WGXC-90.7 FM
Hudson Trolley gets a two week reprieve
Dec 30, 2010 6:24 am
[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="A Coxsackie Transport shuttle bus"]
[/caption]From what we were hearing, through riders and drivers, the last of the Hudson City trolleys was to run today. We had our tape recorders ready to get the sound of that last ride... but then Hudson Mayor Richard Scalera said yesterday that the buses will continue to run for at least two weeks into January 2011 since the new schedule has yet to receive approval from all parties involved — and likely won’t until next week, since the parties are on vacation. Or at least that's what the story in today's Register-Star is saying. Hudson okayed the elimination of its bus service in its 2011 budget due to declining ridership and revenues, then formulated an alternative plan to continue offering bus service — at little or no cost to the city — by consolidating with Columbia County and Coxsackie Transport to combine the former Hudson trolley stops with the county’s Greenport Shopping Shuttle. The mayor’s office devised a new schedule for the bus route last week, which decreases the amount of loops the bus would make around the city and adds four crucial stops to the traditional Greenport Shopping Shuttle route. City residents will still be able to take the bus out to Greenport retailers on Fairview Avenue, but the schedule will now incorporate additional stops at Columbia Memorial Hospital, the Department of Social Services, the Crosswinds housing project and Hudson High School. As a result of the increased amount of stops, the bus will only loop around Hudson five times throughout the day, instead of looping eight times as the trolley service normally would. But apparently that schedule still needs approval by the Columbia County Commissioner of Planning and Economic Development Ken Flood and Coxsackie Transport owner Wayne Parks, both of whom are on vacation for the remainder of the year. Scalera added that the new schedule should be promoted for at least a week before any full transition takes place.
[/caption]From what we were hearing, through riders and drivers, the last of the Hudson City trolleys was to run today. We had our tape recorders ready to get the sound of that last ride... but then Hudson Mayor Richard Scalera said yesterday that the buses will continue to run for at least two weeks into January 2011 since the new schedule has yet to receive approval from all parties involved — and likely won’t until next week, since the parties are on vacation. Or at least that's what the story in today's Register-Star is saying. Hudson okayed the elimination of its bus service in its 2011 budget due to declining ridership and revenues, then formulated an alternative plan to continue offering bus service — at little or no cost to the city — by consolidating with Columbia County and Coxsackie Transport to combine the former Hudson trolley stops with the county’s Greenport Shopping Shuttle. The mayor’s office devised a new schedule for the bus route last week, which decreases the amount of loops the bus would make around the city and adds four crucial stops to the traditional Greenport Shopping Shuttle route. City residents will still be able to take the bus out to Greenport retailers on Fairview Avenue, but the schedule will now incorporate additional stops at Columbia Memorial Hospital, the Department of Social Services, the Crosswinds housing project and Hudson High School. As a result of the increased amount of stops, the bus will only loop around Hudson five times throughout the day, instead of looping eight times as the trolley service normally would. But apparently that schedule still needs approval by the Columbia County Commissioner of Planning and Economic Development Ken Flood and Coxsackie Transport owner Wayne Parks, both of whom are on vacation for the remainder of the year. Scalera added that the new schedule should be promoted for at least a week before any full transition takes place.