NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York state has starved both its downstate and upstate regions of transportation dollars to the extent that one-fourth of the suburban and rural buses are too old to be on the roads, a study said on Monday.

Federal rules say the average age of a bus fleet should not be more than six years. But suburban and upstate transit systems have 1,006 buses that are older, the New York Public Transit Association said. Another 771 new buses will be needed in five years, the association recommended in the study.

New York should add $130 million to the $340 million of capital that the state transportation department proposed for public transit outside New York City and its suburbs, which are served by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Keeping suburban and upstate bus fares affordable and ensuring there are "viable" levels of service will cost more than $200 million a year in operating expenses though the recession is draining state aid and tax revenues, said the study by the Albany-based, not-for-profit group.

"Simply put, the lack of operating funds for upstate and suburban transit systems has reached crisis level," it said.

Yet "In difficult economic times, more and more people turn to public transit for affordable and economical mobility," said the study, which also urged the state to buy 815 green buses instead of the 500 it planned.

Democratic Governor David Paterson has already said the state cannot afford the transportation department's plan to spend $28.5 billion plan over the next five years or a similar one proposed by the MTA, the biggest U.S. mass transit system.

Though the transportation department's proposal highlighted the importance of mass transit, "it offers no solutions or remedies," the study said, calling for new revenues or hiking taxes and fees.

For example, upstate employers could be assessed the new payroll tax that downstate employers began paying earlier this year to help fund the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the study said.

(Reporting by Joan Gralla; Editing by Kenneth Barry)