Unused Money for Buses

[Kris]

$70M warehoused for buses

BY JOSHUA ROBIN
Staff Writer

March 2, 2004, 8:55 PM EST

The city is sitting on more than $70 million in federal funds to replace aging privately run commuter buses, according to interviews and records.

Officials are warehousing the funds — some of which have apparently been available for more than four years — until Mayor Michael Bloomberg concludes what has so far been months of negotiations with the MTA over the takeover of the seven private lines.

News of the funds drew criticism from some passengers on the often-maligned routes, which use city-owned buses that are on average twice as old as MTA buses.

"My constituents are not concerned about whether the bus service is public or private, they just want it to be reliable," said Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria).

Owners of the lines were also critical of Bloomberg's decision.

"It is difficult to understand why the city would not take advantage of available capital funds that could repair or replace the aging buses provided to the private operators by the [Department of Transportation]," added Jerome Cooper, president of Jamaica Buses.

Cooper and the leaders of three other private bus companies are suing the city on charges that the Bloomberg administration is seeking to bankrupt the companies to ease a transition to the MTA.

Jordan Barowitz, a City Hall spokesman, said "it would not be prudent to make such a large capital investment until those negotiations are completed."

"The MTA take-over will mean better, more reliable service for the public and a better value for New York's taxpayers," he said.

Despite persistent entreaties from Bloomberg, the MTA has resisted taking over the lines without the city continuing its more than $100 million annual subsidy.

Barowitz said it did not appear that there were any deadlines for use of the funds, which date to 1999, according to records from the Federal Transportation Administration.

The records indicate that the city has used only $847,000 of the more than $71 million allocated for buses and bus-related projects.

It is possible additional money — up to about $43 million — could be used for buses. Some funds are marked only as "capital improvement project," and transit sources suggested that money could also be targeted for bus purchases. A federal transportation administration spokeswoman could not confirm that Tuesday night.

By contrast, the city has spent much of the federal transportation funds dedicated to Staten Island transportation projects. For example, of $32 million in funds available for ferry construction only $378,000 remains.

Of an additional $15 odd million in funds to reconfigure the Whitehall terminal, where the ferry docks, only $200,000 remains. The city has spent roughly half of the $2 million allotted in 2001 to modernize the St. George ferry terminal in Staten Island.

Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.

[Kris]

March 4, 2004

While Critical of Aging Buses, City Has Funds It Hasn't Used

By MIKE McINTIRE

http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/03/04/nyregion/04bus.jpg
Command and Liberty Lines buses in Midtown Wednesday. They are among the private lines that the Bloomberg administration wants the M.T.A. to take over.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has repeatedly complained that city bus riders are being shortchanged because of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's reluctance to take over seven aging bus lines operated by private companies.

But the mayor has not mentioned that the city has roughly $150 million available to begin buying hundreds of new buses for those lines and improve bus facilities, yet has declined to do so because of its political dispute with the authority over who should run them.

City budget documents show that $106 million in federal transportation funds has been available for buses since at least February 2002 but remains mostly unspent. As of January, an additional $50 million in federal and state money was available.

The funds are part of the Bloomberg administration's long-range capital plan, drafted two years ago. It calls for spending $228 million in federal, state and city funds for 730 new buses on the seven private lines and $9.4 million more for improvements to bus facilities. The average bus on the lines is twice as old as those operated by the authority and has 500,000 miles on it, according to company officials.

But the administration does not intend to replace the old buses until it negotiates a takeover of the lines by the authority. "Since we are working towards the M.T.A.'s taking over the private bus lines, it would not be prudent to make such a large capital investment until those negotiations are completed," Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for the mayor, said in a statement.

Critics of the city's approach to the issue see the refusal to buy new buses as evidence of a plot to increase momentum for a takeover, something the city denies. In a lawsuit filed last fall, the private bus operators assert that the city has decided "to starve the companies of new buses as part of its plan to create intolerable operating and financial pressures."

