News release
WATERTOWN, NY – Plans for a county-wide transportation system in Jefferson County are moving forward.
The effort – led by Volunteer Transportation Center, Inc. – was started earlier this year and included a series of public input sessions across the county in September to give community members opportunities to share what they need to see with a county-wide system.
John H. Exford, who serves as Jefferson County Mobility Manager, oversaw the
sessions and said they provided extremely useful feedback.
“We had our first round of community input sessions to collect data and hear from
the residents of Jefferson County and it was great to learn what they needed, ” said Mr. Exford. “We’ve compiled that data and have come up with draft routes for the public transportation system.”
When the process began earlier this year, Mr. Exford began meeting with representatives of human service agencies, medical facilities, places of employment and senior housing complexes. The first round of public input sessions followed and now, with that data in hand, another round of input sessions will be held.
“Now, that the first draft of the routes are complete, we would like to know what the community thinks – positive and negative,” said Mr. Exford. “When we finish this round of input sessions, we will take the suggestions from the public and continue to work on the bus routes.”
Continuing to solicit feedback and use it to fine tune the transit system before a
formal plan is finalized is critical, he added.
“We want this to be a transportation solution that will be able to help as many
people as possible and be a true resource for Jefferson County,” said Mr. Exford.
Community members will be able to share that information at the public input
sessions, starting Tuesday, Nov. 15. Sessions will be held on the following dates and times at the following locations:
• 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15 – Grandview Courts Apartments, 40 N. Broad St., Carthage
• 1 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16 – BOCES Administrative Building, 20104 Arsenal St., Watertown
• 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 16 – Jefferson Community College Jules Amphitheater, 1220 Coffeen St., Watertown
• 10 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 17 – Sackets Harbor Heights, 211 Woolsey St., Sackets Harbor
• 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 18 – Gordon Courts Apartments, 39 Bolton Ave., Alexandria Bay
Citi-Bus will provide transportation to the Nov. 16 meeting at BOCES, with drop-off at 12:40 p.m. and pick- ups at 2 p.m. and 2:40 p.m. Para-transit transportation will also be available. For the Nov. 16 meeting at JCC, Citi-Bus will provide drop-off at 5:10 p.m. and a bus waiting to depart at the end of the session. Para-transit transportation will also be available for that session.
“Over the next several months we will continue to utilize the community’s input to come up with the best possible routes to cover Jefferson County,” said Mr. Exford, adding the county-wide transportation system is scheduled to launch sometime in 2024.
For more information about the upcoming public input sessions or the proposed county-wide transportation system, contact Mr. Exford by phone at 315-755-8365 or email at john@volunteertransportation.org.