Nassau Inter-County Express

Nassau Inter-County Express

A Nassau Inter-County Express westbound N4 bus departs the Freeport Railroad Station.
Parent	Nassau County, New York (fleet ownership)
Founded	1973 (MSBA) 2012 (NICE)
Defunct	2011 (MSBA)
Headquarters	700 Commercial Avenue Garden City, NY 11530-6410
Locale	Nassau County, New York
Service area	Most of Nassau County, except for northern Town of Oyster Bay
Service type	Local bus
Routes	49
Hubs	4 major bus hubs, 48 LIRR stations, and 5 New York City Subway stations
Fleet	301 fixed-route, 101 Able Ride (2011 figures)
Daily ridership	101,981 (weekday, 2011)
Fuel type	CNG (fixed-route) Diesel (Able-Ride)
Operator	Veolia Transportation
Chief executive	Michael Setzer
Website	nicebus.com

The Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE or NICE Bus) is the local bus system serving Nassau County, New York. It also serves parts of western Suffolk County, New York as well as eastern portions of the New York City borough of Queens. It was formerly operated under the name of MTA Long Island Bus, the trading name of the Metropolitan Suburban Bus Authority, a division of MTA Regional Bus Operations. In 2011, the owner, Nassau County, decided to switch the system over to a private operator, Veolia Transportation, due to a funding dispute with the MTA.

History

Private companies (pre-1973)

The MTA began operating Nassau County bus service in 1973 under the name Metropolitan Suburban Bus Authority, through the merging of 11 private operators:

• Bee-Line, Inc. (N1, N2, N4, N6, and the now-discontinued N3) and subsidiaries:
  • Rockville Centre Bus (N14, N15, N16, and N17)
  • Utility Lines (N19; extended to Patchogue along current S40 Suffolk Transit route)
  • Stage Coach Lines (N71, N73, N74, and earlier N70): NOTE: The N70 under Stage Coach was a loop route from Hempstead to Levittown, Bellmore, Wantagh, and back to Hempstead.
  • Mid-Island Transit (N78, N79, N80, N81): This operator was acquired by Stage Coach, which would be acquired by Bee-Line. Also operated by this operator was a route from today's Broadway Mall to Oyster Bay.
• Schenck Transportation (N20, N21, N22, N23, N24, N25, N26, N27) and previously acquired:
  • Nassau Bus Line (N31, N32, N33)
  • Universal Auto Bus (N57 and N58)
• Jerusalem Avenue Bus Line (N51, N54, N55) and a now-discontinued Massapequa Park circulator (old N53)
• Hempstead Bus Corporation (N35, N36, N37 [merged into N35], N40, N41, N45, N47, N48, N49)
• Roosevelt Bus Line (N62)
• Branch Bus Corporation (N69; transferred to Long Beach in 1984)
• Hendrickson Bus Corporation (N67, discontinued January 1975)

MTA Long Island Bus

In the 1980s, the N28 (now discontinued), N46, N50, and N70 (as an N72 branch) were instituted as new routes, with the N20 extended to Hicksville. The 1990s saw the creation of a shuttle around Roosevelt Field (N93, now discontinued), two shuttles designed to take customers from train stations to work sites (the N94 and N95, both discontinued), and a service connecting Nassau County to JFK Airport (the N91, now discontinued), with the 2000s seeing a Merrick shuttle (now discontinued) and the N8 and N43 routes being created.

In 2007, Long Island Bus averaged over 109,000 weekday riders, many of which include customers connecting to other MTA services in the region.

