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What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?

Posted by RailBus63 on Thu Nov 5 14:30:44 2009

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For those who weren't aware, Republican Rob Astorino surprisingly defeated longtime Westchester County executive Andrew Spano on Tuesday. I've done some searching on the net but didn't find any information on what Astorino's position might be in regards to transportation issues. It will be interesting to see if the new county administration is more amenable that Spano was to an MTA Regional Bus takeover of the Bee Line system.

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(171856)

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Re: What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?

Posted by The Flxible Neofan on Thu Nov 5 15:09:56 2009, in response to What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?, posted by RailBus63 on Thu Nov 5 14:30:44 2009.

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Oh geez, that's a very good point that you bring up? Are there any others that would fight tooth and nail to maintain Spano's point of view and not make the Bee-Line another division of MTA Bus?

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(171857)

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Re: What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?

Posted by rionOne on Thu Nov 5 15:17:26 2009, in response to What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?, posted by RailBus63 on Thu Nov 5 14:30:44 2009.

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Uh Oh...

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(171858)

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Re: What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?

Posted by rionOne on Thu Nov 5 15:18:38 2009, in response to Re: What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?, posted by The Flxible Neofan on Thu Nov 5 15:09:56 2009.

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I D K, but from a personal stand point, I'm totally against a MTA take over of the Bee-Line System. I don't see a benefit from it for the County. I'm a county resident myself.


-Trevor

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(171864)

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Re: What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?

Posted by metrolinecoach111 on Thu Nov 5 15:32:27 2009, in response to Re: What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?, posted by rionOne on Thu Nov 5 15:18:38 2009.

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I agree - Bee-Line is a well-managed and tightly run ship compared to its counterpart in the MTA, granted there are faults in the system and with Liberty Lines, but for the most part things are good.

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(171874)

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Re: What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?

Posted by Gold_12th on Thu Nov 5 16:22:35 2009, in response to What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?, posted by RailBus63 on Thu Nov 5 14:30:44 2009.

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MTA takeover coming sooner?

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(171947)

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Re: What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?

Posted by ctrabs74 on Thu Nov 5 23:58:41 2009, in response to What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?, posted by RailBus63 on Thu Nov 5 14:30:44 2009.

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In the overall scheme of things, Spano was run out of office based on the anger from voters over Westchester County having the highest property taxes in the nation (at least from what I've read in the Post). With that said, I would look for Astorino to attempt to make cuts across the board in all county departments - including WCDOT.

With that said, I hope that Astorino doesn't consider reaching out to the MTA over taking over the Bee-Line. I don't see what benefits Westchester gets out of a takeover by the MTA.

On that same front, it'll also be interesting to see what happens with the County Exec race in Nassau. From what I read in the papers, the incumbent Suozzi (sp?) is in a very close race with his Republican opponent. Again, voter frustration over high property taxes is the root cause. if Suozzi loses and the Republicans retaking control of the county legislature, I have a feeling the same thing could potentially happen in Nassau - across the board budget cuts in all departments, meaning some potential nervousness about LI Bus.

And, don't forget New Jersey. What Gov. Elect-Christie does with respect to NJT should be interesting, considering he ran on a platform of reforming the way things are done in Trenton.

To make a long story short, the voters have spoken in Westchester, Nassau, and Jersey. The electorate is fed up with out-of-control spending at the local level, and it showed in the polls. How this affects transit services in the tri-state area remains to be seen, but you can almost be guaranteed that transit services will be affected. Whether that means service cuts or (preferrably) management efficiencies and hopefully more transparancy (hello, NJT), the next 12 months will be very interesting indeed.

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(171952)

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Re: What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?

Posted by 33rd Street on Fri Nov 6 00:32:59 2009, in response to Re: What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?, posted by rionOne on Thu Nov 5 15:18:38 2009.

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I don't think the MTA would want to take over Bee-Line. Even if WCDOT encourages the MTA, the MTA would want no part of Bee-Line. The TA has enough buses to maintain. Do you really think they would want to deal with having NABI and Neoplan's as part of the fleet? I don't think so.

I'm also against a (possible*) takeover of Bee-Line.

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(171968)

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Re: What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?

Posted by Newkirk Plaza David on Fri Nov 6 11:12:50 2009, in response to Re: What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?, posted by rionOne on Thu Nov 5 15:18:38 2009.

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Bee Line has been a good transportation agency compared with MTA bus. Except for a lack of later night service on some of the feeder subway routes (2/4/20/42/60), the service is very good, the customer satisfaction is high, and they are not operating with a large budget deficit.

What needs to be done is the acceleration of BRT service on the 21. Where has it been going? I know there were plans for the Central Park Ave/Central Ave corridor but nothing else has happened since 2007.

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(172002)

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Re: What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?

Posted by RailBus63 on Fri Nov 6 15:38:47 2009, in response to Re: What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?, posted by Newkirk Plaza David on Fri Nov 6 11:12:50 2009.

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Bee Line may not have a budget deficit, but trouble is coming for every transit agency in New York State. Not only is state transit operating assistance likely to be cut again, but Albany is certainly going to cut funding for schools and other categories, forcing local governments to make up the difference. It’s going to get very ugly and public transit is going to be way down the priority list. Fare hikes and service cuts are on the way across the state – it’s only a matter of time.

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(172006)

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Re: What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?

Posted by JAzumah on Fri Nov 6 16:14:04 2009, in response to Re: What does Spano's ouster mean for Bee Line?, posted by RailBus63 on Fri Nov 6 15:38:47 2009.

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It's already started...$113M out of the MTA's budget. After all, the MTA only needs a 2% fare hike to fix that. That is why Walder can't take fare hikes off the table.

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