NEW YORK - The Metropolitan Transportation Authority Wednesday announced plans to begin integrating the operations of its three bus companies to create the more seamless and efficient regional bus operations. New York City Transit Bus, MTA Bus and Long Island Bus will each maintain its individual identity and funding, while a managerial restructuring will increase accountability and ensure consistency in serving the entire MTA region.

“By streamlining the management of our bus companies we will eliminate redundancies, improve efficiency and service, and save money,” said Elliot Sander, MTA executive director. “This initiative builds on the early success of our subway general manager program, and we will continue to identify and implement ways to become more efficient and improve service for our customers. Unifying bus operations is also a big first step toward creating a truly regional transportation network and is a critical part of our institutional transformation agenda.” 

The consolidation is intended to yield savings for the MTA, and the extent of the savings will be identified in the coming months. MTA bus customers will begin to benefit from a number of improvements:

• an integrated Command Center and road operations providing a single point of contact for NYCT, MTA Bus and LI Bus customers in case of emergencies;
• a comprehensive travel information system with consistent, coordinated regional bus service information on the internet and handheld devices;
• more effective staging of resources to better address prioritized needs such as in the case of emergencies, bus shuttles, gaps in service, and other regional service requirements;
• improved response time for all incidents.