As Need Grows, County Bus Service Lags

As Need Grows, County Bus Service Lags
By: Diana Marszalek, New York Times

SMACK in the middle of a commuting nightmare -- including higher gas prices,
traffic jams and environmental woes -- kissing the car keys goodbye in favor of
buses and trains might seem to be an increasingly attractive option for
Westchester drivers.

But doing so is often not easy for those whose travels are more complex
than hopping a Metro-North train to Grand Central and who must rely on local bus
service, transportation experts, public officials and commuters say.

''Certainly, it's not Manhattan,'' said Assemblyman George S. Latimer, a
Rye Democrat who is a member of the Assembly's transportation committee. ''It's
much harder to get that kind of transportation flowing.''

While the concentration of public transportation makes mass transit an
easy choice for urbanites in New York City, it is not so cut-and-dried in
Westchester, where topography, land use patterns and suburban mind-sets keep
commuters firmly in their drivers' seats, Mr. Latimer said.

Still, ridership is up for the county-operated bus service, Bee-Line.
Ridership through August was up 6.7 percent over the same period last year, said
Lawrence C. Salley, commissioner of the county's Department of Transportation.

Fuel prices and last year's introduction of MetroCard, which benefits
commuters who also use New York City transit, are among the reasons for the
increase, he said. Some busy routes are getting much busier; for example,
ridership on Route 20, which serves Central Avenue, is up about 30 percent, he
said.

Bee-Line moves 32 million passengers a year, making it one of the 40
largest bus systems in North America. That is despite continuing obstacles,
transportation officials and commuters say.

Most bus service is south of the Interstate 287 corridor and is
concentrated in more urban places, like White Plains, New Rochelle and Yonkers,
where the largest numbers of commuters and jobs are, Mr. Salley said. Bus stops
in less populated areas are farther between.

And taking the bus is no simple task, said Melissa Ortiz, 21, a
Manhattanville College senior who relies solely on buses and trains.
''Timeliness is the biggest hardship when riding the bus,'' she said.

Jeffrey M. Zupan, a senior fellow for transportation with the Regional Plan
Association in New York City, said that until it is fast, efficient and easy
for suburbanites to take buses, they will not.

Recent trends, like urban-style developments going up near transit centers
in cities including New Rochelle, Yonkers and White Plains, make increasingly
widespread use of mass transit in Westchester more likely down the road, he
said. But given Westchester's existing configuration -- which includes
sprawling office parks set back from main roads -- it will most likely be a
decade or more before it becomes easier for commuters to give up their cars in
favor of buses and trains, Mr. Zupan said.

''The choice of driving if you have a car is easier,'' he said.

County bus service is used primarily by working individuals who do not
have means for or access to a car, transportation officials said. About 70
percent of Bee-Line passengers come from households with no access to a car, Mr.
Salley said, and an equal number have annual household incomes of $35,000 or
less.

But there are other Westchester residents, including former New York City
residents well versed in public transportation, who say they would gladly leave
the car at home if only it were easier.

Take Kate Long, 53, a playwright who preferred buses to driving when she
moved to Larchmont from Manhattan two years ago. But after several unfulfilling
bus experiences, including an overcrowded Christmastime ride to White Plains and
long waits for buses that never showed up, Ms. Long said she gave up on local
bus service.

Ms. Long is more likely to board a bus to Manhattan for errands and
appointments than a bus to White Plains. ''Now I spend $20 to get into New
York,'' she said.

Bee-Line has a web of 67 routes, with some running 16 hours a day, Mr.
Salley said. It recently added several routes, including one that goes between
the White Plains transit center and the Westchester County Airport; an express
between Westchester Community College and 241st Street in the Bronx; and another
that links 241st Street and the Westchester Medical Center.

Bee-Line has 360 buses, Mr. Salley said, and 60 vans that provide
transportation for people with disabilities. It goes from White Plains to Wall
Street, and travels to Bronx subway stops. Its buses also serve 22 of
Westchester's 43 railroad stations, and shuttle buses loop through communities
during peak commuting hours to serve Metro-North. Seasonal buses serve Playland
in the summer and holiday shoppers in the winter.

A Bee-Line ride costs $2, and since Bee-Line partnered last year with the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Manhattan-bound riders can transfer to a
subway in the Bronx without paying more. About 30 percent of Bee-Line riders do
so, Mr. Salley said.

The service, however, comes at a cost to government agencies.

Just $38 million of Bee-Line's $123 million budget for this year is
expected to come from fares, Mr. Salley said. The state and county -- which
created the Bee-Line system from eight private operators in 1974 -- pay the
rest.

Factors like gas prices that make bus service more attractive to riders
also make it more difficult for the county. Bee-Line, which uses about 3.5
million gallons of gas a year, now pays about $4.50 a gallon, up from $2.46 last
year, Mr. Salley said. ''Nobody makes money on bus service,'' he said.

Country transportation officials are trying to lure more riders to
Bee-Line. Studies to improve service along busy (and often bottlenecked) Central
Avenue are under way, as are outreach efforts to publicize the benefits of
using mass transit, Mr. Salley said.

Commuters, however, said taking the bus can simply be hard.

Ms. Ortiz, the Manhattanville student, said long rides and erratic
schedules make commuting between the Purchase campus, where she lives, and her
two part-time jobs in White Plains and Larchmont, as well as running errands,
inefficient. ''If I need to go to White Plains for just one errand, like say go
to the bank, I have to wait a whole hour for the next bus,'' she said.

Other commuters have challenges too.

Reverse commuters to MasterCard, in Purchase, said their travel times from
the city would increase significantly if the company fulfilled a plan to
eliminate private shuttle buses to and from some Metro-North stations. Taking a
Bee-Line bus from the Rye train station to MasterCard, for example, would add 20
minutes each way, they said.

Mr. Zupan, however, said public transit alone could not solve commuting
problems in Westchester. Rather, employers should promote mass transit by
offering workers incentives, some of which employers can recoup through tax
credits, he said.

''Not enough people are thinking long term,'' Mr. Zupan said.

There are, however, signs of that changing, he said. Municipal leaders and
developers are beginning to incorporate mass transit into development plans, he
said. Mass transit is easily accessible from large developments, like
residential, retail and office mixes, that already exist in White Plains and are
planned for New Rochelle, he said.

''This could be a decades-long process,'' Mr. Zupan said. ''But from my
perspective, a decade isn't that long.''