MONTICELLO — Laura Quigley, the Commissioner and Executive Director of Sullivan County Division of Community Services, presented to the Executive Committee of the Sullivan County Legislature on Thursday, June 20 on the proposed modification to their existing contract with Rolling V Bus Corporation regarding Move Sullivan public transit services. 

After hearing the proposal, the resolution was voted through unanimously by the Executive Committee and ultimately the full board. 

The proposed expansion for 2024-25 includes adding three new routes - Route E, Liberty Shuttle and Monticello Shuttle. This would be in addition to the other four current routes, Routes A, B, C and D. Move Sullivan launched in 2019 with Routes A and B, before Routes C and D were added in an expansion during September 2022. 

The proposed Route E would run from Monday through Friday and start and end at S. Main Street in Liberty, a transfer stop, while going through Livingston Manor, Roscoe, Callicoon Center, Jeffersonville and Youngsville. The estimated time of the route is 1 hour and 40 minutes. The stops and times are to be determined. 

The proposed Monticello Shuttle would run Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. through 4:55 p.m., starting and ending at Walmart. The proposed Liberty Shuttle would run Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. through 6:22 p.m. while starting at the Liberty Main bus stop and ending at the Liberty South Main bus stop. 

For the full list of proposed stops for both the Monticello and Liberty Shuttles, please check out the attached presentation on the Executive Committee meeting minutes from Thursday, June 20 at sullivancountyny.legistar.com.

For the proposed expansion, a community-wide survey was done in which several responses noted the need for shorter runs through the villages of Monticello and Liberty. 

“We heard very strongly from Liberty and Monticello, from seniors who have to wait three hours to get the shuttle back,” said Quigley. “So having a one-hour shuttle that goes through the two big towns and heads out into more residential [areas], would be a big help.”

Quigley also talked about starting to look at moving towards the outer ends of the county.

“We want to pilot a route that goes to the northern ends of the county,” she stated. “And that’s based on the results of the survey. Everything will loop to all the transfer spots.”

Quigley said that a majority of responses came from Livingston Manor and Jeffersonville. 

The contract with Rolling V for the three additional routes is not to exceed $583,124 which will cause the cost of the Move Sullivan public transit and complementary paratransit service to increase and exceed the $1,186,951 contract amount. The contract for Routes A and B will be increased to an amount not to exceed $954,748 and the contract for routes C and D will be increased to an amount not to exceed $1,010,513. 

For Routes B and D, Quigley said that they need bigger buses, which is included in the increase of contract amount. 

The cost breakdown for the expansion is as follows:

Liberty Shuttle - $504.82/day - $188,802.68

Monticello Shuttle - $462.79/day - $173,083.46

Route E - $555.45/day - $207,738.33

Paratransit estimate - - $13,500.00

Total - $583,124.47

This total for the expansion added into the current route totals puts the total contract cost at $2,548,385.095. 

The county received 52 percent in state reimbursement for routes and complementary paratransit from 2019 to 2024. The anticipated state and federal reimbursement for this expansion is approximately 50 percent. 

Since the Legislature approved the expansion, the proposal now goes to the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) for approval. If NYSDOT approves it, the contract renewal with Rolling V will be executed and a resolution to have County Manager Josh Potosek sign the contract will be submitted for July committee. 

The county will then develop a plan for shelters and research funding and the Comprehensive Transit Plan will be updated. Potential future expansion includes adding evenings and weekend availability. 

The modified agreement will be in effect beginning on July 1 and will go through December 31, 2025. The three routes that were added will be in service beginning on August 5. 

Medical transports

Quigley also said that she has been working with Garnet Health Medical Center on getting medical transportation increased and improved. 

“Getting people to their medical appointments is much more of an on-demand type of a system,” she said. “Routes can work; fixed routes can help some people, but it’s not gonna make as big of a dent. Nothing is definite yet, but there are lots of conversations.”

Quigley said that they are looking at all medical practices in and around the county, including Crystal Run Healthcare and Middletown Medical. 

District 8 Legislator Amanda Ward noted that there were instances in which patients were discharged from the hospital and they had no transportation home. 

“That’s scary,” said Ward. “Someone is discharged from the hospital, they should have some way to get somewhere safe and not sleeping in the lobby. That’s good that that’s a priority.”

District 1 Legislator Matt McPhillips said that access to transportation is a big aspect within the county health rankings. 

“I think that the improvements that you have made have made an impact on the improvements to the health rankings in this county,” said Matt McPhillips. “There’s still these gaps, but at least we see them and have some idea of how to address them.”