Privatization

Further information: Ed Mangano#Long Island Bus Issues

In 2010, the future of MTA Long Island Bus became uncertain, as the MTA threatened drastic cuts due to Nassau County's disproportionately small contributions to the operation. For the past decade, the MTA has provided a unique subsidy (of $24 million in 2011 and over $140 million since 2000) to the Nassau County bus system that the other New York City suburban county bus systems have not received. The county's contribution was $9.1 million per year out of a total budget of $133.1 million, and the MTA desired that this contribution increase to $26 million. Critics have noted that Westchester County subsidized its similarly-sized Bee-Line Bus System service by $33 million/year, and that Suffolk subsidizes its substantially smaller Suffolk County Transit system by $24 million/year. The county hoped to reduce its contribution from $9.1 million to $4.1 million by using a private contractor; the planned county contribution was later decreased to $2.5 million/year.

By March 2011, the MTA proposed a set of major service reductions which will eliminate over half of the routes, with the greatest impact on southeastern Nassau County, eliminating all routes operating south of Hempstead Turnpike and east of the Meadowbrook State Parkway (except for the N71), citing Nassau's refusal to pay its contracted amount. After reviewing the service cut plans, County Executive Ed Mangano considered severing ties with the MTA and privatizing the Long Island Bus system. A temporary reprieve, via additional state funding, would sustain service through the end of 2011. However, on April 27, 2011, the MTA voted to cease all bus service in Nassau County after the end of 2011. Mangano then announced that he had retained Veolia Transportation to operate the system beginning in 2012 through a public-private partnership pending legislative approval. On November 10, 2011, Veolia and Mangano announced that the service was going to be renamed Nassau Inter-County Express (or NICE), upon Veolia's takeover of the system. All buses, including Able-Ride vehicles, will be painted into a new paint scheme to reflect the change. On December 12, 2011, the legislature unanimously approved the Veolia contract, which was subsequently approved by the state-controlled Nassau County Interim Finance Authority (NIFA) on December 22, 2011. Veolia began operations January 1, 2012. This Veolia privatisation plan was the subject of heated county public hearings in which Long Island Bus riders and employees criticized the plan.

In February 2012, Veolia announced planned service cuts and adjustments to take effect in April. While there are no route cancellations planned, just over $7 million in cuts to existing routes are planned, with service reductions and route concentrations planned for routes primarily serving northern and eastern Nassau County, beginning in spring 2012, with resources redirected towards busier routes. These planned cuts have been criticized as occurring too soon, only six weeks after starting service.

Fare

The current fare is $2.50 ($1.25 for seniors and disabled customers) with a MetroCard (including unlimited cards) or $2.25 ($1.10 for seniors and disabled customers) with coins. Students with ID receive a discount of $0.25 from the base fare. Dollar bills are not accepted on any NICE fixed-route buses. Transfers are available upon request with coins, and are included automatically with MetroCard. The transfers are valid for two hours and can be used on two connecting NICE. They are also valid on Suffolk County Transit, Long Beach Bus, or Huntington Area Rapid Transit (HART) with the following restrictions:

• Transfers to non-MetroCard buses are with coins only.
• Transfers to the New York City Subway, or New York City Bus or MTA Bus express service, are available with MetroCard only (express buses require additional fare).
• Transfers from Suffolk Transit/HART or Long Beach Bus require payment of a "step-up" fare, which is the difference between the base fares of the systems.

The Able-Ride paratransit fare is $3.75, payable in Able-Ride tickets or exact fare.

Bus depots

Nassau Inter-County Express operates from three garages in Nassau County, as listed below.

Rockville Centre Depot

The Rockville Centre Bus Depot is located on 50 Banks Avenue in Rockville Centre. This garage, originally the home of Bee Line, Inc., houses the following routes: N1, N2, N4, N8, N14, N15, N19, N25, N31, N32, N33, N35 (some service), N36, N40 (some service), N41 (some service), N62, and N88 Jones Beach (summer service only).

Mitchel Field Depot

The Mitchel Field Depot (marked Senator Norman J. Levy Transit Facility on older buses and on the building itself, pictured in the background at the top of this page) is located on 700 Commercial Avenue in Uniondale, and is the headquarters and central garage for Nassau Inter-County Express. The garage is named after the Mitchel Air Force Base that operated there from 1918 until 1961. All routes not operated from the Rockville Centre garage are dispatched from this garage.

