HUDSON — The state Department of Transportation approved the Columbia County transportation coordination plan.
The plan, approved by the Columbia County Board of Supervisors in December, was approved by the DOT last month.
The plan was last updated in 2017, said Michael Chameides, Hudson 3rd Ward supervisor and chair of the county’s Public Transportation Committee.
Some parts of the 2017 plan needed to be updated, including in-depth demographic studies, Chameides said.
“There are some pretty significant changes and improvements to the previous plan,” he said.
“We did a comprehensive demographic overview of the county and looked at the demographics most likely to use the service,” he said.
The populations found in the studies most likely to use the service included seniors, people with disabilities and people without vehicles, Chameides said.
The county municipalities with the most no-vehicle households are Hudson, Kinderhook and Livingston, according to the plan.
Clermont, Greenport, Livingston and Austerlitz were found to be the areas with the biggest population gains, while Hudson, Kinderhook, Greenport and Clermont had the highest population densities.
Residents over the age of 60 were also found to be the primary users of public transportation, and the 70-plus population was predicted to increase over the next 10 years.
The report also mapped major points of interest, including libraries and government offices.
“This will help plan future routes,” Chameides said.
Columbia County’s public transportation served over 30,000 riders in 2022, according to the transportation plan.
The transportation committee also surveyed about 12 providers of public and private transportation in the county, Chameides said.
“Most of the services that are not public, the demand is bigger than they can meet,” he said.
Other transportation agencies in Columbia County use over 100 vehicles with 50 full- and part-time staff to make more than 40,000 trips per year, according to the plan.
The 2023 transportation plan will provide the county a way to set its priorities to take actions to maintain its fleet, and increase revenue and communication, Chameides said.
“Having a plan like this helps us make better decisions with how we maintain our transportation system,” he said. “It makes it easier to get funding in the future because we identified our priorities in the plan.”