When new state Department of Transportation chief Robert Dennison said at the Orange County chamber breakfast he would like to see more buses on the road, he must have been thinking of the arrangement Short Line made with the DOT and the county”™s Planning Department.
The company recently announced it will switch to free parking at its Orange County park-and-ride lots by August and add 20 more buses to its Route 17 corridor.
Short Line is hoping to encourage Goshen and Chester residents to use their village lots rather than driving to Central Valley or Monroe to catch their ride. While permits sell quickly, parking near the toll booths at Exit 16 offer metered parking. Goshen and Chester commuters are willing to make the drive to Monroe because buses leave more frequently from those stops than their own.Â
With Short Line adding 20 new buses and the DOT persuading the county to eliminate permits, all hope the result will be more commuters using lots closer to home and utilizing public transportation.
Short Line sent a letter to permitholders in June letting them know about the changeover and extending current permits until Aug. 1. A second letter will go out to the more than 1,500 current permit holders explaining the changeover.
Christine Falzone, spokeswoman for Short Line, said the company plans to have additional personnel on hand, as well as extra buses, to insure a smooth transition for its customers.
The county, Short Line and DOT are looking for additional locations for park-and-rides in both Chester and Goshen to encourage those residents to use local lots. The goal is to get people to use the underutilized park-and-ride locations by offering more buses and expanding the destination base.
Short Line is in the early planning stages of an anticipated move from its current Mahwah, N.J., bus facility, where it has run out of room, to the Tetz Industrial Park in Chester. The new bus garage would have an air filtration system, allowing buses to idle indoors to cut down on outside pollution. To date, Short Line has had one public meeting with the Orange County Industrial Development Agency on the proposed move from Mahwah.
