NICE Bus Pilot Adds Soundview Stops

For the past few years, Legislator DeRiggi-Whitton has worked with NICE (Nassau Inter County Express) bus system CEO Jack Khzouz to create a pilot program to connect Port Washington’s West Shore Road industrial park and The Amsterdam assisted living facility to Port Washington’s LIRR station and access to other public transportation routes. Just five months after the program began, it is being expanded based on positive feedback to a commuter shuttle survey conducted by Residents Forward in 2016.

The shuttle will continue to provide morning and evening rush hour service between the Port Washington LIRR Station, two West Shore Road stops, the Roslyn Clock Tower and Gerry Park (upon request). Effective May 28, five pickup locations in the Soundview section of Port Washington North were added. The added route will loop around Soundview Drive, making stops at Driftwood Drive, Steamboat Drive, Schooner Lane, Sandy Court and Wildwood Garden apartment complex.

“I am so pleased to have helped get this initiative off the ground. The thought of employees of West Shore Road businesses having to walk for miles to get to work because there was no public transportation was awful. This pilot was initiated in large part to the efforts of the residents of The Amsterdam,” Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton said. “These added stops will ease commutes and the already stressed LIRR station parking burden. We expect ridership during the pilot program to be high enough that it becomes a permanent line.” The pilot runs through December 31, 2019.

As is the case with many commuter parking lots, Port Washington’s commuter parking situation has been a problem for decades. In 2016, Residents conducted an online survey that garnered nearly 1,000 respondents. “Over 70 percent of the respondents said they would consider taking a shuttle,” Residents Forward Executive Director Mindy Germain said. “Since most of the positive responses came from Soundview, we have been advocating a shuttle pilot in that neighborhood be included in this NICE shuttle pilot program.”

The cost per one-way trip is $2.75; the same and other NICE bus fares. Metrocards are also accepted. Please visit nicebus.com/portwashingtonshuttle for complete schedule and route information.