Predecessors

Prior to the formation of Suffolk County Transit in 1980, public bus services within Suffolk County were provided by private operators.^[4][5][6] These included the Bornscheuer Bus Company, which served Amityville, Copiague, Lindenhurst, West Babylon, and Babylon. An affiliated company – EBT, Inc. (an affiliate of school bus company Educational Bus Transportation, Inc.) – continues to operate several of these routes under contract with Suffolk County Transit.^[7]

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

In Western Suffolk and on the North Shore, the Huntington Coach Corporation (1927–present) served Huntington, East Farmingdale, Melville, and Halesite.^[8] Quinn's Bus Lines (and later Coram Bus Service, after the two merged in 1969^[9]) mainly served the area between Port Jefferson and Wading River – especially after the demise of the Wading River Extension of the Port Jefferson Branch.^[10]

In the western parts of the Town of Islip, Suffolk Bus Corporation (1946–present) served Bay Shore, Brentwood, West Brentwood, Central Islip, Islip, and Babylon; it continues to operate several of these routes under contract with Suffolk County Transit.^[11]

On the East End, Sunrise Coach Lines (1946–present) served Greenport, Riverhead, Southampton, Sag Harbor, and East Hampton; it continues to operate several of these routes under contract with joint venture Twin Forks Transit for the routes they originally operated for Suffolk County Transit. In 2006, Sunrise Coach's EXPRESS Routes were purchased by Hampton Jitney.^[12] This joint venture was discontinued on October 29, 2023, as the discontinuation of the S92 – which had been co-operated by Sunrise and Hampton Jitney – rendered it obsolete.

Utility Lines – a Bee Line, Inc. subsidiary – ran from Patchogue via Montauk Highway, thence Merrick Road into Nassau County. This line was merged into the Metropolitan Suburban Bus Authority (MSBA) in 1973, but funding and service disputes lead to the splitting of that route between the N19 west of Babylon and S40 east of Babylon.

Inter-County Motor Coach Incorporated – based in the Village of Babylon – has been operating since 1922.^[13] Affiliated companies included Babylon Transit (operating from 1937 until around 1986), and Lindenhurst Bus Company (which operated from 1952 to 1986) – both companies running in their final years under contract with Suffolk County Transit.^[14][15][16]

Alert Coach, an affiliate of Baumann & Sons Buses, Incorporated, and Acme Bus Corporation began on November 30, 1966, and had at least four lines within the county, which included a troubled history with the Suffolk portion of the old Utility Lines bus.^[17]

Suffolk County Transit (1980–present)

Suffolk County Transit was established in 1980, as the consolidation of the various private bus companies – several of which would become contractors for the county and its new bus services – that predated the agency and previously operated the bus services independently.^{[4][5][6][18]}

During his tenure as Suffolk County executive, Steve Levy proposed a takeover of Suffolk County Transit by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.^[19]

In 2011, the Suffolk County Legislature authorized a fare hike from $1.50 to $2.00 on the S92 and 10C routes only. In return, service on those two routes was expanded to Sunday during the summer months. The fare hike took place on June 17, 2011, with Sunday service operating from July until September.^[20][21]

In 2023, Suffolk County Transit released their redesign plan for routes, as part of its "Reimagine Transit" initiative.^[6][22] This redesign was supposed to go into effect on October 1, 2023, but was postponed until the end of that month.^[6] Because of this, NICE bus made a change to weekend service on the n71 bus route in September 2023, to provide a connection to the timed transfer point at Amityville from the Sunrise Mall in Nassau County, where both the n71 and S20 (now route 2) previously terminated.^[6]

On October 29, 2023, the redesigned network's new services went into effect.^[6][23] All new routes, maps, and schedules were posted on the agency's website – and the "S" route prefix was eliminated on all bus routes and their designations.^[6]

