HUDSON–“We get a lot of college students, nurses who work at Columbia Memorial Hospital, and people who get on somewhere, go shopping, and come back,” said a driver of the bus—a white 16-passenger van–that connects the Hudson with Catskill.
Greene County operates the bus Route 711: Teal. It runs Monday through Friday, looping in the morning from Catskill, across the Rip Van Winkle Bridge to Columbia-Greene Community College (C-GCC) in Greenport, up Route 9 to Columbia Memorial Hospital (CMH), down Warren Street to the Hudson Train Station and then back to Catskill. In the afternoon, it runs the same loop but in the reverse direction, from Catskill, to Hudson, to CGCC, and back to Catskill.
In Catskill, the bus has several designated stops, including the Hub, the Catskill Price Chopper, the high school, the court house, and Main Street.
Although the bus has time points, riders on can flag it down along the route. Likewise, passengers can request the driver stop where they want to get off.
As of a September 29 check on Greene County Transit’s website, the bus makes four loops in the morning and four loops in the afternoon. Scheduled times, as of that date were:
Morning
Catskill Hub………………6:00 7:00 8:15 9:15
Last Catskill Stop……….6:15 7:15 8:30 9:30
C-GCC……………………..6:20 7:20 8:35 9:35
CMH…………………………6:30 7:30 8:45 9:45
Hudson Train Station…..6:40 7:40 8:55 9:55
Catskill Hub………………..6:55 7:55 9:10 10:10
Afternoon
Catskill Hub…………… 3:00 4:00 5:15 6:15
Hudson Train Station……3:20 4:20 5:35 6:35
CMH……………………3:30 4:30 5:45 6:45
C-GCC………………….3:40 4:40 5:55 6:55
First Catskill Stop……….3:45 4:45 6:00 7:00
Catskill Hub……………..4:00 5:00 6:15 7:15
The bus route has been operating about a year. A driver indicated there had been talk of adding another run to accommodate more nurses.
On the last morning loop and the first afternoon loop on the bus September 18, all of the passengers (except a reporter) were going between C-GCC and Catskill: in the morning to the college; in the afternoon from the college, each to a different point in Catskill.
Since Greene County operates the bus, its schedule is designed for the convenience of Greene County passengers. In the morning, to C-GCC, it is scheduled to take 20 minutes from the Catskill Hub but 50 to 65 minutes–with a swing across the river and back–from CMH. Likewise, in the afternoon, from C-GCC it takes 20 minutes to the Catskill Hub but 50 to 65 minutes to CMH.
However, from CMH to and from the Catskill Hub takes 25 to 30 minutes in both the morning and the afternoon.
For more information, the schedule says to call 518 943-3625.