"To the extent that you don't improve the quality of the buses and the public thinks the bus companies are responsible for that, you're creating political pressure to replace the private companies," Douglas A. Cooper, a lawyer representing the companies, said Tuesday. A quirk of New York City's mass transit system, the seven private bus lines have been a source of political headaches for Mr. Bloomberg since shortly after he took office.

The lines provide local and express bus service to 400,000 riders daily on 82 routes in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, with a combined fleet of 1,200 vehicles that are owned by the city but operated under contract by seven private companies. The city subsidizes the operation of the lines at a cost of $100 million to $150 million a year.

Within months of Mr. Bloomberg's becoming mayor in 2002, workers at three of the bus companies in Queens went on strike, the first of a series of labor disputes in the last two years that have periodically disrupted service. In June 2002, the mayor disclosed that he was in talks with the authority to absorb the bus lines into its transit system, which would relieve the city of its annual operating subsidy.

But the authority has balked at taking them over without financial assistance from the city, and no deal has yet been reached. The issue flared last month when the mayor, angry at a decision by the authority to speed the purchase of rail cars used by suburban commuters, began accusing the authority of neglecting city bus riders by refusing to take over the private lines.

In public comments, Mr. Bloomberg has referred to poor service on the lines and cited survey responses that were published in the mayor's management report showing an increase in rider complaints about dirty buses. However, he has not mentioned that funds have been available to begin buying new buses for at least two years.

In fact, news of the bus money came as a surprise to City Council officials, transit advocates and even Mr. Cooper, the lawyer for the private companies.

"The city says the quality of service has declined,'' Mr. Cooper said. "But there isn't anything we can do with 15-year-old buses to improve that."

In interviews over the last few days, all said they were unaware that financing was available, and they expressed frustration that the money was not being spent.

"It's just irresponsible to leave nearly $150 million on the table that could be used right now to improve quality of life for so many working New Yorkers," said Steve Sigmund, a spokesman for the City Council speaker, Gifford Miller.

"We agree that the M.T.A. should ultimately run these buses, but as of today it's the city's responsibility to ensure a decent commute for hundreds of thousands of people."

Mr. Barowitz, the mayor's spokesman, said in a statement, "The M.T.A. takeover will mean better, more reliable service for the public and a better value for New York's taxpayers."

Some of the federal funding dates to 1999, and has been rolled over annually in the city's capital account for the bus purchases, which has grown larger each year with unspent funds.

City budget documents show that although up to $150 million in accumulated capital funds is now available, the city has budgeted only $70 million of that money each year for buying buses and improving facilities over four years. The city would be halfway through the multiyear plan, which calls for 600 diesel buses, 130 natural gas-powered buses and a new bus facility in Queens, had city officials followed the spending plan.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[Kris]

March 5, 2004

Private Bus Lines Attract a Public Outcry

By COREY KILGANNON

Certain people actually love the sporadic service offered by private bus lines in and around the Jamaica, Queens, transportation hub.

Drivers of dollar vans and liveries profit from the sparse service, as commuters tire of the maddening wait for the next bus to come along.

"These livery drivers know it's just a matter of time before we give up," said Leonard Peters, 76, a retired carpenter from Jamaica who was waiting for the Q9 Green Lines bus yesterday afternoon on Sutphin Boulevard. "I've been here 30 minutes already, but I can't afford a cab. I'm on a fixed income."

Mr. Peters happens to live in one of the areas in Queens served not by a city bus but rather by one of seven private bus lines that provide local and express bus service to 400,000 riders daily on 82 routes, in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx as well as in Queens. The seven lines operate a combined fleet of 1,200 city-owned vehicles, and recently these companies have been in a dispute with the Bloomberg administration over repairing the buses and whether the Metropolitan Transportation Authority should take over the lines.

Yesterday, City Council Speaker Gifford Miller urged the mayor to buy more buses and said the bargaining would "shortchange the commuters who depend on the private bus line system for their livelihood."

