Suffolk County Transit

Suffolk County Transit

Suffolk Transit #5008 picks up customers in Bay Shore on the S41 to East Northport.
Founded	1980–1981
Headquarters	Yaphank
Service area	Suffolk County and southeastern Nassau County
Service type	Local bus service
Routes	43
Fleet	157 fixed-route, 147 SCAT (2013 figures)
Daily ridership	21,836 (weekday 2013)
Fuel type	Ultra-low sulfur diesel
Operator	See operator list below
Chief executive	Gilbert Anderson, Commissioner, Garry Lenberger, Acting Director Transportation Operations
Website	Official Website

Suffolk County Transit is the provider of bus services in Suffolk County, New York on Long Island in the United States and is an agency of the Suffolk County government. It was founded in 1980 as a county-run oversight and funding agency for a group of private contract operators which had previously provided such services on their own. While the physical maintenance and operation of the buses continue to be provided by these providers, other matters ranging from bus purchases to route and schedule planning to fare rules are set by Suffolk Transit itself.

Though serving the entirety of Suffolk County, the one exception is in Huntington, located in the northwestern part of the county, where that town's private operator declined to join Suffolk Transit. Instead, Huntington took over that town's system which became Huntington Area Rapid Transit, or HART. Most of HART's routes do connect to both Suffolk Transit and Nassau Inter-County Express and one can transfer between HART and Suffolk Transit fairly easily. In addition, the village of Patchogue has its own local bus service.

Suffolk County Transit began as the consolidation of numerous private bus companies, many of which became contractors for the county. These included the Bornscheuer Bus Company which served Amityville, Copiague, Lindenhurst, West Babylon, and Babylon. Affiliated company EBT (Educational Bus Transportation, Incorporated) formed in 1962, continues in existence under contract with Suffolk County Transit.

In Central Suffolk, the East Patchogue-based Louis A. Fuoco Bus Line (1962-1996) served Patchogue, East Patchogue, Hagerman, Bellport, South Haven, Mastic, Mastic Beach, Port Jefferson, Medford, Coram, Ridge, Calverton, and Riverhead. Continued to exist during early years of Suffolk County Transit. Also, Coram Bus Service (1958-1992) primarily operated school buses, but also began serving mass transit routes in the Town of Brookhaven towards locations as far west as Commack and East Northport, and as far east as Riverhead.

On the North Shore, Huntington Coach Corporation (1927-present) served Huntington, Farmingdale, Melville, and Halesite. Quinn's Bus Lines, and later Coram Bus Service after the two were merged in 1969 [3], mainly served the area between Port Jefferson and Wading River; especially after the demise of the Wading River Extension of the Port Jefferson Branch.