nostalgia

I may have misread the docket. According to the current map, the N22 doesn't operate along Old Country Road (OCR) between Hicksville and Roosevelt Field. With the planned N78/79 cutback, service would be lost along OCR. The N24 extension would cover the gap. That's how its advertised in the docket. Passengers can transfer now between the N78/N79 and N22 at Hicksville.

The main question is will the N79 schedule be coordinated with the N24 schedule? If the answer is yes, the N24 schedule will be built first and N79 second. If it doesn't make a difference, then the N79 can be scheduled at any time.

And we should be on the look out for the removal of bus signs. Some bus signs will have to be enlarged to cover changes. The N23 stops here EXCEPT when it's on Roslyn Road. The N51 stops here but not today (Saturday).

Assuming that the MTA and Veolia had the same financial facts, its amazing how each decided to solve the problem. The MTA wanted to eliminate service but Veolia wants to adjust service, without eliminations. In fact, Veolia wants to increase service on some routes. From a financial standpoint, every company has fixed (indirect) and variable (direct) costs. Fixed costs are generally overhead (buildings, buses, and front office salaries and benefits) and variable costs are the direct costs of operating a trip (salary and benefits of the operator, gas, bus depreciation, etc.) Fixed costs are "fixed" because they don't change based on the level of service. By the county stating it saved millions of dollars leaving the MTA, this suggests that the county was paying a fortune in MTA overhead and Veolia overhead is much less. Spreading overhead is a mathematical exercise in allocation. Possibly, none of the bridges and tunnel surplus was directed to covering LI Bus costs.