Company officials say that the average privately operated bus has 500,000 miles on it and is roughly twice as old as the average city bus operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

But of about 15 riders interviewed yesterday, not one complained about bus conditions. Their major complaint was that the privately operated buses simply take so long to show up. In addition, many passengers groused about the news yesterday that the city had been sitting on $150 million in federal and state money meant to buy hundreds of new buses for those lines. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg plans on spending $228 million in federal, state and city funds for 730 new buses on the seven private lines but is waiting for the authority to agree to absorb the aging bus lines, which would relieve the city of its annual operating subsidy.

The companies complain that a lack of city support prevents them from adding more buses. Four of the companies have filed a suit asserting that the city is hoping "to starve the companies of new buses as part of its plan to create intolerable operating and financial pressures."

Douglas A. Cooper, a lawyer representing the companies, yesterday blamed the city for the poor service, accusing the city of not buying new buses, or not paying companies to repair many of their broken ones.

The mayor calls it foolish to buy the buses until the negotiations are completed. Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for the mayor, said the buses used by the private companies are not the same make or style as those used by the authority. If new private buses were bought now, he said, there would be a compatibility problem if they were folded into the authority's fleet.

"The M.T.A. and private bus lines use different types of buses," Mr. Barowitz said. "If we purchase the buses before the negotiations are complete," he added, "we run the risk of buying obsolete buses that the M.T.A. does not use and cannot service."

Passengers say that crowded buses cause riders to argue and to shove each other at bus stops. On a crowded Q6 bus that lurched its way along Sutphin Boulevard yesterday, there were women holding babies, elderly people clutching shopping bags and schoolchildren wearing backpacks. Riders stared out windows cloudy with little cracks as a tinny mix of music spilled from headphones.

One passenger, Isiah Thompson, 18, a high school senior, said: "You can never rely on these buses. At least when you take a city bus, they run more often."

"The city should buy up the private bus lines and run them like city buses," said Carl Hotnit, 67, who regularly takes a Green Lines bus from his home in South Jamaica into downtown Jamaica.

"Of course the service is bad in this neighborhood. You go into better areas, and the service is fine. Our voice is never heard."

Faiza Akhtar contributed reporting for this article.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[Kris]

Awaiting The Fate Of City-Subsidized Private Bus Lines (http://gothamgazette.com/article/transportation/20040315/16/914)

[tmg]

NY1.com

MTA Agrees To Take Over Private Bus Lines In Summer

APRIL 19TH, 2004

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has agreed to take over the financially-troubled private bus lines in Queen and Brooklyn.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor George Pataki Monday announced a deal that will allow the MTA to assume operations by the summer. However, the deal still requires approval from the state Legislature.

More than 100,000 people ride the seven private bus lines – New York Bus, Command Bus, Liberty Lines, Green Bus, Jamaica Buses, Triboro Coach and Queens Surface – which are subsidized by the city and operate in areas underserved by subways and MTA buses. The current base fare of $1.50 on those lines will rise to city transit fare of $2.

“This is a major victory for New Yorkers who ride these buses,” Bloomberg said. “The transfer will ensure that bus service in these boroughs is fully integrated with the transit service currently provided by the MTA, resulting in a higher quality ride and more efficient operations.”

Bloomberg has been negotiating the takeover for well over a year. He had hoped to reduce the $150 million in annual subsidies the city gives the bus lines, but he conceded in the end and agreed to give the money to the MTA to improve service.

“Sometimes it takes a while to do something significant and good for the people of New York,” Pataki said. “But this is significant, and it's going to be great for the tens of thousand of riders from Brooklyn and Queens and the Bronx who come to Manhattan every day to work and have to rely on service that is not up to the standards of the MTA.”

The MTA is set to take over sometime before July 1, when an extension to the city’s contract with the bus lines runs out.

Over the next 10 years, the MTA will replace the old fleet with modern buses. The MTA will also retain the current employees and honor existing union contracts.

