Our buses are needed

Dear Editor,

The following letter was sent to Governor Andrew Cuomo.

“I am writing to you in response to information I have received regarding public transportation in Tioga County. It is very disturbing to those of us who regularly use public transportation to find out, through a news report online, that we have lost our primary means of transportation to and from work.

We found out on Monday, Sept. 15, 2014 that the Tioga County Legislators were going to conduct a vote on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014 at 10 a.m. on whether or not First Transit’s contract would be terminated with the county as of Nov. 30, 2014.

It is highly frustrating that we had approximately 48 hours’ notice for this vote, and that the vote took place during a time when few of us could take the time off from work to be there to support our bus system.

As taxpayers in Tioga County, as well as a few from Broome County, we feel that public transportation is an invaluable resource and certainly one of the few values we actually see from our tax dollars. We also pay for this service, either from direct withdrawals from our paycheck (sometimes subsidized by our employers, sometimes not) or pay directly upon utilizing the bus service.

We are disturbed that such a service has been discontinued, largely due to a huge decrease in state funding because Medicaid patients are now transported with a point-to-point taxi service.

We have plenty of people filling our bus runs every day. Many of us depend on public transportation to get to work for several reasons: some of us do not have licenses, share vehicles, are disabled, or just believe that there are many good reasons to use public transportation. We would like to think that our elected officials are fighting to keep such services and protect the funding that supports them.

The new Medicaid brokerage system is having a catastrophic impact on our bus system, which has now led to the elimination of the service altogether. The repercussions for a rural county the size of Tioga to be without a public transportation system are unfathomable.

The availability of the bus service also provides the opportunity for our family members to use our vehicles to get to school or to other places of employment that would otherwise be impossible to reach.

Our county is a wonderful place to reside, but unfortunately has limited sources of employment, and we need public transportation to allow us to connect to any and all job opportunities, which happen to be 20-30 miles outside of Tioga County.

Also, with the upcoming decision to award a N.Y. casino license having a public transportation system that would allow for routes to the casino would likely be desirable for both employees and customers alike.

Would it be preferable for us to move out of the county so that we can get to work through the public transportation that only Tompkins and or Broome County supplies? Or to leave New York State altogether?

There are also Tioga county riders who need and depend on public transportation. On a broader scale, the county has many low-income, elderly, and disabled individuals who rely on public transportation for their medical appointments, grocery shopping, jobs and school. Many rely on buses because they are wheelchair accessible, which makes the proposed replacement with a taxi service a very poor alternative.

There are also high school and college students, whose only means of transportation to New Roots Charter School (Ithaca), Tompkins-Cortland Community College (Dryden), Cornell University, or Ithaca College is by public transportation. Also, needless to say, the elimination of the public transit system would have a profound effect on the staff and bus drivers of First Transit who would be rendered unemployed as a result.

We believe that the local public transportation system should be adequately funded to ensure its continued operation as it provides vital access to jobs and education, which are essential for the wellbeing of residents and the economic development of the county. We are willing to consider another moderate increase to the current fares.

Please keep us informed of this process and we would be happy to discuss this with you further.”

Respectfully yours,

Lynn A. Dowling