Who Needs A Bus?

Who would benefit from year-round bus service within Montauk and to and from East Hampton? Workers to whom a way across Napeague could put dinner on the table.

Social service clients who use clinics and government resources in Riverhead and other places to which a bus connection might be made in East Hampton.

Senior citizens with faltering driving skills who need to reach medical specialists and shopping facilities.

High school students who would like to participate in after-school functions, go to a movie or Guild Hall, or visit friends.

And the not so few people so often seen walking along Edgemere Road or the Montauk Highway - sometimes struggling under the weight of grocery and laundry bags on their way to and from downtown Montauk.

Ten weeks of bus service in high summer, as the county now provides, is simply insufficient for these residents, however low their number. Reliable bus service with predictable schedules would certainly increase ridership - something the county seems to want before it lays out the $44,000 it says it will cost to provide year-round service to its easternmost taxpayers.

To their credit, East Hampton Town Councilman Tom Knobel, who has been lobbying county representatives for three years, Councilman Pete Hammerle, the Town Board's liaison to the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee, and George Guldi, who represents the East End on the County Legislature, have been following several tacks with an aim to improving bus service for Montaukers.

One is to establish a year-round feeder route comparable to 10-B, the one that now connects Springs-Fireplace Road to East Hampton Village. Another is to amend the state franchise with the Hampton Jitney and Hamptons on My Mind bus companies to permit local pickups and dropoffs at the easternmost end, at least in the off-season.

A third option is to send the Springs bus to Montauk as well. Any improvement in service, the two Town Board members point out, should bring an increase in ridership that could only encourage the county to do more.

Let's hope that one of these plans bears fruit. Montauk in winter without a car really can be that spot between a rock and a hard place.