[Kris]

April 20, 2004

M.T.A. Agrees to Manage Private Buses in the City

By JENNIFER STEINHAUER

http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/04/20/nyregion/20BUS.jpg
The QM-24 commuter bus dropping passengers off in Queens. The city has agreed to continue paying subsidies of $150 million a year that keep seven such lines afloat.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will take over the management of the private bus lines that serve the most far-flung corners of New York City, the mayor and governor announced yesterday. But the Bloomberg administration will still pay $150 million in annual subsidies to keep those companies afloat.

The $1.50 fare now paid by the roughly 400,000 riders who use the buses each day in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx would be raised 50 cents on July 1. As part of the deal, though, those riders would get discounts offered to others who use mass transit. Riders who now get off a bus on those lines must pay 50 cents more to get on the subway; under the deal, the new $2 fare will pay for both the bus ride and the transfer to other buses or subways.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Gov. George E. Pataki insisted that the service on these lines, which is sporadic in some areas, would be vastly improved under the transportation authority. They also said the maintenance of the buses would improve.

"This is a major victory for New Yorkers who ride these buses," Mr. Bloomberg said. "We want the quality of service for these people to be the same as all New Yorkers," he added, referring to the thousands of New Yorkers who have no other means of getting around each day. "And unfortunately, that is not the case today."

Some owners of the bus companies, which operate in the city under a franchise agreement that will expire in June, said yesterday that they were wary of the deal.

For nearly two years, Mr. Bloomberg has been pressing the authority to take over all the functions of the seven private bus lines and assume the annual subsidy that keeps the money-losing lines in operation. Last year, he even included such a takeover and savings in his budget plan.

The relationship between the city and the companies is complex; the city owns the buses and two of the depots, while the operators own other crucial depots and run the daily operations through the franchise agreements. The city has no official role in labor negotiations between the unionized drivers and the owners, but city residents suffer when strikes or other labor disputes arise.

Under the deal announced yesterday, the city will lease the buses, including 450 recently purchased ones, and the depots to the authority. In turn, the authority will spend $322.5 million to replace old buses and make other capital improvements. In exchange, Mr. Bloomberg will stop trying to keep the authority from buying new rail cars for the Metro-North Commuter Railroad.

Some officials running the companies, which were not consulted as the deal was arranged, have already said they will try to throw up roadblocks to the plan by refusing to sell their depots to the authority, which needs them to operate the buses.

"They are not for sale and they are not for lease," said Jerry Cooper, chairman of the Transit Alliance, a coalition of four of the seven bus lines that would be included under the deal.

Further, nonunion employees - about 400 people - will not find automatic employment with the authority once it takes over the service, and it is not clear whether the drivers of the private buses will earn the same wages as authority drivers.

Mr. Bloomberg will now have to find another $150 million in his next city budget plan, which he is to release Thursday. Reminded that he had assumed that the state would take over the subsidies, the mayor blushed and said, "I did try to do that," and added, "In negotiations you don't get everything you like."

The authority will assume the troubled relationship with the bus drivers' unions, which have been a major irritation for the Bloomberg administration. In 2002, Queens bus drivers went on strike for a week, affecting more than 110,000 riders a day.

"For the same amount of money we remove the headache," a city official said yesterday. By coming under state jurisdiction, the bus drivers would be subject to state laws that prohibit them from striking.

Several riders interviewed in Queens yesterday said they did not mind a fare increase as long as service improved and they got free connections to buses and subways. The 2002 strike "was the beginning of the end," said Perry Dworjan, 54, a building superintendent who rides daily to Astoria, Queens. "The buses were dirtier, they ran far less frequently, and it was as if the bus drivers didn't care anymore."

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[Kris]

April 26, 2004

Private Buses Pose Challenge for the M.T.A.

By COREY KILGANNON

Jerome Cooper, 75, stood in the cavernous depot of Jamaica Buses last week and surveyed his aging fleet of city-owned buses as if for the last time.

