State Funding Will Increase NICE Bus Service To Jones Beach

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced on Thursday that the state would be providing $120,000 to ensure that the Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE) Bus can afford to offer uninterrupted weekend service to Jones Beach throughout June.

Weekend service provided by NICE Bus was initially scheduled to end after Memorial Day and restart on June 22, when service begins running daily through Labor Day. Now, the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, the Department of Transportation, Empire State Development and Nassau County reached a solution to ensure there would be no interruption in weekend service, as well as extended weekend service after Labor Day to Sept. 15.

"Jones Beach State Park is one of our most popular and treasured destinations in the state," Cuomo said. "If the park is open, it should be accessible without interruptions in the transportation that visitors rely on to get there. Weekend bus service to Jones Beach is essential for visitors as well as the local Long Island economy that relies so heavily on tourism."

Bus service will begin in Freeport at 8:30 a.m. and the last bus will depart Jones Beach at 8:55 p.m. A roundtrip NICE ticket to Jones Beach from the Freeport LIRR station is $5.50. More information is available here.

NICE Bus will run weekend service from Saturday, May 25 through Sunday, Sept. 15. Monday through Friday service, which starts on Monday, June 24 and runs through Friday, Aug. 30, will be hourly, departing Freeport 30 minutes past the hour and departing the beach at 55 past the hour. Weekend service will run half hourly, with additional service as needed, leaving Freeport on the hour and half hour, and departing the beach at 25 and 55 minutes past the hour.

Summer ridership is estimated at 33,000 with 16,000 weekday riders who will benefit from this restored service. With an estimated 4 million visitors to Jones Beach between Memorial Day and Labor Day the NICE service has proven to be an efficient and stress free way to get to the beach and state park.

"Our local community at Jones Beach welcomes thousands of visitors every summer and for us every day counts," said Nassau County Executive Laura Curran. "Having daily bus service to the park for the extended season is a gift to our local businesses who depend on tourism."