Bus service hours

Suffolk Transit bus service operates seven days a week. All routes run Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturdays 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sundays 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. with a few exceptions on weekdays where some routes start around 5 a.m. and others end service right before 12 midnight.^[7]

On weekdays, routes 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 17, 51, 52 (between Central Islip and Selden, and the Gordon Heights terminus), and 66 operate every 30 minutes on weekdays until 6 p.m., with route 17 until 7 p.m., and route 1 until 8 p.m. When both are running, route 77 (regular daily service) – along with the 77Y (weekday peak hours) – operate alternately every 30 minutes between Patchogue and Sunshine Square. Past Sunshine Square, there is 60-minute service on both the 77 and the 77Y.^[7]

Routes 3, 10, 15, 53, 55, 56, 58, 62, 80, and 92 operate every 60 minutes on weekdays at all times. Route 110 operates in directional 60-minute peak service only, and routes 52A/B run every 60 minutes on weekdays between Selden and Gordon Heights.^[7]

On weekends and holidays, all routes operate every 60 minutes.^[7]

Routes 52B, 56, 77Y, and 110 operate weekdays only.^[7]

Routes 77Y and 110 operate during peak hours only.^[7]

Route 56 operates mid-morning until mid-afternoon only.^[7]

Route 15 operates only during daytime in the summer.^[7]

SCT now runs on all 365 days of the year, including holidays.^[7]

Route assignments

Rather than operate its services in-house like many other transit agencies, Suffolk County Transit contracts all their routes to private contractors.^[7]

The table below lists the private contractors hired to provide fixed-route services and their assignments as of June 3, 2024.^[7] It does not include Suffolk County Accessible Transportation (SCAT) paratransit service, which is solely operated by Suffolk Bus Corporation.^[24]

Note: EBT Inc. is the operator of Suffolk County Transit Buses, and is the sister company of Educational Bus Transportation (a school bus company).

Note: As of October 29, 2023, Twin Forks Transit has been split into separate operations by Sunrise Coach Lines and Hampton Jitney, as route 92 is no longer co-operated by Sunrise and Hampton Jitney.

