Chapter 3 The Transportation System - New York Metropolitan ...

Chapter 3Putnam County. A number of Bee-Lineroutes serving the Bronx connect withNew York City subway stations. Severalroutes within the county operate as feedersto Metro-North Stations and othersprovide access from the White PlainsMetro-North Station to office parks inthe I-287 corridor. An express route, theBxM4C, provides service to Manhattanfrom White Plains, operating along 5 thand Madison Avenues in Manhattan,terminating at 23 rd Street. The entireBee-Line fleet accepts MetroCard, and isADA compliant. The base fare for localbuses as of March 2013 was $2.50. Serviceoperates 7 days a week, though notall routes operate on all days.Unlike most other localities in the region,Bee-Line ParaTransit service operateson two different types of schedules.Service is available Monday through Fridayfrom 6:00am to 7:00pm and Saturdayfrom 8:00am to 7:00pm. However,paratransit users whose trips begin andend within three-quarters of a mile of aBee-Line bus route have expanded servicehours which generally correspondwith those of the parallel Bee-Line route.In 2011, Ford Transit Connect vehicleswere added to the paratransit fleet inorder to help achieve operational andcost efficiencies. Prior to that, the fleetwas comprised solely of standard liftequipped paratransit vans that are morecostly to purchase and operate than thesmaller new vehicles. The Ford TransitConnect vehicles are not lift equipped,but are able to serve the approximately80 percent of paratransit eligible riderswho are ambulatory. In May of 2012,Bee-Line ParaTransit launched a oneyear“Bee-Line Taxi” pilot program inWhite Plains to help reduce costs andmake service more convenient for users.ParaTransit riders may now opt touse a taxi service for trips within WhitePlains. Given the success of this program,Westchester launched similar programsin Peekskill and New Rochelle andis pursuing opportunities to expand thetaxi program to other parts of the county.In 2009, Westchester County released itsCentral Avenue Bus Rapid Transit AssessmentStudy Final Report, which analyzedthe potential for a 14.4-mile BRT routefrom downtown White Plains to theBedford Park Boulevard stations of the4, B and D subway routes in the Bronx.Over 10 percent of the Bee-Line system’stotal ridership traveled this corridor asof 2012. The proposed BRT route isseen as not just a way to decrease bustravel times and increase ridership, butas a possible engine for future transitorienteddevelopment. 44 Improvementsare being phased in, due to the varyingtimeframes required for implementationand different jurisdictions with responsibilityfor the roadway and traffic signals.The development of transit signal priorityin the Central Avenue Corridor is inprogress. 45PART (Putnam Transit)Putnam County’s bus system, PART, ismade up of four fixed routes and a seasonaltrolleybus that operates in the ColdSpring area. Aside from the seasonalroute, which runs Fridays through Sundaysand on some holidays, from Maythrough December, all of PART’s servicesare in the western half of the county.One route crosses the border into northernWestchester County. The PutnamCounty Department of Planning, Developmentand Public Transportationadministers the system while First Transit,Inc., a private company, operates thesystem.As of September 2011, the base fare was$2.50. MetroCards are not accepted onPART. Except for the system’s centraltransfer point at Putnam Plaza, there areno fixed stops – passengers can flag downa bus anywhere along its routes. Somestops are also “on-call,” which means thatpassengers need to phone in advance toschedule a pickup. Service does not operateon Sundays. PART Paratransit operatesonly when the rest of the systemis running, and only in locations withinthree-quarters of a mile of a PART route.It is not a countywide service.Rockland County –Transport of Rockland/TappanZEExpressRockland County holds a contract witha Coach USA for the operations andmaintenance of Transport of Rockland(TOR) and TAPPAN ZEExpress (TZx)inter-county bus service. Fixed schedulesare posted, but passengers can flagdown a bus at any safe location alongeach route.Rockland County is responsible for theTOR fixed-route intra county bus systemwhich serves 11 local routes with 41 vehicles,and for the TZx inter-county busservice, which uses 21 vehicles. The TZxbus service runs from Suffern to selectedlocations in Rockland County, thenacross the Tappan Zee Bridge to Tarrytownand White Plains in WestchesterCounty. TZx buses stop at the Metro-North station in both of these localities,along with other major destinationsalong the I-287 corridor. Numerouspark-and-ride lots also exist throughoutthe county.The county operates the demand-responsivesystem called TRIPS (TransportationResources Intra-County for PhysicallyHandicapped and Senior Citizens).TRIPS is a curbside-to-curbside, sharedrideparatransit service for Rockland residentswith physical or mental disabilitiesor senior citizens over the age of 60 whofind it difficult or impossible to use municipalfixed-route service. The TRIPSbus system has 25 buses.Transport of Rockland (TOR), Rockland County3-18 Plan 2040: NYMTC Regional Transportation Plan