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Greene County Transit
Bus system in Greene County, NY From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Greene County Transit is a bus system in Greene County, New York. The system offers fixed bus routes throughout the county, plus a route connecting to Hudson in Columbia County and countywide dial-a-ride service. The system is managed, owned, and operated by the ARC of Ulster-Greene, with oversight by the Greene County Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Planning.[5][6][7] The majority of the system's funding is from the Federal Transit Administration, but Greene County and New York State also contribute funding.[7][4]
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History
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The first bus service in Greene County began in 1915, when Mountain View Coach Lines began service from Coxsackie to Albany.[8] This service lasted throughout the 1920s, and in 1927, bus service started between Catskill and New York City. County-operated bus service began sometime in the 1990s, and was operated by First Student and branded as the Rip Van Winkle Express until 2015.[9][10][a] The system operated once-per-week routes serving various areas of the county, in addition a shuttle in the village of Catskill, all with extremely low ridership.[9][11] In July of 2015, the Greene County Legislature announced that the Rip Van Winkle Express would be merged with the ARC of Ulster-Greene (a non-profit agency for children with disabilities), and using their combined resources, the bus system would transform.[6] In June of 2016, this service was launched, with five routes fanning out across Greene County.[2]
In 2017, expansions were planned to connect with Hudson Amtrak station, as well as Ulster County Area Transit in Saugerties.[2] While no connection with UCAT exists, a bus route, the 711, from Catskill to Hudson was launched in August 2018, and continues to run as of February 2025[update].[12][13]
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Routes
Greene County Transit operates 7 fixed routes. All routes operate as loops to and from Catskill.[14]
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Ridership
Total system ridership was 2,325 riders per year in 2009, before the takeover by the ARC of Ulster-Greene.[9][11][15] After the system's reintroduction under the ARC, ridership jumped to 11,453 in 2017, and 15,989 in 2023.[16][4] Despite this increase, the system's ridership remains significantly lower than other nearby systems—it is approximately half of Columbia County's yearly transit ridership.[11][17]
In 2023, the system had a farebox recovery ratio of 3.6%.[4]
Fleet
The fleet consists of 10 buses, all of which are minibuses, mostly (if not entirely) from the Ford E-450 family.[7][4]
References
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