county express a nassau inter county express westbound n4 bus departs the freeport railroad station . parent nassau county new york fleet ownership founded 1973 msba 2012 nice defunct 2011 msba headquarters 700 commercial avenue uniondale ny locale nassau county new york service area most of nassau county except for northern town of oyster bay parts of queens county and suffolk county service type local bus routes 41 plus five shuttle routes hubs 4 major bus hubs 48 lirr stations and 5 new york city subway stations fleet 308 fixed route 122 able ride daily ridership 95 854 weekday 2013 1 fuel type cng fixed route diesel able ride operator transdev chief executive michael setzer website nicebus.com the nassau inter county express nice or nice bus is the local bus system serving nassau county new york . it also serves parts of western suffolk county new york as well as eastern portions of the new york city borough of queens . it was formerly operated under the name of mta long island bus the trading name of the metropolitan suburban bus authority a division of mta regional bus operations . in 2011 the owner nassau county decided to outsource the system to a private operator the french multinational corporation veolia transportation now called transdev due to a funding dispute with the mta . 2 contents 1 history 1.1 private companies pre 1973 1.2 mta long island bus 1.3 privatization and nice 2 fare 3 bus depots 3.1 rockville centre depot 3.2 mitchel field depot 3.3 stewart avenue depot able ride 4 fleet 4.1 future fleet 5 routes 6 references 7 external links history edit private companies pre 1973 edit the mta began operating nassau county bus service in 1973 under the name metropolitan suburban bus authority through the merging of 11 private operators routes in italics have been discontinued bee line inc. n1 n4 n6 n2 n3 and subsidiaries rockville centre bus n15 n16 n14 n17 utility lines n19 ; extended to patchogue along current s40 suffolk transit route stage coach lines n71 n73 n74 and earlier n70 note the n70 under stage coach was a loop route from hempstead to levittown bellmore wantagh and back to hempstead . mid island transit n78 n79 n80 n81 this operator was acquired by stage coach which would be acquired by bee line . also operated by this operator was a route from today s broadway mall to oyster bay . schenck transportation n20 n21 n22 n23 n24 n25 n26 n27 and previously acquired nassau bus line n31 n32 n33 universal auto bus n57 and n58 jerusalem avenue bus line n51 n54 n55 n53 hempstead bus corporation n35 n36 n37 merged into n35 n40 n41 n45 n47 n48 n49 roosevelt bus line n62 branch bus corporation n69 ; transferred to long beach in 1984 hendrickson bus corporation n67 discontinued january 1975 denotes original bus routes that are now active shuttles as of september 6 2016 mta long island bus edit former long island bus logo used under mta ownership from 1998 to 2011 in the 1980s the n28 now discontinued n46 also discontinued n50 also discontinued and n70 as an n72 branch were instituted as new routes with the n20 extended to hicksville . the 1990s saw the creation of a shuttle around roosevelt field n93 now discontinued two shuttles designed to take customers from train stations to work sites the n94 and n95 both discontinued and a service connecting nassau county to jfk airport the n91 now discontinued with the 2000s seeing a merrick shuttle now discontinued and the n8 now discontinued and n43 routes being created . in 2007 long island bus averaged over 109 000 weekday riders many of which include customers connecting to other mta services in the region . by 2011 the mta had averaged 101 981 weekday riders by the time of the agency s exit from operating the service . privatization and nice edit further information ed mangano issues with long island bus in 2010 the future of mta long island bus became uncertain as the mta threatened drastic cuts due to nassau county s disproportionately small contributions to the operation . for the past decade the mta has provided a unique subsidy of 24 million in 2011 and over 140 million since 2000 to the nassau county bus system that the other new york city suburban county bus systems have not received . 3 the county s contribution was 9.1 million per year out of a total budget of 133.1 million and the mta desired that this contribution increase to 26 million . 3 critics have noted that westchester county subsidized its similarly sized bee line bus system service by 33 million year and that suffolk subsidizes its substantially smaller suffolk county transit system by 24 million year . 3 the county hoped to reduce its contribution from 9.1 million to 4.1 million by using a private contractor ; 4 the planned county contribution was later decreased to 2.5 million year . 5 by march 2011 the mta citing nassau s refusal to pay its contracted amount proposed a set of major service reductions which would have eliminated over half of the routes with the greatest impact on southeastern nassau county eliminating all routes operating south of hempstead turnpike and east of the meadowbrook state parkway except for the n71 . 6 after reviewing the service cut plans county executive ed mangano considered severing ties with the mta and privatizing the long island bus system . 7 a temporary reprieve via additional state funding would have sustained service through the end of 2011 . 8 however on april 27 2011 the mta voted to cease all bus service in nassau county after the end of 2011 . mangano then announced that he had retained veolia transportation to operate the system beginning in 2012 through a public private partnership pending legislative approval . 