Town of Woodbury moves to launch its own Dial-a-Ride service

The Town of Woodbury is moving to establish its own Dial-a-Ride service for its seniors and residents without access to a vehicle, weeks after shared transportation service provided by the Town of Monroe was terminated.

The transportation service, which had operated since 2009, ended following a dispute between the two municipalities over the terms and fees of a separate animal control services agreement.

Addressing residents at the second quarterly Town and Village Hall meeting on June 29, Town Supervisor Jacqueline Hernandez outlined the town’s next steps regarding transportation services, noting that she had spoken with State Senator James Skoufis about securing funding to purchase a bus for the town.

At the meeting, Skoufis confirmed his commitment to help secure funding for the purchase of a bus.

“My commitment to [Hernandez] is, I will find the funding to pay for a bus, you’ve got to find the bus driver,” Skoufis said.

Supervisor finds an alternative

In response to the Town of Monroe’s termination of the Dial-a-Ride contract, Hernandez said she explored several options before speaking with Skoufis. She said she first reached out to the neighboring Town of Cornwall for temporary services, but was told the town only had one bus, which was already at capacity serving its senior residents.

Hernandez added that she later contacted the county to ask whether the town could file a complaint, but was told it had no authority over intermunicipal matters. She then asked the county if the town could become a Dial-a-Ride vendor, reopening the conversation about launching the town’s own Dial-a-Ride service.

“One of the things that really stood out was that [the termination] left Woodbury vulnerable and left our senior population vulnerable,” Hernandez said. “I always say sometimes when you have these bad moments, it’s always an open opportunity for a blessing. I feel like this was one of those opportunities because it was a conversation I already had in regards to why we are not doing Dial-a-Bus. There’s funding available, there’s credit available to offset the cost.”

Hernandez noted that the town was paying the Town of Monroe more than $30,000 for the shared service, adding that the town would get better value by hiring a part-time employee to run the town’s own service rather than continuing the arrangement.

Planning ahead for the future

With the town anticipating funding for its own Dial-a-Ride bus, Hernandez briefly described the preparations required to launch the service.

“When we talk about the Dial-a-Bus, there’s a lot of work that would have to go into it,” Hernandez said. “We would have to create our own traffic pattern. We’d have to map out what are the areas that most people would need to go, like some of the common ones would be Walmart or Stop & Shop.”

Additionally, Hernandez said she spoke with Cornwall Town Supervisor Joshua Wojehowski, seeking information on how the Town of Cornwall established its service and what she would need to do to get the service started for the community.

After going over the financial details together, Hernandez said it allowed her to compare the potential savings with the costs, and after evaluating both, she concluded that the town having its own Dial-a-Ride service would provide clear benefits for the community.