County Looks to Have CENTRO Take Over Bus Service – Will Connect to Numerous Counties

The decision has been made. During last Thursday Cortland County Legislative meeting for the month of August, Legislators voted unanimously to move forward to have the Central New York Regional Transportation Authority, better known as CENTRO, take over bus service operations for Cortland County.

CENTRO is a familiar name to many as they’re the bus operator for Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, and Oswego Counties. With CENTRO now taking over operations for transportation services in the county, the Legislature says residents will now be better connected to the Syracuse Metro area with services to Syracuse now possible.

“They’re [CENTRO] are here to run transportation, not to make money.” Legislator Beau Harbin told the Legislature when discussing the decision to choose CENTRO.

When the county looked at the options of what to do after a Request for Proposals (RFP) on transportation providers for the county only resulted in one bid from Transdev, who operates under the First Transit name in Cortland County. The county learned that Cortland County is listed in the service area for CENTRO and in-fact, the county opted out of CENTRO service back in the 1970s when the not-for-profit was established.

Harbin continued on saying choosing CENTRO will be the “best way” to move forward for service delivery, for the drivers, and the taxpayers. He noted services would expand to allow riders to go from Marathon to Syracuse. Harbin said CENTRO has a different focus when compared to Transdev saying they know the area well and a not-for-profit. It is to note Transdev is also a not-for-profit, but is an international organization.

Thursday’s meeting regarding the decision led to the Legislature voting unanimously to suspend the rules to allow voting on the additional resolutions from numerous special meetings that took place prior to the full legislative session on Thursday.

In total, there were five resolutions the Legislator voted on regarding the public transportation service in the county with the first being to reject a bid for Transportation of Children with Special Needs, the vote was unanimous. It is noted this rejection is to reject Transdev as the service provider and not the actual rejecting of assisting children with special needs.

Second, the Legislator voted unanimously to reject the bid made by Transdev doing business as First Transit. Cortland County originally entered into a contract with TransDev back in 2015 for the operation of the public transit system throughout the county. The bid submitted the county says had a “substantial increase” in costs when it was compared to the current contract, which would’ve led to a financial burden on the county taxpayers. 

Third, it was a unanimous decision by the Legislature to authorize the county to become a participating member of the Central New York Regional Transportation Authority (CENTRO). Legislator Harbin noted the target start date for CENTRO bus service for the county is around April 1st, 2025. 

Remaining resolutions were the creation of a temporary agreement with TransDev during the transition from First Transit to CENTRO and the creation of temporary positions with the county within the transportation services for the county to avoid disruptions.

“We are humbled by Cortland County’s decision to join the Central New York Regional Transportation Authority. We believe we provide excellent transportation services for the communities we serve. Over the next few months we will work toward a full tradition of services by April 1, 2025.” Steven Koegel, VP of Communications and Business Development for CENTRO told X101 News.