The Trolley Committee Asks for Community Support on Public Transportation Improvements

From left to right, Judy Farrell, Chuck Hustis, Cold Spring Girlscouts, a community trolley rider, Robert Langley, and Nancy Montgomery taking the first ride of the 2019 trolley season.

Philipstown residents may not think twice when they see the Cold Spring Trolley drive by on a Saturday or Sunday, but the Cold Spring Chamber of Commerce Trolley Committee does. The committee connects the little green vehicle going down Main Street to solutions for traffic and parking issues, sees it as a way to support economic prosperity while relieving congestion created by tourism, and considers it a transportation option for residents and visitors going to Magazzino, Boscobel, Manitoga, or Dia Beacon on the weekend. The trolley volunteer group has spent much of the past nine months considering how to make our sole local public transportation option, outside of the senior bus program, better. And now they have recommendations to make.

This past week and a half the Trolley Committee has proposed trolley stop locations to both the Cold Spring and Nelsonville Trustees, and is preparing to present a complete set of recommendations on October 18 to an invited audience including the Putnam County Department of Public Transportation and local officials. These recommendations reflect community opinion gathered through a public survey, consider safety and traffic concerns voiced by the Cold Spring Mayor and Trustees, and incorporate feedback from residents and visitors who have taken, or attempted to take, the trolley.

The committee’s goals are straightforward: to increase ridership and improve the existing public transportation service with efficient routes and clear signage so that the Trolley can be a valuable asset to residents, visitors, business districts, and cultural institutions. Guiding characteristics of successful public transportation (reliability, recognition, affordability, accessibility, and convenience) direct the process. By including the community and local representatives, the committee looks to attract the necessary local buy-in to effect the immediate improvements and future goals for area public transportation.

We can all gain by supporting a public service that reduces the demand for car usage and relieves limited parking demands in an area that has little wiggle room to offer increasing car traffic.