Introducing the East End Shuttle
A Proposed New
Public Transportation
System for the East End
"You’ll get where you want when you want."

What is East End Shuttle
and How Does It Work?

East End Shuttle is proposed as a new, coordinated shuttle train and bus network for the five East End towns. It will provide reliable public transportation from Speonk to Montauk on the South Fork and from Ronkonkoma to Orient Point on the North Fork. Here’s how it will work:



Shuttle trains on existing railroad tracks will arrive at train stations in the five East End towns as often as every thirty minutes during peak periods, seven days a week, year round. There will be twenty-one rail shuttle stations in the new system - fifteen existing stations, five reactivated stations and one new station.



Seamless transfers will occur from trains to shuttle buses waiting at the stations to transport passengers to stops close to their final destinations along shuttle bus routes in surrounding villages and hamlets.




Shuttle buses will also pick up passengers at stops and bring them to the train stations. Enhanced bus stops will have parking facilities and a shelter with benches.




The Shuttle network will replace Long Island Rail Road trains and Suffolk County Transit buses on the East End. Shuttle trains will connect at Speonk and Ronkonkoma with LIRR trains destined for stops farther west on Long Island and Manhattan.



How much are the fares?
The goal is to design The Shuttle to be very affordable — comparable to the $1 average fare charged by Suffolk County Transit buses for the use of the shuttles on the East End.


Who will pay to operate The Shuttle?
Right now, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which owns the LIRR, collects more than $60 million in taxes each year from East End taxpayers. The Shuttle network is estimated to cost less than  $40 million annually to operate and will be paid for from a portion of these existing MTA taxes.


Who will operate The Shuttle?
A proposed East End Transportation Authority comprised of representatives of the five East End towns will be created to contract out and oversee the actual operation of The Shuttle.
"You’ll get where you want when you want"



Five Reasons to Support The Shuttle

1. It will help reduce traffic and parking congestion.

The Shuttle will be designed for East End residents, workers, second homeowners and visitors alike. If, as expected, 10% to 15% of drivers use the new system, it will significantly reduce gridlock now existing on the East End. Everyone will bene lit, even those who don’t use the system.


2. The Shuttle will provide service as often as every 30 minutes, seven days a week, year round.

The Shuttle will operate every day year round, not just during the summer months.


3. The Shuttle will be affordable.

The Shuttle is a far more efficient use of our MTA taxes than the present LIRR trains. This more efficient use of taxes will help keep fares low.


4. It will protect the environment.
   
Less road traffic means less pollution. The Shuttle will take thousands of cars off our roads every day —    reducing fuel consumption and pollution.


5. It will improve transportation on the East End.
  
The Shuttle will provide, for the first time, local control over public transportation on the East End. It will replace LIRR trains and Suffolk County Transit buses. It will allow passengers to move around the East End faster and easier while reducing car traffic.


The following documents are available here as .pdf files:
 
  East End Transit Survey - Executive Summary
  East End Transit Survey - Full Report
  East End Shuttle Development Proposal Presentation
  East End Shuttle Development Proposal Narrative, with Appendixes

Our Press from December 12, 2005 to January 19, 2006

   SEEDS Demographic Analysis
 
December 12, 2005 Press Release, Announcing December 12, 2005 Launch of East End Shuttle Development Proposal

July 28, 2005 - Press Release, Announcing Results of Survey

September 18, 2006 - Press Release - Announcing the Recept of the New York State Shared Municipal Services Grant for Feasibility Study of the East End Shuttle

April 2, 2007 - Press Release Announcing a meeting with the LIRR

The East End Shuttle concept has been developed by:

Five Town Rural Transit. Inc. Officers and Board of Directors
Kathleen Cunningham Faraone (East Hampton), President
Patricia Shillingburg (Shelter Island), Treasurer
Margaret Brown (Southold), Secretary
Hank de Cillia (Southampton), Executive Director
Josephine DeVincenzi (Southampton), Board Member
James Ellwood (Riverhead), Board Member
John Rooney (Southold), Board Member
Tom Ruhle (East Hampton), Board Member
Vince Taldone (Riverhead), Board Member

Five Town Rural Transit, Inc. was first established as a citizen committee of residents from the
five East End Towns in early 2004 and then inccrporated as a non-profit organization in early 2005.
The organization’s mission is to research and develop improved
public transportation concepts for the East End.

Five Town Rural Transit, Inc.
P.O. Box 1433, Sag Harbor, NY 11963
Tel/Fax: 6.31.725.2745
email: decillia@earthlink.net
Artwork and copy designed by Mullen & McCaffrey Communications • www.mullenandmccaffrey.com

Web Site produced by Shillingburg & Associates