POUGHKEEPSIE – Several members of the Democratic Socialist Party, including City of Poughkeepsie Eighth Ward Councilman Daniel Atonna, attended the Dutchess County Legislature meeting this week to plead for Dutchess County to eliminate the fares charged to ride the Dutchess County Transit bus system. Atonna’s sentiments were echoed by other speakers, including several Vassar College students.
“It is the government’s job to make peoples’ live easier, especially the working class,” Atonna told the legislators.
Atonna said that his Eighth Ward constituents want “Better bus service. They want more frequent service, more routes, and more stops.”
He said Dutchess County reported having 800,000 riders last year (2025). The annual ridership on Dutchess County Public Transit buses was 680,015 round-trip. In 2023, the county projected that number to climb to 786,500. In 2019, before the pandemic, ridership reached 845,929 round-trips. In 2024, after substantial research, the county revamped the bus routes, eliminating some stops due to low ridership, while expanding service on other routes.
Noting that Sullivan and Ulster counties implemented free buses in 2022, he would like Dutchess to do the same in March.
A single ride at the full fare rate in Dutchess County is $1.75, and a $45 commuter ticket covers the cost of 44 rides. Thirty-one-day unlimited ride tickets are available for $62 or $31 for reduced-fare eligible riders.
Moments after Atonna made his plea, Mid-Hudson News was at the Dutchess County Transit Hub in Poughkeepsie, where three buses arrived with a total of four riders. Of the three buses, two departed empty and one left with two passengers.
Dutchess County Executive Sue Serino declined to comment, noting that no legislation or proposal has been presented to her office.
Comments