Stewart Avenue Depot (Able-Ride)

The Stewart Avenue Depot is located on 947 Stewart Avenue in East Garden City. All Able-Ride Nassau County shared-ride ADA paratransit service is dispatched from this garage.

Fleet

Nassau Inter-County Express runs a 100% Orion CNG-fueled bus fleet for fixed route service. All of the buses below are 102 inches (2.59 meters) wide and are fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Pictures shown are of buses in NICE livery or in Nassau County's stripe colors of blue-and-orange. Most of the 1700s still are in the MTA's blue stripe paint scheme and have not been re-decaled at this time.

Photo	Builder and model name	Year	Length	Numbers (Total ordered)	Powertrain (Engine and transmission or propulsion system)	Notes
	Orion Bus Industries Orion V (05.501 CNG)	2000	40 ft (12.19 m)	1526-1632 (107 buses)	Detroit Diesel series 50G (CNG fuel) Allison B-400R WTEC	70 buses remain active from this fleet. Being retired. To be fully replaced soon.
	DaimlerChrysler Commercial Buses Orion V (05.501 CNG)	2004		1633-1635, 1637-1699 (66 buses)	Detroit Diesel series 50G EGR (CNG fuel) Allison B-400R WTEC	As delivered, all buses had a Detroit Diesel series 50G EGR engines; 1636 was repowered with a Deere engine in 2007.
				1636 (1 bus)	Deere 6081 (CNG fuel) Allison B-400R WTEC
	Daimler Buses North America Orion VII Next Generation (07.501) (semi-low floor, CNG)	2008	41.2 ft (12.56 m)	1700 (1 bus)	Cummins Westport ISL G (CNG fuel) Allison B-400R WTEC	1700s have frameless windows. 1800s have framed windows. All buses from this order arrived in the MTA blue stripe paint scheme, identical to the paint scheme of the MTA's New York City bus fleet, and were the first in the Long Island Bus fleet to have this paint scheme. The 1700s do feature the blue stripe across the front of the bus while the 1800s have this stripe on the sides of the bus only. 1804 was retired in 2011 due to a major accident.
		2009		1701-1799 (99 buses)
		2010- 2011		1800-1839 (40 buses)
	Daimler Buses North America Orion VII EPA10 (07.501 CNG)	2012-2013	40 ft (12.19 m)	1840-1884 (45 buses)	Cummins Westport ISL G (CNG fuel) Allison B-400R WTEC

Routes

The Hempstead Transit Center sees service from 19 different routes.

Main article: List of bus routes in Nassau County, New York

NICE runs fixed-route service on 49 routes, servicing the towns of Hempstead, North Hempstead, and the southern part of Oyster Bay, along with parts of the cities of Long Beach and Glen Cove. Routes are designated "N" for Nassau County, with service provided daily (although not all routes operate 7 days a week), and 24-hour service provided on the N4 Merrick Road and N6 Hempstead Turnpike routes. Route numbers on bus stop signs, route timetables, and destination signs use a lower case "n" as part of NICE's branding.

NICE routes operating to Jamaica and Flushing, Queens operate closed-door service in Queens (that is, local service is not provided solely for travel within Queens; appropriate NYC Transit or MTA Bus services must be used instead). There are two exceptions to this: the N24, where one side of Jericho Turnpike/Jamaica Avenue is in New York City, but the other side of the street is in the Town of Hempstead (eastbound drop-off begins at 225 Street, where state maintenance of Jamaica Avenue begins, and westbound pickups occur as far west as 239 Street); and the N31/N32 and N33, which operate open-door in a portion of Far Rockaway where no other bus service is available. In addition, the N33 operates closed-door within the City of Long Beach, where local service is provided by Long Beach Bus.

External links

• Nassau Inter-County Express
• Nassau/Suffolk Transit Map (unofficial)