"I don't know if the M.T.A. knows what they're getting into," said Mr. Cooper, chairman of four of the seven private bus lines that the state Metropolitan Transportation Authority will take over on July 1. "If they think they can run these bus lines better and cheaper than us, let 'em try."

Many of the buses packed into his garage were built in the 1980's, and some have more than a half-million miles on them. Over the next two years, authority officials say, the authority will spend $322 million on new buses to replace the 1,200 aging ones used by the private operators that have for decades been transportation lifelines for parts of Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.

For many months, however, riders will crowd into the same old buses that Mr. Cooper's mechanics have nursed onto the road each day - or sometimes failed to. Assuming operations of the lines is a huge, complex undertaking that will only begin in July. With 82 local and express routes and about 400,000 riders, the private bus system is the seventh largest in the country, transportation experts say.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Gov. George E. Pataki announced the takeover last Monday. Mr. Bloomberg had pressed for such a takeover for almost two years. The annual $150 million subsidy that the city had been paying to the bus companies will now go to the transportation authority.

The private bus service has long been criticized - by its customers, by rider advocacy groups, and even by city officials that have renewed its franchise agreements year after year - as being shoddy and sporadic. But officials at the authority, which currently runs 4,500 city buses and is the largest bus system in the country, insist that it is fully prepared to take over the lines, and that improvements will be noticed quickly.

Tom Kelly, an authority spokesman, said that the takeover was "a challenge we're looking forward to" and that the authority was already studying the private routes in detail. The authority hopes to make the bus routes more efficient, he said, possibly by consolidating some routes that are near one another.

"Beginning on July 1, the riders of the seven commuter lines will notice immediate improvements, including better service and better buses," he said. When told of Mr. Cooper's skepticism, he said, "He ought to check with his customers, because all the reaction we got is that customers think we'll do a better job."

He added, "It couldn't get any worse."

Although the $1.50 rush-hour fare on the private lines will rise to $2 when the authority takes over, customers will be entitled to MetroCard discounts and free transfers to the subway. Several riders interviewed last week said they would gladly pay the increase if it meant better service.

One reason the takeover will save money, Mr. Kelly said, is that authority supervisors earn less than the top-earning executives at the private companies.

Mr. Cooper said he made about $270,000 a year, while the senior vice president for buses at New York City Transit makes $170,000. But Mr. Cooper said he was paid out of the company's private revenues, not the city subsidy, and insisted that the Green, Triboro, Jamaica and Command bus lines, which he oversees, would not be run any better by the transportation authority.

He has no plans to make the transition any easier, and said he is not about to lease the authority any of the four bus depots that his companies own. He will rather try to develop them for commercial use.

"I got a developer, just called me, wants to build a shopping center here," he said.

Neither city nor state officials contacted him about the takeover, he said, or about the "wind-down" agreements they outlined in the takeover agreement "to ensure a seamless transition of service."

Jordan Barowitz, a spokesman for Mayor Bloomberg, said on Friday that the agreements would be negotiated over the coming months.

The takeover effectively puts Mr. Cooper's four bus companies out of business, he said, and 225 of his nonunion workers will be laid off from the four companies, many with more than 20 years' service. The union employees are assured jobs by the authority.

Many of the private bus lines are continuations of or successors to companies that go back to the 1800's with horse-car or trolley service. Mr. Cooper's father, William Cooper, joined the Green Bus Lines in 1933.

For decades the private companies have had franchise agreements with the city to operate the bus lines, which rolled over year after year with no bidding for new contracts from other bus operators.

According to E. J. McMahon, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, who has studied the private buses, much of the city's problems with the private operators stemmed from the fact that the franchises were never put up for bid among many operators. The contract, he said, gave operators no incentive to be more efficient.

Proponents of the takeover said they were confident the authority would eventually improve service and run the lines more efficiently.

