Transportation dilemma leads to brainstorming session

MILLERTON — A preliminary meeting was held at the North East Community Center (NECC) Wednesday, Feb. 25, to discuss the possibilities of public transportation in the area.

The meeting, put on by the NECC and the Foundation for Community Health, was held in response to the closing of several Dutchess County LOOP bus routes in January, including every route that serviced the areas of Millerton, North East, Amenia and Pine Plains (the lone exception is a route that ends at the Wassaic Metro-North train station).

Working together

Gertrude O’Sullivan, who is the programs and communications officer at the foundation, said she had spoken to Mark Debald, the senior planner for the Poughkeepsie-Dutchess County Transportation Council, after the announcement of the LOOP service changes.

“I spoke to Mark and asked him how set in stone the decision was,� she said. “I asked him, ‘Is there room to revisit?’ He said, ‘Definitely,’ but without qualifying exactly what could be done.�

O’Sullivan plans to set up a meeting with Debald about the possibility of offering some kind of transportation service to the northeast corridor of Dutchess County. The purpose of the meeting Tuesday was to get together public officials, members of the community and local residents to discuss their options and work on a plan that could be presented to Debald at a future meeting.

Also present at the meeting were Nancy Heaton, executive director at the Foundation for Community Health, Jenny Hansell, executive director at North East Community Center, Jennifer Pindt from Friends of Seniors, Evelyn Garzetta from Grace Church Outreach, Sarita Green from Grace Smith House, Inc., Mariley Najdek from Astor Head Start, resident Gayle Hendrickson and Millerton Village Trustee Yosh Schulman.

The meeting was set up informally, with questions being raised and discussion following. Some of the more significant questions were recorded by Heaton and will be written up formally for the group.

Questions covered a wide variety of topics, from the communities’ responsibility to publicize the LOOP system to the degree that the Poughkeepsie-Dutchess County Transportation Council is invested in providing transportation in this area.

Underuse a problem

“The rationale [for discontinuing LOOP routes] was that the service was under-utilized or inefficient,� said Hansell. “But is it reasonable for service to be efficient in a rural area?�

O’Sullivan said she asked Debald if he had researched why people weren’t using the LOOP system, and she reported that he hadn’t. Hendrickson wondered if it were possible to get a hold of the data that was used in the decision-making process.

“What other questions would we like to ask Debald?� Heaton asked.

“How genuinely willing are they to working with town leaders to creating the best service?� Hansell added.

Hendrickson said she didn’t believe that there was enough ridership in the area to justify a fixed route system.

“Is the question a smaller vehicle?� Schulman asked.

Hendrickson wondered if partnership with another group could solve some of the costs to run a transportation system. She said feeder routes could gather people to a central location where a LOOP bus could pick them all up instead of driving around the area picking up one or two passengers at a time.

“What kind of a partnership do you think they’re open to?� asked O’Sullivan.

Hendrickson explained that the way the county’s budget was set up, they were now spending 2007 dollars.

“Even if we received a grant for this, we wouldn’t be able to foot the bill for two to two-and-a-half years,� she said.

Some time was spent debating whether to include in the presentation to Debald individual stories of how families and residents were coping with the changes.

Hansell said she attended the public hearing where the LOOP bus changes were presented, and that many individual testimonials were heard.

“Is it going to make a difference now?� she asked.

“It’s helpful, but it’s not going to change policy,� Heaton agreed.

Hendrickson said she suspected that Millerton, as a whole, didn’t make transportation service information as available to residents as it could have.

“But that wasn’t our job, it was theirs,� Hansell argued.

“We could have done more,� Hendrickson replied.

Many attendees wondered how the LOOP routes servicing this area came about.

“There were none one day, and the next there were four different routes,� Najdek commented. Those four routes were trimmed down to two before being completely eliminated.

“It’s always going to be a subsidized program,� Hendrickson added. “Even in Poughkeepsie, it probably doesn’t make enough money to justify service.�

“It if were profitable,� Heaton pointed out, “a private industry would run it.�

Finding short-term solutions

Hansell said a lot of these ideas seemed to be based in the long-term.

“Is there anything we can do right now?� she asked.

Schulman proposed a situation where tax incentives were offered to private corporations to step in.

O’Sullivan brought up a document from the Poughkeepsie-Dutchess County Transportation Council that specifies a flex service will be offered in Millerton this summer. Last summer, there was a Metro-North-funded program that allowed people to ride the train to Wassaic and then take a bus around the area to promote tourism. Both O’Sullivan and Heaton said it was very unclear what exactly the flex service implied.

“How willing are they to get participation from the community on this flex service?� Heaton asked.

“It’s obviously a commitment, but we need to know what that commitment is,� O’Sullivan added.

Ultimately, Hendrickson argued, the Poughkeepsie-Dutchess County Transportation Council would probably give local organizations funds, but she didn’t think they were willing to come up with a solution to rural transportation problems.

“We need to come up with a plan or a solution, and we need to know how much money we need to back it up,� she added, saying that the Care Car program at NECC, a service for senior citizens, was saving the town of North East a lot of money, and that the county just didn’t have enough vested interest in finding a solution.

Heaton asked who else, in addition to those attending the meeting, would be helpful to have on their side. Schulman said there has been no discussion at Village Board meetings regarding transportation issues. Hansell said that county Legislator and Minority Leader Gary Cooper, Assemblyman Marc Molinaro and Senator Vincent Leibell could be reached. Hendrickson said that of all the letters she has sent out to various politicians looking for support, Leibell was the only one to respond to her in writing.

O’Sullivan explained that she was going to call Debald at the end of March to try to set up a meeting for the middle of April. Communication by e-mail will continue between the attendees of Wednesday’s meeting, and work will continue toward the preparation of a proposal to the Poughkeepsie-Dutchess County Transportation Council.