$1 shopping shuttle in Hudson area extending hours

Service to Greenport adding 11 a.m.-3 p.m. run on Sundays

HUDSON — An inexpensive shuttle between Hudson and shopping plazas outside the city will extend its hours starting Thursday.

The service currently runs Monday to Saturday, with the first shuttle of the day leaving Crosswinds at Hudson, a housing development, at 6:55 a.m., and the last shuttle embarking at 1:55 p.m. With the new schedule, the final run begins at 8 p.m.

The ride service, called the Shopping Shuttle, will also now run on Sundays from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.

The extended schedule is possible through state and federal funding and a donation from the nonprofit Spark of Hudson in partnership with the Eutopia Foundation.

The shuttle will still cost $1.

Columbia County, of which Hudson is the county seat and only city, is mostly rural, with the population of 60,000 spread out over 19 municipalities. Public transportation is limited, though the county runs an Albany commuter shuttle along the Hudson River and a second shuttle that visits communities in the county’s center.

“Public transportation contributes to economic development, public health, and quality of life,” Public Transportation Committee Chair and Supervisor Michael Chameides said. “I’m grateful to be working with great partners to improve this vital service.”

Over 21,000 riders used the Shopping Shuttle in 2022 to get to work, education, health care, recreation and shopping, and government services, according to Spark of Hudson. Ridership dropped at the beginning of the pandemic, but is now above prepandemic levels.

Though Hudson has seen an influx in wealth over the past decade, many residents are still poor, with the poverty rate at 23.5 percent in 2021, according to the census. However, inexpensive shopping is hard to find within the city. The shuttle makes several stops along Fairview Avenue outside the city in the town of Greenport, including at a Walmart and at plazas with supermarkets and pharmacies.

Spark of Hudson and Eutopia Foundation founder Susan Danzinger said her organization was “thrilled to support a pilot to extend shopping shuttle hours, making daily life that much easier for local residents.”

Spark of Hudson has been involved in several hyperlocal charitable initiatives, including Hudsonup, a Universal Basic Income program. In January, Spark donated $1.2 million to erase the medical debts of 1,200 Hudson residents.