A county bus route headed for the scrap heap has been granted a stay of execution for the remainder of the year, but its long-term prognosis remains in question.
Route 76, which stands as the only bus service in Rye City and Port Chester, was slated for cancellation effective April 5. Due to state budgetary constraints, the county began reviewing potential cost-savings and identified 11 bus routes, that if eliminated could save roughly $1.5 million in the 2010 Westchester budget. Larchmont’s Route 71 was also one of those services.

The local route, known as the Rye-Port Chester Loop, would have saved the county $242,114 this year. It was targeted due to low rider rates; the service carries an average of 225 passengers per day, according to County Legislator Judy Myers (D). It is also considered a mostly seasonal route due to its stops at Rye Playland and various clubs along Milton Harbor. Nonetheless, for seniors living down by the Milton Harbor House the bus line serves as their only true means of transportation, according to senior advocate Joe Murphy.

“It’s a marginal route in terms of ridership but…marginal or not there is a small population segment that relies on it,” Thomas Saunders, another senior advocate, said. “It’s the only link Rye has to the outside world if you will.”

The proposal sparked immediate outcry, said David Kucera, president of the Port Chester-Rye Transit, Inc., which has operated the route through County Coach for nearly 40 years; the county contracts the route out through the transit company. In all years, Kucera said he had never had a situation of this nature; he received a letter from the county on Jan. 21 notifying him of the route’s forthcoming cancellation. The proposal would have left both municipalities with no bus service to speak of. “The people really need the service,” the transit president added.

The community’s rallying cry was heard loud and clear. In hopes of fending off the elimination of the bus route, Kucera contacted Legislator Myers who urged Lawrence Salley, the county commissioner of transportation, to review the service. Soon thereafter, the route’s continuation was decided upon for the remainder of the year. The county commissioner was able to locate another avenue to fund the route; he found alternate funds to fill the budget gap using federal funding that had been allocated for new buses in 2014.

“The benefits of it [the route] are huge,” Myers said. “I heard from workers in Port Chester to seniors in Rye the importance of it.”

The local line also stops at both Rye and Port Chester train stations, the Kohl’s shopping center on Boston Post Road, and along Forest Avenue.

The move will require an amendment to the county’s 2010 capital budget and a vote by the County Board of Legislators, which will most likely take place at the end of the month, according to Myers. “This will allow us to get to the end of 2010,” she assured. The legislator doesn’t foresee any issues with the amendment being approved.

However, it isn’t the first time route 76 has been the target of cost-cutting measures.

In the latter part of 1999, State Assemblyman George Latimer (D), at the time chair of the County Board of Legislators, recalled the future of the route was also at stake when two key issues arose. There were county concerns due to low ridership and neighborhood concerns with the size of the bus and the route. A resolution was reached where the bus was shortened from a 35-footer and the route was expanded in hopes of picking up increased passengers.

Senior advocate Saunders said the issue once again warrants attention and its fate remains uncertain after this year. “I think a lot has to be said for keeping the route open,” he added. “It’s one of those cuts, as always, that affects the poor and elderly before it hits anyone else.”

Public transportation remains a critical ongoing issue all over the county, particularly regarding the elderly where in many places there is no public transportation for home health aides. “It’s really anywhere in the suburbs,” Saunders continued. “In the city there is a bus stop on every corner.”

In the meantime, there will be a comprehensive analysis of transit and funding over the long-term expected by the end of the year, according to Myers.

“This is a short-order solution but has long-term implications if not continued past 2010,” Senior Advocate Murphy told us. “Really, it’s just the start of a grassroots initiative to keep it going.”

With economic hardships abound, county bus lines have been experiencing decreases in ridership. Of the 11 routes that were planned to be axed, six were railroad station services signaling that all forms of public transportation have been impacted by recent job loss. Unemployment numbers in the county have hit record highs over the past year. “There is an immediate assumption one could make that there are less commuters if less people are going to jobs,” Myers said.

County routes that are slated to be cut effective Feb. 15 due to low ridership are the AirLink, the Westchester-Manhattan Express, routes 1X, 12, 15, 40, and 53.