The webpage, which will be located on the County’s Connect Long Island Website, will provide general project information and updates, along with opportunities for residents to get involved by providing input through surveys and public meetings.

“Our future is dependent on adapting to the needs and desires of our diverse communities,” said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. “The Reimagine Transit initiative does just that. This new webpage brings together all the pieces of the puzzle in a cohesive and convenient way for our residents to explore, providing updates on the project and resources for them to learn more.”

Reimagine Transit is an initiative to rethink the entire network of Suffolk County Transit bus routes to ensure that the County is making the best use of its resources and aligning its investments with community goals and priorities. The goal of the initiative, which began in September of 2020 and is funded through a New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC) Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) grant, is to restructure transit services to offer a more effective transit system that is in tune with the emerging technologies and trends, and identify opportunities for the use of new tools, like on-demand transit services.

The Reimagine Transit initiative will offer Suffolk residents the chance to reconsider how its transit system is meeting the county’s mobility needs. With transit systems around the country facing declining ridership and constrained budgets exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever to ensure that the County’s resources are both being put to use most efficiently to meet the County’s ridership and transit coverage goals. Expected to conclude in the fall of 2021, the initiative will result in an implementation and roll-out plan to redesign Suffolk’s transit network.

Understanding how the community values different outcomes is an essential step in determining how we define a successful transit system. To that end, this new webpage, which was developed in-house, gives users the ability to explore reports on the state of transit, provides answers to frequently asked questions, and allows users to learn about opportunities to provide input, including surveys and upcoming public meetings.

The initiative builds on Connect Long Island, the County Executive’s signature regional transportation and development plan, and the Suffolk County Mobility Study which evaluated the County’s transit challenges.

In 2015, County Executive Bellone first launched his Connect Long Island Initiative, a regional transportation and development plan that promotes long-term economic growth in Suffolk County through a model of increased access and mobility by alternative modes of transportation. The plan supports investments in regional mass transit systems, such as the Long Island Railroad, the implementation of new transit modes, the creation of transit-oriented developments and the connection of these transit-oriented developments and downtown areas to major research and educational institutions.