"There will be transition bumps, but it is a long-term benefit to have all bus transit under one roof,'' said City Councilman John C. Liu, chairman of the Council's Transportation Committee. "There are cost efficiencies for one entity planning operating all the bus lines." He added, however, that the city needed to consult with the owners on the transition and negotiations for compensation.

Gene Russianoff, the staff attorney at the Straphangers Campaign, a riders' advocacy group, noted that politics played a part in the deal. The city and state agreed to the takeover after the city agreed to stop opposing the authority's plan to buy 120 new rail cars for the Metro-North Railroad.

Nevertheless, Mr. Russianoff was optimistic about the takeover.

"The transition will be a challenge, but in a year from now I think service will be better,'' he said. "The M.T.A. runs better service on their lines than the private lines.''

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[krulltime]

MTA WILL MISS BUS DEADLINE


By Frankie Edozien
June 25, 2004

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's takeover of seven private bus lines — scheduled to go into effect on Thursday — will not happen for six months, officials said yesterday.

Mayor Bloomberg asked the City Council to authorize the extension so the private bus lines can continue operating until the deal is finalized.

The city provides $162.8 million in annual subsidies to the private companies, which run 1,200 buses on more than 80 routes. About 400,000 commuters use the buses daily.

"This whole MTA takeover plan has been completely botched by the mayor and the MTA," fumed John Liu (D-Queens), chairman of the council's Transportation Committee.

"The way they have approached this bus takeover is abominable. It smacks of total lack of accountability and disregard for the public that the MTA has had all along."

Liu said council members had anticipated that an extension would be necessary but had hoped it would be no more than three months.


Copyright 2004 NYP Holdings, Inc.

[krulltime]

BUS UNION HISSES AT MTA MANEUVER


June 26, 2004

A six-month extension for seven Big Apple private bus lines will mean worse service for about 400,000 commuters, while thousands of workers could face benefit cuts, union protesters charged yesterday.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, negotiating a takeover of the private lines, "should not be given a blank check," said Roger Toussaint, president of Transport Workers Union Local 100 that staged the protest at City Hall.

"This cannot be addressed in a room with only the mayor and the MTA meeting behind closed doors," said the union leader, who challenged city officials to "come to the table with elected officials and the mayor and we'll resolve this matter."

This week, the City Council approved Mayor Bloomberg's request for a delay in the transfer of authority while the city continues its negotiations with the companies that operate the city's interborough bus routes.

That means the private companies will keep running the city-subsidized lines until Dec. 4, rather than July 1 as scheduled, the Bloomberg administration said.


Copyright 2004 NYP Holdings, Inc.

[krulltime]

MTA approves funds for new buses, depot


by Catherine Tymkiw

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved $70 million for a new bus depot on Staten Island and moved ahead with a $250 million plan to replace most city buses.

The funding for the depot and 529 new buses will come from a combination of reallocating $70 million in the transit agency’s budget, $132 million in federal money, and $149 million from a capital reserve previously set up by the MTA to improve its bus service.

The agency’s finance committee approved the financing today and it is expected to be finalized by the agency’s board later this week.

“This is a milestone in our efforts to improve the reliability of express buses, eliminate the impact of buses spilling over into neighborhoods due to lack of adequate depot space and allow for potential, future growth in service,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a statement with the governor.

The $110 million Charleston Depot on Staten Island will house 220 buses when it is completed in early 2008.

The MTA plans to award a $250 million contract for buying new clean-fuel buses, including $141 million to purchase 284 vehicles for the MTA Bus Company. Starting next spring, 389 new local buses will be put in service in Queens and Brooklyn. An additional 140 new express buses for Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx will add to the 170 new express buses already in service.

About 70% of the present fleet will be replaced by the new buses, which will reduce the average age of the MTA’s fleet to less than four years from its current 13 years.


©2005 Crain Communications Inc.

[stache]

I heard that some commuter busses are still only $1 each way.

[NIMBYkiller]

All of them are $1.50, and NYBS I believe may have been as much as $4.00, but that was an express service to the Pelham area.