MTA Long Island Bus
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MTA Long Island Bus (properly, the Metropolitan Suburban Bus Authority (MSBA)) is the name of the subdivision of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority that provides bus service throughout Nassau County and some stops along the western border of Suffolk County and the eastern border of Queens in New York City.
There are current plans to merge MTA Long Island Bus with MTA New York City Transit's bus operations and some private bus companies to form MTA Bus Company.[1]
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[edit] History
Founded in 1973 under the name Metropolitan Suburban Bus Authority by the combination of ten privately-chartered bus companies, including Bee-Line, Inc. (founded 1922) and its subsidiaries, Rockville Centre Bus Corp. (started 1927) Utilities Lines, Inc, (started 1926, under Bee Line since 1952), and Stage Coach Lines; Schenck Transportation Co, Jerusalem Ave Bus Line, Hempstead Bus Corp (started 1926), Roosevelt Bus Line, Branch Bus Corp (started 1949), and Hendrickson Bus Corp. (started 1949, its only route from Glen Cove to Oyster Bay has been abandoned, but the name Hendrickson survives today as a charter carrier) Earlier, Semke Bus Line had been absorbed into Hempstead Bus Corp in 1970, Nassau Bus Line and Universal Auto Bus (organized 1921) had been acquired by Schenck in the 1960's, Checker Bus Corp had been reformulated into Stage Coach Lines in the 1960's. Star Bus became Mid-Island Transit in 1966, and then became part of Stage Coach Lines. The system now consists of 417 buses running 54 routes covering 995 miles (1,601 km).
According to MTA figures in 2005, an average of 104,750 weekday riders use Long Island Bus to commute around Nassau County and parts of western Suffolk county. Many continue their trip into New York City by utilizing the system's five connections to the New York City Transit subway system or the 46 connections to the MTA Long Island Rail Road. Since 1998, with the use of MetroCards, transfers are free between NYCT and Long Island Bus.
The bus system serves seven major shopping malls in Nassau and western Suffolk (including Green Acres Shopping Mall in Valley Stream, Roosevelt Field Shopping Mall in Garden City, Broadway Mall in Hicksville, Sunrise Mall in Massapequa, and Walt Whitman Mall in Huntington). It also serves numerous colleges such as Nassau Community College, New York Institute of Technology (Old Westbury Campus), SUNY Old Westbury, SUNY Farmingdale (it in fact travels onto campus, and Hofstra, as well as the popular summer destination Jones Beach, theaters, parks, and government agencies.
In keeping with the MTA bus system for New York City, all bus routes carry the N route desginator.
[edit] Environment
Long Island Bus began replacing its diesel bus fleet in 1991 with buses operating on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) technology.
Now, the Long Island Bus fleet is made up entirely of clean air, CNG Orion V 05.501s. Combined with the efforts of the New York City Transit division of the MTA, New York has the cleanest public transportation system in the United States outside of California. Some diesel buses, however, remain on property as a backup fleet.
[edit] Currently Operated Bus Depots
- Mitchell Field Depot/Senator Norman J. Levy Maintenance Facility - main maintenance faciliy, operates all bus routes on weekends
- Rockville Centre Depot - closed on weekends. Routes operated are N1, N2, N3, N4, N8, N14, N19, N25, N31, N32, N36, N37, N62, N65, N88.
[edit] Current fleet of buses
MTA Long Island Bus runs only Orion V 05.501 CNG buses at this time (40 feet long, 102 inches wide), although some older diesel Canadian Ontario Bus O5 buses are in storage. All buses (including those in storage) are fully ADA compliant. Orion (as Ontario Bus Industries) has been the exclusive supplier of transit buses to Long Island Bus since the Orion V model debuted in 1989. Previous buses comprising the fleet include former NYC Transit Authority RTS and New Look buses, along with Grumman-Flxible 870-B and New Look and Gillig Phantom buses. The Gillig Phantom was the last model ordered before MTA Long Island Bus began operating O5s exclusively.
[edit] Reserved fleet
| Year | Engine | Transmission | Seats | Numbers | Fleet Total | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Detroit Diesel 6V92TA | Allison HT | 45 | 579-599 | 0 | 592 remains on property as a guard bus. These buses were made by Ontario Bus Industries. |
| 1991 | Detroit Diesel 6V92TA | Allison HT | 45 | 601-655 | 0 | Many are stored at Mitchell Field as a backup fleet. These buses were made by Ontario Bus Industries. |
[edit] Active fleet
| Year | Engine | Transmission | Seats | Numbers | Fleet Total | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Cummins L10G | ZF Ecomat | 45 | 100-141 | 24 | 101-103, 105, 109, 111-113, 115-117, 119, 122-123, 125-126, and 128-129 are scrapped. |
| 1997 | Cummins L10G | Allison | 45 | 142-245 | 103 | 221 has been written off after being in a major accident |
| 1998 | Cummins L10G | Allison | 45 | 270-287 | 18 | |
| 2000 | Detroit Diesel series 50G | Allison B400R | 44 | 288-395 | 108 | These buses have Luminator green LED flipdot signs. |
| 2004 | Detroit Diesel series 50G (except 399) John Deere 6801 CNG (399 only) |
Allison B400R | 44 | 396-462 | 67 | These buses have Luminator Horizon orange signs. |
| Active fleet total: | 320 | |||||
[edit] Routes
The following is a listing of routes run by MTA Long Island Bus. At bus stops in the Queens and Suffolk County, the routes are prefixed with a "N" to signify "Nassau County" to fall in line with other nomenclature used by the MTA. They also documented as such in various MTA and New York City Government media. There is only one 24 hour route, the N6 in the entire system. In addition, buses run "closed-door" in Queens, meaning that no intra-boro travel (trips begin/end in Queens) is permitted. In order to get around this, many passengers get off at the stop closest to the City Line, and often double back in the opposite direction.
[edit] Local service
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[edit] Limited Stops
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[edit] Summer service only
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Note: One bus route, while it caries an 'N' designator, is not operated by Long Island bus. The N69 is operated by the City of Long Beach as part of its public bus system.
[edit] See also
- New York City Subway
- Staten Island Railway
- New York City Buses
- Long Island Rail Road
- Metro-North Railroad
- MTA Bus
