Wednesday Without Driving: Public Transportation Should Connect Public Services

 You would think that's obvious; who would argue with the notion that a publicly operated service should connect to things like schools and public libraries? 

And yet...

    Whoever created the routes for the Dutchess County Bus did not think that people would wish the bus for The Boardman Road Public Library in the Town of Poughkeepsie. Or maybe the people who decided to place the library in a former IBM building on a tree-lined road with no sidewalks never imagined that patrons might be under the legal age of permitted driving. They did imagine that someone might ride a bike, and thus installed a bike rack by the front entrance.

    There is no bus service to the Dutchess County BOCES Campus, and lemme tell you, when trying to connect disadvantaged youth with the occupational classes offered, this was an enormous barrier. Because the most accessible classes offered by BOCES were the CNA classes, my former employer pretty much served as a streets-to-nursing-home pipeline. Don't get me wrong, CNA's are invaluable personnel taking care of those who need some help taking care of themselves. But it was infuriating to have all these leaders of industry, and Department of Labor muckamucks come stomping into our office booming, "tHerE'S A SHorTaGe oF WeLdING worKErS!" Like, 

Why aren't the youth getting training in blue collar jobs?

BECAUSE THERE'S NO FUCKING BUSSES TO THE TRAINING.

    There is no bus line providing direct service to public parks like Waryas Park, or the Walkway, or College Hill, nor any of the trailheads for the Rail Trail. So if one wishes to go for a nice walk, or take a lovely bike ride, or maybe have a picnic you first have to drive your car to do so.

    There is also no bus service offered by Dutchess County Transportation to Spackenkill High School, or Orville A Todd Middle School. Of course, as public schools, bus service is provided by the school district for students to get to and from their campuses. But not for any instructors, administrators, or staff. 

    But what melts my brain the most is the lack of bus service to the Dutchess County Department of Transportation, aka the Bus Depot. Now, you may think to yourself this isn't as weird as I'm making it out to be; busses return to the bus depot at the end of their service run, there's no need for passengers to travel there. Correct, and it is also the only place passengers can purchase bus passes.

    I don't mean providing a cash fare. I mean if a passenger wants to purchase a senior citizen pass, a monthly rider pass, a weekend pass, a unicorn vomiting rainbows pass these can only be obtained from the Department of Transportation for Dutchess County. You can go to their website  and purchase a variety of passes with your credit/debit card and within 7-10 business days a paper card will be mailed in a hand-addressed envelope to your home address. It will be up to you to be aware of how many rides are left on the card once you start using it, and it will be up to you to make sure the card doesn't get torn, bent, or otherwise damaged in a way that makes the magnetic strip unreadable. 

    Wouldn't it make sense to put, I don't know, a satellite office, vending machine, ticket window, or all of the above in an area that is accessible to people who need to ride the goddamn bus? Like maybe nearby the stop that all bus routes go to in the City of Poughkeepsie called the TRANSIT HUB?!  And then, since we're just spitballing here, wouldn't it also make sense to vend bus passes in, stay with me,

TRAIN STATIONS?!

    You know, those spots where people who are traveling without a car arrive and then go out into the greater community also without a car? Fun fact: There are nine (9) operating train stations in Dutchess County with service by Metro North, and 2 of those are also serviced by Amtrak. But none of them sell bus passes.

    Honestly, it's cute. It's like the county government is playing with little toy buses the same way hobby train enthusiasts play with their train set. Except I feel very confident assuming hobby train people spend some mental energy making their miniature train routes effective and efficient and have actually ridden on a train. The same cannot be said about members of the Dutchess County's Department of Transportation. 

    If you scratch the surface of the internet these days, you'll most likely come across a headline foretelling the doom of this country and its youth because of TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, or whatever the kids are finding cool these days. The author will wax nostalgic for meeting up with their buddies at the arcade, or riding their bikes around the neighbourhood; just good ol' fashioned pre-internet fun. I don't doubt that, if given the opportunity, the teenagers of the middle of the 21st century would do the same. A fixation with connecting online tells me that there's a need to connect and, right now, the only methods they have to do that come with a screen. Parks, libraries, and schools are all places that, providing no/low cost diversion, should be accessible to people who don't and cannot drive. 

    Beyond being accessible these are the locations that are default transit hubs. This is the second time I've included this term, "transit hub" in this post; lemme give some context:

    In the City of Poughkeepsie there is a transit hub. It's a location on Market Street, in front of a 4 level parking garage, and all routed busses in Dutchess County stop there. Doesn't matter if they're going out to the farthest reaches of Amenia, they're coming on back to this parking lot on Market Street. I am generally loathe to give Dutchess County credit for anything that is meant to serve The People, but I also cannot commit and say this is Bad. 

    What I can confidently say is there should be more. As in, these centers of community gathering: libraries, educational facilities, public recreational sites, train stations should be accessible by more than one route.