Nassau County is set to receive a $42 million boost in federal funding to upgrade its aging bus system by ditching its diesel vehicles and rehabilitating its fleet yard.
The funding influx to the Long Island area’s public transit agency, the Nassau Inter-County Express, or NICE, will replace nearly 30 diesel-powered buses “at the end of their useful lives” with low-emission ones, as well as upgrade its outdated bus facility in Rockville Centre, according to officials.
“We are grateful to President Trump and [Transportation] Secretary [Sean] Duffy for this grant that will allow us to operate our buses in a safer and more efficient manner and provide quality public transportation for the residents of Nassau County,” Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said in a statement.
The big money boost is actually part of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed by then-President Joe Biden, which set aside more than $1 trillion for infrastructure projects nationwide.
“I am delighted to help deliver [the] federal grant funding to Nassau County that will help upgrade the NICE bus fleet and make station improvements to the County facility,” said Long Island Democratic Rep. Laura Gillen, who helped get the deal passed in the House nearly four years ago.
“Improving transportation options and reliability will directly benefit families, residents and businesses across Long Island’s South Shore,” Gillen said.
County officials said the deal would create jobs in the construction industry but didn’t detail how the $42 million will be split, what the Rockville Centre facility overhaul will include or when the upgrades will be finished.
A spokesperson for NICE said the agency still has a lot of coordination that needs to be worked out with Nassau County.
NICE is expecting to have the new green buses on the road by 2028, a rep for Gillen said.