Current bus fleet

Photo	Year	Builder	Model Name	Length	Fleet number	Number in service	Notes
	2010	DaimlerChrysler North America	Orion VII Next Generation 07.501	40.5 ft	1001-1015 (15 buses)	10 (retiring)	1001–1009, 1011 assigned to EBT, Inc. 1010, 1012-1015 are retired Soon to be replaced by the new delivery of 2026 New Flyer Xcelsior buses
			Orion VII Next Generation 07.502	35 ft	1016-1065 (50 buses)	26 (retiring)	1016, 1018, 1021, 1022, 1024–1027, 1037, 1038, 1059-1062 assigned to Suffolk Bus Corp 1040, 1041, 1043, 1044, 1047-1049, 1052, 1053, 1055, 1056, 1065 assigned to EBT, Inc 1017, 1019, 1020, 1023, 1028–1036, 1039, 1042, 1045, 1046, 1050, 1051, 1054, 1057, 1058, 1063, 1064 are retired 1062 is a training unit and is part of the reserve fleet for Suffolk Bus Corp. Soon to be replaced by the new delivery of 2026 New Flyer Xcelsior buses
			Orion VII Next Generation 07.503	32.5 ft	1066-1081 (16 buses)	5 (retiring)	1067, 1070, 1071, 1073, 1075 assigned to Suffolk Bus Corp 1066, 1068, 1069, 1072, 1074, 1076-1081 are retired Soon to be replaced by the new delivery of 2026 New Flyer Xcelsior buses
	2017	New Flyer	Xcelsior XDE40	40 ft	7001-7010 (10 buses)	9	Assigned to Sunrise Coach Lines, Inc. 7002 out of service for an unknown reason, currently at the AKA Auto Bus & Truck Inc. repair shop in Deer Park
			Xcelsior XDE35	35 ft	7011-7030 (20 buses)	19	7011-7020 assigned to EBT, Inc 7021-7030 assigned to Suffolk Bus Corp. 7018 out of service after being involved in a fire on 7/22/26
		ARBOC	Spirit of Mobility	29 ft	7101-7140 (40 buses)	9 (retiring)	7110, 7121, 7127, 7128, 7131, 7134-7137 assigned to Suffolk Bus Corp. 7101-7109, 7111-7120, 7122-7126, 7129, 7130, 7132, 7133, 7138-7140 are retired Partially replaced by a retrofitted fleet of 2020 Coach and Equipment Phoenix buses that were displaced from SCAT paratransit service Currently being replaced by the new delivery of 2026 New Flyer Xcelsior buses
	2019	New Flyer	Xcelsior XDE35	35 ft	7031-7046 (16 buses)	16	7031-7033 assigned to Sunrise Coach Lines, Inc. 7034-7037 assigned to EBT, Inc. 7038-7046 assigned to Suffolk Bus Corp.
			Xcelsior XDE40	40 ft	7047-7052 (6 buses)	5	7047-7048 assigned to Sunrise Coach Lines, Inc. 7049-7052 assigned to Suffolk Bus Corp. 7052 out of service for an unknown reason
	2020		Xcelsior XDE35	35 ft	7053-7056, 7061–7071 (15 buses)	15	7053-7056 assigned to EBT, Inc. 7061-7071 assigned to Suffolk Bus Corp.
			Xcelsior XDE40	40 ft	7057-7060, 7072–7073 (6 buses)	6	7057-7060 assigned to EBT, Inc. 7072-7073 assigned to Sunrise Coach Lines, Inc.
		Coach and Equipment	Phoenix ML	20.8 ft	20001–20003, 20037–20040 (7 buses)	6 (retiring)	20001, 20003 assigned to EBT, Inc. and are both part of their reserve fleet 20037-20040 assigned to Suffolk Bus Corp. 20002 is retired Displaced from SCAT paratransit service and retrofitted for fixed-route service to replace some of the 2017 ARBOC Spirit of Mobility bus fleet Soon to be replaced by the new delivery of 2026 New Flyer Xcelsior buses 2020 Models
			Phoenix DRW	26 ft	20041–20045 (5 buses)	5	Assigned to Suffolk Bus Corp. Displaced from SCAT paratransit service and retrofitted for fixed-route service to replace some of the 2017 ARBOC Spirit of Mobility bus fleet 2020 Models
	2026	New Flyer	Xcelsior XDE35	35 ft	7201-7292 (92 buses)	18 (under delivery)	7201-7219 were delivered by 5/22/26. 7222, 7225 have been built. Expected to be delivered. 7201, 7208, 7209, 7211-7213, 7215, 7217, 7218 assigned to Suffolk Bus Corp. 7202-7207, 7214, 7216, 7219 assigned to EBT, Inc. 7210 assigned to Sunrise Coach Lines, Inc. 7209 out of service after being involved in an MVA on 7/14/26. First 43 buses expected to be delivered throughout 2026. Expected to replace the remaining 2017 ARBOC Spirit of Mobility bus fleet before replacing the remaining 2010 Orion VII NG bus fleet.
			Xcelsior XE40 CHARGE	40 ft	9001-9040 (40 buses)	6 (under delivery)	9001-9006 are delivered. Last updated as of 07/10/26. 9001-9003 assigned to Suffolk Bus Corp. 9004-9006 assigned to EBT, Inc. Expected to replace the remaining 2010 Orion VII NG bus fleet.

Overview

SCAT service is available Monday through Friday, 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM, Saturday 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM, and Sunday 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM. The fare for an ADA eligible rider is $4.00. When that rider is accompanied by a personal care attendant (PCA), that PCA does not pay a fare, but must have the same origin and destination as the rider. If riders choose to travel with companions not a PCA, that person must pay the fare of $4.00.^[7][24]