Alongside the warehouse-sized Hannaford Supermarket in Kingston Plaza, the overhang is lacking, and so a metal roof has been erected, casting the sidewalk beneath into perpetual shadow. All-weather speakers have been mounted under the façade, which juts out to offer sanctuary to visitors walking beneath from a hot sun or inclement weather.
Pop music is playing, the rain is kept at bay—so far so good. But what’s this? Blocking the approach to the grocery store, there are groups of people gathered under the metal roof, standing or even sitting on the ground smoking cigarettes—and yes, a waft of pungent smoke—marijuana. How déclassé.
There appears to be a man urinating into a trash can, but you don’t want to make eye contact.
There’s definitely an old woman drinking from a bottle wrapped in a brown bag and singing to herself, slapping her thigh in accompaniment. You start looking around, suspecting the city jail might be nearby. After all, there is a police cruiser parked, watching the loiterers at an ominous remove, when a bus pulls up and it all falls into place.
This stretch of sidewalk, which smells like an ashtray—and worse—is the transit hub for all of Ulster County’s 15 bus routes. The bus pulling up could be ferrying transit riders to Ellenville, Poughkeepsie, Woodstock, Saugerties and beyond. The people gathered must be expectant passengers passing the time in the ways they’re accustomed to. Live and let live.
But when the bus pulls away, the woman remains. The man micturating in the metal receptacle has sat down next to her, and the group sitting on the ground like hobos with their belongings scattered around them never even bothered to look up to see which bus had come and gone.
They’re not waiting for the bus at all.
Suddenly voices are raised and two young men are facing one another, standing so closely they could kiss. Things have gotten out of hand. Well, the police are watching, so there’s nothing to do but walk bravely forward into the Caravaggio painting. This has nothing to do with you.
But scenes like this may have had something to do with Herzog Supply Inc., the owner of the parking lot and strip mall, deciding that the county should relocate the hub of its public transit system somewhere else.
Deputy County Executive Amanda LaValle has said it was “complaints to the property owner” that terminated the arrangement to have the Plaza act as a bus transfer hub, but requests for comment from the president of Herzog Supply Inc., Brad Jordan, remain unanswered at this time.
Tough crowd
As evidence of the type of behavior that has come to be expected from some individuals gathering under the colonnade, LaValle said the county secured a conditional permit in June to allow contracted outside security to monitor the area.
Bus stop chaos is only part of the problem. Conflicts on the buses occur so frequently that Ulster County Area Transit announced the hiring of two “bus stewards.”
While they will be available to “assist passengers and provide resources and information,” stewards are also expected to support drivers, “preventing and de-escalating any conflicts which arise” in order to provide “a safe and enjoyable transit experience for all.”
Why conflicts on the buses and around the Kingston Plaza transit hub should have become so frequently troublesome this year, as opposed to years past, may have something to do with the increased ridership the transit authority has acquired following its transition to a fareless ridership model.
Beginning three years ago in October 2022, fareless operations have seen larger crowds ride the bus every year since. In 2024, UCAT set a ridership record by providing 540,974 total rides.
To ensure the system remains well-oiled as demand increases, the county has been promising the public a route optimization plan since 2023.
The process began last year with public engagement opportunities. Since then, a collection of data points and an evaluation of technology and software has been completed. According to their own timeline, the team working on the study is currently at the phase of developing “alternative service scenarios aimed at meeting the needs of our community.”
Public transportation advocates anticipated route changes would be launched only after service scenarios had been recommended in an implementation plan. But route changes are exactly what were announced on Aug. 16, in a county press release that did not mention any plan to move the central transit hub.
By Aug. 25, the plan to move the hub to the Development Court plaza in the Town of Ulster had not yet been communicated on official letterhead.
At the bottom of the UCAT web page, visitors are informed that UCAT will be updating its route schedules on Sept. 15.
Speeding toward a solution
Assistant Deputy County Executive Amberly Jane-Campbell did add some clarity about the coming hub swap with a statement that explained the county didn’t have the luxury of time while making the change.
“We lost the site for our bus hub in Kingston, and we had to come up with a solution ASAP to maintain continued service and connections,” Jane-Campbell said. “In the near term, the only feasible option was to utilize a county-owned site that could accommodate 50 buses a day.”
Even still, the official ambiguity surrounding the rush to change central transfer operations alarmed the public transit advocates of the Riders of Ulster Transit Alliance (RUTA) so much that they held an emergency meeting.
“The route optimization plan was mentioned four times in the press release,” said alliance member Tanya Garment, “but the only clue we had this was coming was a mention that people who live in Port Ewen will now have to take the KPL to Kingston where they can make convenient transfers at Garrigan Drive or Development Court. The county never announced that the hub would change. They basically buried it.”
“It was Brad Jordan’s decision to just remove everybody in a very short amount of time,” said alliance member and traffic safety advocate Rose Quinn. “This is why we should not put our trust in private entities, not with things that are this important.”
Former legislator with a keen interest in transit, Laura Petit, said, “I don’t want to put all of the blame on Brad because I mean there were no bathrooms! And I’ve been told that Hannaford discouraged people to use the bathroom or come inside and warm up. So, you know, eventually, especially with ridership up, something was gonna happen.”
Mathematics professor at Bard College Japheth Wood thought the decision had been made without consulting people with expertise.
“I’ve seen so much information flow through these email threads, analyzing the changes, identifying weaknesses, really thinking through carefully. We have members who really have developed an incredible expertise who want to help, want to advise, and they’re being systematically ignored.”
Legislator Greg McCullough attended the meeting and has since come out firmly on the side of pumping the brakes on any changes until local residents — and far-flung riders both — can be consulted.
Whether or not the county will agree to slow down the hub swap, if Mr. Jordan wants them off his property, then off they will go.
Former legislator Phil Erner disagreed there was nothing the county could do, but with a caveat.
“At the end of the day, if the county wanted to not take the buses out of there, he could complain to the police and they could refuse to cooperate. He could complain to the sheriff and they could refuse to cooperate. I mean this could be escalated with Mr. Jordan. I’m not suggesting that we necessarily do that — I’m just pointing that out.”
For more information and announcements, visit the UCAT website at ucat.ulstercountyny.gov.
Editor’s Note:
Jordan responded via email to the Daily Freeman on August 26.
“Although we are big proponents of public transportation and have always appreciated working with UCAT and Ulster Government, we had never been asked if we would accommodate a UCAT transit hub and only recently became aware we were fulfilling that role,” Jordan wrote.
“Unfortunately, despite efforts on everyone’s part, it has become abundantly clear we simply are not equipped to handle the number of patrons and buses involved in operating as a hub.
Join the family! 
