Inside: Kingston Citibus routes would remain in effect after Ulster County takeover
Ulster County officials say there would be no immediate changes to Kingston routes if the county takes over the city’s bus system.
A proposal to dissolve Citibus, and have the municipal service provided instead by Ulster County Area Transit, was discussed Monday evening at a joint caucus of Kingston Common Council members.
Dissolution of the Citibus system is part of a package of Ulster County proposals for increased intermunicipal efficiencies. The proposals have been required of all New York counties by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The possibility of a citycounty bus merger was broached last year during sales tax revenue negotiations between Kingston and Ulster County. A feasibility study, known as the “Transit Integration Study,” was launched earlier this year to examine whether the bus systems could be combined.
“The effort here is to give [riders] better service, more dependable service than they have now,” county Planning Director Dennis Doyle said Monday. “[It’s] not an effort to put themselves at risk of not having [transportation] service.”
Citibus has a $1.1 million annual budget to operate a fleet of 11 vehicles serving three fixed routes and carrying about 80,000 riders per year for a $1 base fare. The bus system employs eight full-time drivers and has an administrative staff of three full-time employees and two part-time employees.
Doyle said assumption of the city service by Ulster County would raise the county’s annual public transportation budget by 19.4 percent, to $5.2 million.
Ulster County Area Transit, which currently has a $4.3 million annual budget, has 31 vehicles, covers 11 fixed routes and serves about 415,000 riders per year for a $1.50 base fare. UCAT has 29 full-time and 15 part-time drivers with an administrative staff of 15 fulltime and two part-time employees.
Merging the two systems is forecast to save $260,000 per year and reduce full-time equivalent administrative employment by 2.6 positions.
“There are certainly some cost savings to be had, but, quite frankly, they are relatively meager or modest,” said county Principal Transportation Planner Brian Slack. “A big part of cost savings is through elimination of redundancies.”
Doyle said the county service is designed to increase mobility for residents and visitors.
“If we’re worried about a $1.50 fare, we’re in trouble,” he said. “We’re focused on ... efficient use of federal resources and customer satisfaction.”
County officials say there would not be immediate changes to the Citibus routes if the county absorbed the service, unless the city made requests based on riders’ needs.
“There’s a lot of anxiety among Citibus drivers about whether the service will be maintained,” Doyle said. “That is, without a doubt, a major goal here — to maintain the current service.”
Doyle said city bus routes have not changed in several years and any adjustments would be based on rider data and include efforts to have economic development be part of the planning process.
“Our director of transportation will actually go out and meet with businesses and design services to get people to those businesses,” he said.
Slack said there will be outreach in the fall to take comments on the proposal.
“There will be a public meeting of some sort,” he said. “We haven’t determined what the format will be ... and there will be maybe a series of meetings.”