MONTICELLO – Sullivan County still has wide areas in which nothing resembling public or mass transit is available. That could change, in time, but it is a slow process.
The strategy includes cross-agency coordination with all aspects, including seeking grant funding. The Commissioner of the Planning Department, Freda Eisenberg, was instrumental in the implementation of the grant, working with the consultant on the plan and perfecting the final draft which included the recommendations.
Getting state funding requires a Coordinated Transportation Plan, said Martha Scoppa, Point of Entry coordinator in the county Department of Aging. The legislature formally adopted the plan on last Thursday.
“First of all, it helps us have a direction and also, it helps us with funding from the state,” Scoppa said. “It’s all really important, and the thing is that we need transportation so badly in the county and it’s been tried before. It’s a very, very difficult complex subject. We need so much improvement there and now we’re on that route.”
Scoppa said they are also taking small but necessary steps.
“Right now, there’s an ad out to hire a director of transportation and if we can get someone like that on deck, that would really help have someone really coordinating what’s going on.”
There is no specific timeline, but Scoppa said in the long run, there will be more transportation available to county residents who do not have it now.
