TAC tackles public transportation issues

By Alberto Gilman
Posted 1/25/22

Bus reliability, poor communication between the bus company and riders, and bus shelters in disrepair were among the issues brought forth at the regular Newburgh Transportation Advisory Committee …

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TAC tackles public transportation issues

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Bus reliability, poor communication between the bus company and riders, and bus shelters in disrepair were among the issues brought forth at the regular Newburgh Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting on Thursday, January 13.

Gabriel Berlin, who serves as a co-chair of TAC, had previously reached out to Orange County Planning Commissioner Alan Sorensen and Marc Miller, Director of Operations for Leprechaun Lines, Mid-State Bus, Gallagher Bus and Newburgh-Beacon Bus , to address reliability and communication issues.

The Newburgh Area Transit, a.k.a Transit Orange, serves as the main local bus system in the City of Newburgh. It runs Monday to Saturday. The Newburgh Beacon Shuttle runs Monday through Friday only according to Miller.

The buses are operated and drivers are hired by Leprechaun Lines in New Windsor. The bus schedules themselves are maintained by the county, not the bus company, said Miller.
Berlin had said that the buses in the City of Newburgh will either arrive late, not at all or will change their routes based on route obstacles.

During the on-going pandemic, concerns about bus driver shortages and health concerns [the present Omicron and Delta COVID-19 variants] have also come up in conversation.
During the pandemic, Sorensen said “there was a period of time in 2020 when fares were not collected for the Newburgh Area Transit services but service levels remained the same”.

The county is still continuing its efforts to keep riders on all public transportation safe, according to Sorensen.

“Masks are required along with increased daily cleaning of the interior of the buses,” Sorensen said.

Berlin has spoken with Sorenson and other county representatives to create a more reliable and informative communication system for the city riders.

“We, the committee, and the city government have asked for that [an improved communication system] in the past,” Berlin said.

In the City of Newburgh, there are city residents who are Spanish speaking. According to Miller, there are signs and information posted on the buses that do have Spanish information.

“Several of my transit drivers do speak Spanish. I have a dispatcher that does speak Spanish and I do ensure that the dispatcher is on a majority of the hours that transit is running,” Miller said.

Miller said he and the bus system are aware of these issues with communication and mainly uses Facebook to communicate with riders. Miller said improvements to the communication system are in discussion.

Moving along in 2022, Berlin hopes the services for riders will improve with the county and bus companies’ assistance in the coming days.

“We want to hear from as many riders and as many people in the community as possible,” Berlin said. “All of the county staff have been super helpful to us and I know that this [bus service and addressing rider issues] is important to them and they want this to be better too.”

Sorenson and his team at the county level are aware of what city bus riders are asking for to be amended.

According to Sorensen, the Newburgh Area Transit regularly operates from Monday to Friday from 7 a.m to 7 p.m. On Saturday, the bus runs from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. No services are offered on Sunday.

“Riders using the Newburgh Area Transit ask for service later into the evening and Sunday service,” Sorensensaid. “The County Executive [Steven Neuhaus] has supported our mission of providing transit services [for Newburgh]”.

William Rodriguez has been a bus driver for Newburgh Area Transit for the past three years. Previous to that for 34 years, he was a taxi driver in the City of Newburgh.

As a bus driver working in the pandemic, Rodriguez said it has been rough and he remains cautious at all times.

Rodriguez wants new buses to drive, have more buses run during the winter months and to have the buses run on Sundays for city residents. “We need new buses because the buses keep breaking down,” Rodriguez said.

According to Miller, “new buses are in the process of being ordered” but those operations are handled by the county.
Newburgh resident Marianne Marichal has used both Transit Orange and the Newburgh-Beacon Shuttle, which is also operated by Leprechaun Lines. She uses the shuttle to reach the Beacon train station.

When it came to Transit Orange, Marichal said she also experienced instances of unreliability from the bus company when she was traveling around the city.

“I would call dispatch and they would, you know, apologize but say somebody was on their way and wouldn’t be able to give me a time [for when they would arrive],” Marichal said.

Marichal is working with the transportation committee to repair/replace bus shelters, have buses run after 7 p.m., have buses run on Sundays and for the county to increase their outreach with riders.

Pamela Kunert of Newburgh said she has been a bus commuter for a decade. She has had decent experiences when riding the bus and interacting with customer service but she shared that the bus shelters in the city need to be repaired.

Gabrielle Burton-Hill is a life-long resident of the City of Newburgh. Her main form of transportation around the city is the bus system. She only uses taxi cabs if she is making large purchases from the store.

Burton-Hill said that for her, the schedule of the buses could be more legible to readers and more reliable for the city riders.

She also said that the bus service does not currently run on Sundays but she hopes that can change for residents who may need to travel on that day.

“Like anything else, including our own lives, there’s always room for improvement. Things will get better,” Burton-Hill said.

Miller said the decision to add the additional day of travel and possible reprinting of the schedules throughout the city would be made by Orange County.

When traveling on the Transit Orange buses, riders will wait at various stops posted at places such as the Target plaza, Wal-Mart, Stop & Shop or the corner of Liberty and Broadway for example to wait for their ride.

Bus fares are $1.50 or 75 cents for senior citizens.

There is no card/bus pass system for riders to pay for their fare at this time.

Riders can also review the bus schedules at the various spots to see where each bus is going on it’s route or online at ridetransitorange.com/newburgh.

The Transit Orange office can be reached at transitorange@orangecounty.gov. Their telephone number is 845.615.3850. Leprechaun Lines can be reached at info@leprechaunlines.com. Their toll free number is 1 (800)-MAGIC17 which is 1 (800) 624-4217. Their local number is +1 (845) 565-7900.