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| May 05, 2024 |
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General News: Dial-A-Bus Service in Jeopardy
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| Theresa Christianson rides the bus to Munger Cottage every day. |
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| The New Windsor-Cornwall Dial-A-Bus. |
October 06, 2011
The New Windsor-Cornwall Dial-A-Bus service is likely to be eliminated in 2012, according to the supervisors of both towns who say that the municipalities can no longer afford to subsidize the service.
The Dial-A-Bus service was established in 1989 by New Windsor supervisor George Green, who today says that it costs too much – with the town picking up the cost of $11 to $12 a trip. Cornwall town supervisor Kevin Quigley agrees and he told the town board on Monday that if New Windsor drops the service, Cornwall could be expected to follow suit . Quigley said the town is paying around $60,000 for the Dial-A-Bus service in 2011 and without New Windsor, it would cost Cornwall closer to $110,000.
The Dial-A-Bus service will pick up residents of Cornwall or New Windsor and take them where they want to go in either municipality -- the store, the doctor’s office, the senior citizens center or to work. Riders pay for the Dial-A-Bus service but at it is still not enough to cover the cost of the service, which also receives a state subsidy. Fares were quadrupled in June to $4 for the general public while subsidized rides for seniors and the disabled went up to $2. Reservations for service must be made at least 24 hours in advance.
In 2010, the service provided 10,624 rides.
Residents Use Bus for Local Service
Theresa Christianson takes the Dial-A-Bus every day from her home in New Windsor to Munger Cottage, where she takes part in the senior lunch program. She says she pays $80 a month to come to Cornwall every day, and she notes that she would gladly pay twice that for the service because at age 73 she is a widow and has no one to take her anywhere. Christianson worries that a lot of seniors will stay home without the Dial-A-Bus Service, although seniors living in Cornwall can take a van service provided by the town for a suggested donation of $.50 a ride to Munger Cottage
On Thursday afternoon, Christianson boarded the bus for the trip home, saying that it would stop at St. Thomas Catholic Church and one of the local schools to pick up riders. Mary Lewis was already onboard the bus. She had come to a dentist appointment in Cornwall, walking from her home near Broadway in the city of Newburgh to the Quik Check in New Windsor for her pick-up.
Supervisor Green says that even though the Dial-A-Bus service is in the town of New Windsor’s preliminary 2012 budget, he will not fund it after March 30 because the cost is “ridiculous.”
Comments:
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this is really sad. it is impossible to get around this area without transportation, taxis are slow to arrive and very expensive, and for local travel the bus systems in orange county are seriously lacking.
posted by Kate Benson on 10/10/11 at 7:14 PM
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