Candidate unsure about bus plan
A candidate for a Common Council seat says the city ought to hold off from consolidating its bus system with Ulster County Area Transit until more results are in about a similar takeover.
Jim Rodden, who has secured the GOP line in November’s election for an Eighth Ward race, is not convinced that consolidation of the city bus system, known as Citibus, with Ulster County Area Transit is such a good idea.
Rodden is also seeking the Democratic line in a Sept. 12 primary against incumbent Eighth Ward Alderman Steve Schabot and political newcomer Cassandra Burke.
Schabot has the endorsement of the city’s Democratic Committee and the Working Families Party. Rodden has the Independence Party nod.
Rodden is particularly concerned about the city ensuring efficient bus service given the reliance on it by residents, including senior citizens, of two large apartment complexes in his ward. They are Rondout Gardens and Spring Brook Village, both located near each other off U.S. Route 9W, near the city’s Police Department headquarters.
“We have so much housing (in the ward) that depends on the bus service,” said Rodden, who recently posted a Facebook question asking constituents what they thought of a merger.
Rodden said many residents have low incomes, can’t afford vehicles, and use the bus system as their only means of transportation. He said that if an Ulster County takeover winds up changing routes that serve those complexes or eliminating them altogether he would be a strong opponent of the plan.
“What makes Kingston so different?” Rodden said in reference to bus problems in the Pough-
keepsie matter. “We should find out the good, bad and ugly (before deciding anything). We would have a benchmark.”
Schabot says he thinks the city is moving with careful examination.
“I think the City is moving at a cautious rate on this,” Schabt said in an email. “There have been numerous and ongoing meetings between city and County officials and, to my knowledge, we are not locked into any start date, nor are we obligated to have a date.”
Schabot pointed out that the sales tax agreement had called for the city and county officials to explore the possibility of a merger. “While I think we have a great staff, the idea of one system for the entire county makes a great deal of sense as opposed to two entirely separate systems,” Schabot said.
The alderman added that a single system will make it easier to coordinate routes and other matters.
“In addition, Kingston simply doesn’t have the resources to continually upgrade its services as much as we’d like,” Schabot said.
Burke, the other Sept. 12 Democratic primary candidate, pointed out that the sales tax agreement simply called for a study but that “there was no mandate for it.
“The language was simply to try to reach a shared services agreement to save money while hopefully increasing service,” Burke said in an email. “Any final proposal would first have to be agreed upon by both executives and then passed by both the county legislature and the common council, with significant public input along the way.”
Earlier this week, officials said the public is being asked to weigh in on the quality of Kingston’s Citibus service and ways it can be improved as part of a study looking at combining the municipal bus system with Ulster County Area Transit.
The Ulster County Transportation Council started an “Ulster County Transit Integration Plan” in September that is exploring the current transit service in the county.
The plan will evaluate the benefits and costs associated with consolidating services, particularly when considering the overlapping service areas of Citibus and Ulster County Area Transit, according to a press release.
A survey has been created to gather information from the public on the quality of the existing Citibus service and how it can be improved, the release said. The survey will remain open through Aug. 31, and the general public is asked to participate, not just users of the system.
The survey, along with project information including drafts, fact sheets and technical memoranda, is available online at http://ulstercountyny.gov/planning/planning/active-studies/ transit-system-integration.