Chair Jeff Collins said the committee would discuss changes to Ulster County Area Transit (UCAT) routes that the county plans to implement on Monday, Sept. 15. Amanda Laval, Deputy Executive, told the legislature the changes are driven by a request from the Kingston Plaza owner that the county stop using the plaza for bus transfers and by system reliability concerns. “The owner of the Kingston Plaza has requested that the County no longer use the plaza for our bus transfers,” Laval said. She told legislators the county was notified of that request on July 30 and issued public notice of the new schedule on Aug. 15.

The change relocates the main transfer point to Development Court, a county-owned site on Ulster Avenue, and includes multiple route adjustments across Kingston, New Paltz, Newburgh and Ellenville. Laval said the shifts will increase paratransit capacity—allowing up to five paratransit vehicles daily—and improve scheduling flexibility. Tony Rozier, Director of UCAT, described operational changes to staffing and run-times and said the schedule redesign also shortens some rural turnarounds. “Daily, we we allow 3 drivers off per day,” Rozier said; he and Laval explained that the new alignments and reconfigured workday lengths (moving some work to eight-hour shifts rather than 10) will reduce cancellations when additional driver callouts occur.

Why it matters: The committee was told UCAT has become a critical mobility option for residents, and staff framed the changes as necessary to preserve service as demand shifts and as driver shortages continue. The county emphasized outreach: a participate.ulstercountyny.gov page hosts maps, schedules and a Q&A; a route-optimization study led by the Ulster County Transportation Council will publish scenarios in September and hold a public meeting in late October.

Key route and community details presented
- Kingston: The KS (Kingston–Saugerties) and KPL (Kingston–Poughkeepsie link) routes will continue to serve Kingston Plaza even after the transfer point moves; multiple uptown routes will still stop near the plaza, staff said. The T route (a shuttle serving motels along Route 28) will be incorporated into the yellow route, and the yellow route’s alignment changes affect Port Ewen service. Laval said the historic T shuttle carried about 10,000 passengers on the Kingston Motel/Route 28 corridor in the period analyzed, while the yellow route served 194 passengers through Port Ewen in the same window.
- Port Ewen/Birches: Staff said Port Ewen will no longer be served by the yellow route in its historic form but will instead have KPL service and a request-based stop pattern into the Birches senior facility. Laval said there will still be a stop on 9W at Williams Lane within roughly two-tenths of a mile of the Birches and that the weekly shopping bus and paratransit will continue to serve seniors.
- New Paltz: The previously free-form “New Paltz Loop” will be replaced by fixed routes (KPL, UPL, CPL) across the village to increase trips per day and reliability, staff said. Legislators asked whether ridership statistics accounted for the university calendar; staff replied their data covered multiple quarters to capture in- and out-of-session variability.
- Ellenville/Tops: Healthy Way and Tops stops will be fixed at peak times and request-only at other times; staff reported about 903 annual riders to Tops in the 2024 period analyzed (about five riders per day) and said the schedule incorporates peak demand times.

Operations and staffing
Rozier and Laval said UCAT has about 40 drivers and that nationwide shortages of CDL drivers affect local staffing; existing practices allow three drivers off per day, and additional unplanned callouts create coverage difficulties. The schedule changes, including shortening some shifts and moving some part-time lines to full-time positions, are intended to reduce mid-day cancellations and improve system reliability. Laval said the County Executive’s 2026 budget will request funding to convert four part-time driver lines into full-time positions.

Outreach and safety issues
Staff acknowledged limited time to perform outreach after the July 30 notice from the plaza owner and said they will solicit rider feedback immediately after the Sept. 15 rollout, including on-bus surveys. TRIAC (a local transit advisory group) and other stakeholders raised concerns about flag stops (hailing the bus) on Broadway after an incident was reported; staff said they are exploring use of pull-off areas or creating scheduled overlapping stops to reduce unsafe flagging.

No formal legislative action was taken during the presentation; the session was informational and included questions from multiple legislators about data and transfer timing. Chair Collins and staff repeated that public comment on the changes will be accepted at the general session on Aug. 15 and by email to Jeff Collins (jeff.collins@co.ulster.ny.us).

Ending
County staff summarized the changes as operationally necessary given the loss of access to Kingston Plaza and said they expect the reconfigured routes to provide more reliable service for riders. The route-optimization study and additional coordination with the City of Kingston were presented as next steps for identifying longer-term transfer locations and interlining options.