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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR- 151-05
April 22, 2005

MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG ANNOUNCES AGREEMENT WITH COMMAND, TRIBORO, GREEN AND JAMAICA BUS LINES

All Seven Franchise Bus Lines Will be Operated by the MTA

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Transit Alliance Chairman Jerome Cooper today announced an agreement in principle regarding the transition of the franchise bus service provided by Command, Triboro, Green and Jamaica Bus Lines to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). The Transit Alliance provides service to more than 136,000 riders in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan every day. This is the final agreement reached between the City and the seven operators of franchise bus lines.

"I am very pleased we have reached an agreement with the Transit Alliance," said Mayor Bloomberg.  "This was the final round of negotiations and we now have agreements with all the franchise bus operators.  I look forward to working with Transit Alliance and the MTA over the coming months on the transition of the operations of the Command, Triboro, Green and Jamaica Bus lines to the MTA .  I want to thank Deputy Mayor Marc Shaw, Budget Director Mark Page, Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo and Director of the Mayor's Office of Operations Susan Kupferman and all their staffs for their work on this issue."

"While it is understandably difficult to close the chapter on a business that has served New York well for nearly 100 years, we have reached an agreement with the City for an MTA takeover of our operations," said Jerome Cooper.   "We would like to thank the millions of New Yorkers who have ridden with us over the years for the opportunity to serve them and their families.  We also would like to recognize the contributions of the more than 2,000 people employed at our four companies and thank them for their hard work and dedication."

Command, Triboro, Green and Jamaica currently operate 693 buses on 17 express bus routes between Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan and 34 local routes in the Queens and Brooklyn.  The MTA will begin operations of the lines over the next several months with the full transition complete in early summer. On January 4th, the MTA began providing service in the areas formerly served by Liberty Lines and on February 26th, the MTA began providing service in the areas formerly served by Queens Surface Corporation and the City reached an agreement with New York Bus Lines on March 22nd.  In total, the seven franchise bus lines served nearly 190,000 people per day on 46 local and 36 express bus lines.







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Edward Skyler / Jordan Barowitz   (212) 788-2958




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