POUGHKEEPSIE, NY … Dutchess County Public Transit will implement changes effective Saturday, March 17th, making bus service easier to use and improving travel time within the City of Poughkeepsie. Changes include better-timed connections to routes at Poughkeepsie Transit Hub, with Routes H, J, K, L, M and P operating on a consistent headway (time between buses on a specific route) and improvements to Dial-A-Ride within the City of Poughkeepsie.
The service changes are in response to concerns, comments, suggestions and feedback from passengers, community stakeholders, and elected officials over the past several months, including feedback shared at multiple community meetings held in July, November, December and January.
Service changes include:
- The “C” from J, K, L, M and P is removed. All routes will have a single letter.
- Routes H, J, K, L, M and P will operate in a “hub and spoke” model from the Poughkeepsie Transit Hub at Main and Market Streets departing at 15 minutes past the hour. All buses will depart at the same time.
- Routes H, J, K, M and P will have a uniform headway of 60 minutes between buses, except Route L, which will operate every 30 minutes, Monday through Saturday.
- Route L on Main Street will operate on Sundays, every 60 minutes from 9:15am to 5:45pm.
- A rider within the City of Poughkeepsie can access major destinations by traveling on no more than two buses when traveling through the Hub.
- Routes M and P are timed to meet the bell times for the various schools along the routes.
- Route M will be extended to the Hub, but will no longer serve Dutchess Community College and Fox Hill neighborhood. These destinations are served by Routes H, J and Poughkeepsie Dial-A-Ride respectively.
- Routes I, CN and CO will be discontinued due to low ridership.
- Maplewood Apartments, Interfaith Towers, Phillip Allen Schwartz Apartments, Hudson Gardens Apartments, Thurgood Marshall Apartments, MLK Garden Apartments and 134 Cannon Street will have transit service operating at a minimum of every 60 minutes, Monday through Saturday.
- Routes H and K will be “interlined” to allow riders to travel between Dutchess Community College and The Shoppes at South Hills/Poughkeepsie Galleria every 60 minutes. Route K will stop directly in front of ShopRite and Price Chopper.
- Route C will have some trips redirected to travel via Route 9G and Creek Road due to Routes J and M changes.
- RailLink will extend to Vassar College.
- A Dial-A-Ride bus has been added in the City of Poughkeepsie for additional capacity on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
- Same day reservations will be allowed for a premium fare of $7.00, or reservations can be made the next day up to 30 days in advance, on City of Poughkeepsie Dial-A-Ride.
- Saturday schedule will operate on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents Day, Veterans Day, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.
Additionally, Dutchess County Public Transit is proposing fare modifications. The Dutchess County Legislature will hold a public hearing on Monday, April 9, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. in the Legislative Chambers, Dutchess County Office Building, 22 Market Street in Poughkeepsie. The public can comment on the following proposed modifications to Dutchess County Public Transit Fares, scheduled to be effective April 16, 2018:
- Persons with disabilities would be allowed to ride Dial-A-Ride for $1.00.
- Creation of a new 1-Day Pass for regular and reduced fare customers.
- Acceptance of Metro-North Uni-Ride Tickets on all Dutchess County Public Transit routes.
- Creation of a new 7-Day and 31-Day Pass for reduced fare customers.
- Transfers are proposed to be 30 cents to transfer between any Dutchess County Public Transit route, as long as it is not the same route that the transfer was purchased from (i.e. between Route A and Route B, but not between Route A and Route A).
Timetables are available on all buses and Dutchess County Public Transit website at www.dutchessny.gov/publictransit. For more information about Dutchess County Public Transit, including demand response reservations, call 845.473.8424.
