‘Gus The Bus’ Will Connect
Oneonta, Butternuts Valley
ONEONTA – Effective today, Otsego Express (known as Gus the Bus) will be traveling between Oneonta, Morris, Gilbertsville, and New Berlin, with a new route that will be known as Route 14.
Route 14’s bus departs Oneonta approximately 7 a.m. and travels through Morris, Gilbertsville and Mount Upton on its way to New Berlin. Riders in Morris can catch the bus on its way back to Oneonta approximately 10:30, where they can transfer to Oneonta Public Transport’s West End bus.
Riders can return to Morris, Gilbertsville and Mount Upton in the mid-afternoon by taking the OPT West End bus to make the connection to Route 14, which departs the NYS DOT stop on Rte. 7 at 1:15. Route 14 will run every weekday.
The schedule can be found at www.otsegoexpress.com or call 607-547-4225 for more information.
The coordinated route allows Otsego County the opportunity to cost-share with other transportation providers to bring new bus routes to corridors in need of service without increasing the budget, the bus company announced today.
Historically, the public transportation system was funded by three sources, federal and state transportation operating aid, and Medicaid reimbursements for transportation to medical appointments.
In September 2013, the state Department of Health implemented a new centralized ride brokerage system for multiple counties. The result was a 100 percent loss of Medicaid riders on the public transportation system as riders are assigned to taxis and ambulettes. The loss of the Medicaid reimbursements for those rides, as well as losses in State Aid, calculated in part on the number of riders, made some public transportation service reductions necessary earlier this year.
Otsego County contracts with Birnie Bus out of Rome to manage and operate the Otsego Express public transportation system. Birnie has assisted in finding ways to coordinate routes where there is potential for contracts to provide shared services and cost. As a result of these efforts to coordinate shared services, Otsego Express will open Route 14to the public, effective August 11st, without requiring additional funding from local, state or federal sources.