9 10 on november 10 2011 veolia and mangano announced that the service was going to be renamed nassau inter county express or nice upon veolia s takeover of the system . all buses including able ride vehicles would be painted into a new paint scheme to reflect the change . 2 on december 12 2011 the legislature unanimously approved the veolia contract which was subsequently approved by the state controlled nassau county interim finance authority nifa on december 22 2011 . veolia began operations january 1 2012 . this veolia plan was the subject of heated county public hearings in which long island bus riders and employees criticized the plan . 11 12 in february 2012 veolia announced service cuts and adjustments to take effect in april 2012 . while there were no route cancellations planned just over 7 million in cuts to existing routes were planned with service reductions and route concentrations planned for routes primarily serving northern and eastern nassau county beginning in spring 2012 with resources redirected towards busier routes . 5 these cuts ultimately included decreased service on 30 routes including elimination of weekend service and decreased midday service on seven routes . 13 these cuts were criticized as occurring too soon only six weeks after starting service . 14 the long island bus rider s union a transit advocacy group sharply criticized the cuts claiming that the announcements of service adjustments on the nice bus website were very unclear that service to many health care and social service centers was cut and that many of the nice bus service cuts appear to be in low income communities where more people rely on buses to get to work and to access the few available health care centers that serve their needs . 15 in 2013 the nice bus system obtained a windfall from increased new york state but not nassau county aid of 5 million and 3 million from a fare increase for metrocard bus riders . 16 in march 2014 the nice bus system faced another 3.3 million budget deficit . 16 at that time the bus system expected an increase of state aid its largest revenue stream of 1.2 million . 16 on october 31 2014 the nassau county legislature adopted a 2015 budget that will increase nassau county s contribution to nice bus from 2.6 million to 4.6 million in 2015 and promised not to raise fares outside of metrocard fare increases metrocard is controlled by the metropolitan transportation authority . 17 this new 4.6 million contribution was hailed as a victory for nassau county bus riders although it will still leave nice bus with a 6 million operating deficit . 17 18 however on december 11 2014 nassau county executive ed mangano proposed cutting 4 million from nassau county s nice bus contribution in addition to cuts to numerous other nassau county services to replace the 30 million that will be lost after the shutdown of nassau county s controversial school speed zone cameras . 19 on january 17 2016 nice eliminated fifteen routes due to a budget deficit and low ridership and restructured three routes . 20 on june 27 2016 nice restored service on two routes n80 81 and restored two others n14 n17 as shuttles . on september 6 2016 nice restored service on one route n51 and restored three others original n2 n62 n73 as shuttles . fare edit the current fare is 2.75 1.35 for seniors and disabled customers with a metrocard including unlimited cards or coins . students with id receive a discount of 0.25 from the base fare . dollar bills are not accepted on any nice fixed route buses . transfers are available upon request with coins and are included automatically with metrocard . the transfers are valid for two hours and can be used on two connecting nice bus routes . they are also valid on suffolk county transit long beach bus huntington area rapid transit hart or mta new york city transit with the following restrictions transfers to non metrocard buses are with coins only . transfers to the new york city subway or new york city bus or mta bus express service are available with metrocard only express buses require additional fare . transfers from suffolk transit huntington area rapid transit hart or long beach bus require payment of a 0.25 fare . 21 the able ride paratransit fare is 3.75 payable in able ride tickets or exact fare . bus depots edit glimpse of the rockville centre bus depot in september 2012 . note the mta logo is painted over . nassau inter county express operates from three garages in nassau county as listed below . rockville centre depot edit the rockville centre bus depot is located on 50 banks avenue in rockville centre . 22 this garage originally the home of bee line inc. houses the n1 n4 n15 n19 n25 n31 n32 n33 n35 some service n36 n40 some service n41 some service and n88 jones beach summer service only routes . mitchel field depot edit the mitchel field depot marked senator norman j. levy transit facility on older buses and on the building itself is located on 700 commercial avenue in uniondale and is the headquarters and central garage for nassau inter county express . the garage is named after the mitchel air force base that operated there from 1918 until 1961 . all routes not operated from the rockville centre garage are dispatched from this garage . 22 stewart avenue depot able ride edit the stewart avenue depot is located on 947 stewart avenue in east garden city . all able ride nassau county shared ride ada paratransit service is dispatched from this garage . fleet edit nassau inter county express runs a 100 % compressed natural gas fueled bus fleet for fixed route service . all of the buses below are 102 inches 2.59 meters wide and are fully compliant with the americans with disabilities act of 1990 . pictures shown are of buses in nice livery