GOSHEN – Orange County is going to receive a $60,000 state grant to provide free bus transportation in the City of Middletown for several months.
County Planning Commissioner Alan Sorensen said the project is similar to one provided in the City of Newburgh one year earlier.
“With the $60,000 we anticipate that we will be able to provide about five months of free bus fare for all of the fixed routes in the City of Middletown including the paratransit,” he said. “What we saw last year in Newburgh was that when we were able to provide the free fares there was an increase in ridership so we will be tracking that as we move forward.”
When fares resumed in Newburgh, Sorensen said there was an increase in ridership over the previous levels of paid service.
