTA has some serious issues that need to be resolved, however dumping them in favor of a private operator is not going to bode well for service. Mass transit is not and cannot be a profitable enterprise, so the only way that a private operator can keep costs down is to cut service, be more lax on maintenance and/or hiring standards, and/or raise fares, none of which is the direction in which we should be going.
Public transportation is a public good and not profitable system... Private companies will cut service, raise fares, lower standards until it can break even... The MTA helps support the system... Hopefully, Nassau learns quick that the MTA is all evil... But I'm pretty sure the point of privatizing the system is to get rid of the system completely.
Moving people has never been profitable public or private. The airlines have lost money over the years. They have needed bailouts or bankruptcy protection to remain solvent. All the original players no longer exist. The few charter bus companies that do make a profit do so at the expense of safety and maintenence. Just look at all the accidents and violations that have been handed out recently. This isnt a recent trend, this is always the end result. Kill someone and go out of business and repeat. Anyone remember Valujet...now Airtran soon to be Southwest. Southwest is the company that had FAA inspectors reasigned when the inspectors raised issues.
Mass transit is not a service that should be run by profit motive. Safety should be the first priority followed by dependable and accessable service to all.
Seeing as LI Bus will no longer be under the MTA, will there be a discounted MTA tax as there will be less to fund?
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