Our Transit System
Dutchess County Transit Hub, Poughkeepsie, New York
Bus and rail transit play an essential role in the county’s transportation system, providing people with alternatives to private or for-hire vehicles. Local buses in particular help those who do not own a vehicle and those who cannot drive, including young people, older adults, and disabled persons, as well as those who prefer not to drive. Regional transit, notably commuter rail, can offer more convenient access than a personal vehicle to major destinations such as the New York City metro area. And of course, transit benefits the environment, especially regional air quality, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Though we benefit from a diverse range of transit services, access to these services is neither universal nor evenly distributed across the county. Our more densely populated communities offer the best setting for financially sustainable transit, while our less populated areas make it more of a challenge. Our current County Public Transit system reflects this.
You can explore our transit system on the Map Viewer.
511NY: TRAFFIC, TRAVEL, & TRANSIT INFO
511NY is a statewide, one-stop resource for transportation information including road closures, incidents and construction, transit information and trip planning tools, ridesharing and other commute options, and more. You can access information via the website or by calling 511. You can also register to receive personalized travel alerts or find potential carpool or vanpool members. Registered rideshare members also have access to a Guaranteed Ride program.
Dutchess County Public Transit
Dutchess County provides regularly scheduled bus service on major corridors, connecting higher density areas to activity centers in the county. The system operates , eleven of which function in a hub-and-spoke pattern with the Poughkeepsie Transit Hub on Market Street in the City of Poughkeepsie at its center. One of these is a pilot “Poughkeepsie-Amazon Express” service for workers at warehouses in East Fishkill. The remaining two routes are the Beacon Free Loop and a route between Beacon, Fishkill, and Hopewell Junction.
Routes run Monday to Saturday, with limited service on Sundays. while some operate more frequently (Route L Poughkeepsie Main Street operates every half hour), and some operate less frequently.
The county’s bus routes can be explored via a real-time bus locator. You can learn more about access to bus transit in our Bus Access Analysis section.
Beyond fixed routes, Dutchess County provides three demand-response services that are available to the public:
- ADA Complementary Paratransit: A mandatory complementary paratransit service for people and have a disability that precludes them from riding the regular route. This service requires a reservation made the day before the desired trip.
- Dial-a-Ride: A demand-response service open to the public, operated under a contract between a municipality and the county. To register, passengers must be a resident of a contracted municipality and the trip must originate in one of those municipalities. This service requires a reservation made 3 to 30 days before the desired trip.
- Flex Service: A demand-response, curb-to-curb service open to the public, with service throughout the county. The service requires a reservation and is provided between 8am and 5pm Monday-Friday.
The system has made three notable changes in the last decade: in 2017, when the City of Poughkeepsie bus system ceased operations and the County expanded its service in the City; in 2018, when changes were made to routes and schedules in the Poughkeepsie area; and in 2025, when routes, frequency, and service hours were adjusted to focus on higher-ridership areas.
In 2024, the county bus system carried more than 900,000 passengers, 98 percent of whom traveled on the system’s fixed routes. While the impact of the 2025 system changes is not yet fully known, represents the highest ridership in the system’s and continues the growth that was experienced before the sharp decline during the pandemic.
The county system operates out of its facility in the Town of LaGrange and has 59 vehicles: 44 buses and 15 ‘cutaway’ vans for on-demand services. All have front-end bicycle racks.
Dutchess County Bus Ridership
Source: Dutchess County Public Transit
Regional Bus Services
Two operators provide inter-county or regional bus services in Dutchess County:
- Ulster County Area Transit (UCAT) runs the Ulster-Poughkeepsie and Kingston-Poughkeepsie LINK buses, which provide weekday and weekend service between the Poughkeepsie Metro-North Station and Poughkeepsie Transit Hub and points across Ulster County.
- Leprechaun Lines operates weekday commuter service between Poughkeepsie, Wappingers Falls, Fishkill, and White Plains in Westchester County. Leprechaun also manages a local service between Beacon, Newburgh, and Stewart Airport.
In 2020, the Mid-Hudson Valley TMA (Dutchess, Orange, and Ulster Counties) completed a study of regional transit options that examined regional bus and rail services and offered recommendations for improvements. See Connect Mid-Hudson for more information.
Passenger Rail Service
Metro-North Railroad and Amtrak provide regional passenger and inter-state rail service in Dutchess County.
Metro-North Railroad
Metro-North Railroad provides commuter rail service between Dutchess County and the New York City metropolitan area. It operates eight train stations in Dutchess County: Poughkeepsie, New Hamburg, and Beacon on the Hudson Line; and Wassaic, Ten Mile River, Dover Plains, Harlem Valley-Wingdale, and Pawling on the Harlem Line. There are also seasonal stops at the Breakneck Ridge (Hudson Line) and Appalachian Trail (Harlem Line) trailheads (note: the Breakneck Ridge stop is currently closed due to construction).
Each station has a dedicated parking lot, and four (Poughkeepsie, Beacon, Pawling, and Harlem Valley-Wingdale) have connecting bus service.
Metro-North ridership at Dutchess County stations saw substantial declines during the pandemic, dropping by 65 percent from 2019 to 2020. While overall ridership is not yet back to pre-pandemic levels, weekday ridership as of 2024 is about 20 percent below the pre-pandemic peak, while weekend ridership has exceeded the pre-pandemic peak.
However, travel patterns have changed, with fewer daily commuters and more people using the train for hybrid work schedules, trips to destinations other than Manhattan, non-commute trips, and weekend travel.
Consistent with past trends, the Hudson Line accounts for more than 90 percent of Metro-North ridership in the county, with about 45 percent of passengers using the Beacon station and 35 percent using Poughkeepsie.
Hudson Line Ridership (Dutchess County Stations)
Source: Metro North Railroad
Harlem Line Ridership (Dutchess County Stations)
Source: Metro North Railroad
Amtrak
Dutchess County is served by five Amtrak lines that run between New York City and points north and west: the Empire Service to Niagara Falls, the Ethan Allen Express to Rutland, VT, the Maple Leaf to Toronto, the Adirondack to Montreal, and the Lake Shore Limited to Chicago.
In 2024, these lines carried a combined 2.4 million passengers (ridership and on-time performance varied between the routes).
All four lines stop at both the Poughkeepsie and Rhinecliff stations. In the Poughkeepsie station saw about 115,000 Amtrak passengers (arrivals and departures combined) and the Rhinecliff station saw almost 178,000 (despite not being served by bus transit and having limited parking capacity). For both stations, this is a substantial increase from pandemic-era levels; in the case of Poughkeepsie, it is the highest ridership since at least 2016.
Amtrak Ridership
| Route | Passengers Carried (2024) | On-Time Performance (2024)* |
|---|---|---|
| Empire Service | 1,358,500 | 74% |
| Maple Leaf | 506,600 | 75% |
| Lake Shore Limited | 398,400 | 75% |
| Adirondack | 69,200 | 77% |
| Ethan Allen | 89,000 | 70% |
*The number of minutes late a train can be before Amtrak considers it not “on time” varies depending on trip length.
Passenger Ferry Service
The Newburgh-Beacon Ferry was operated for many years by Metro-North Railroad through a contract with NY Waterway. It provided passenger service between the Newburgh waterfront and the Beacon train station during weekday peak periods. In 2024, annual ridership totaled about 32,000 passengers – about half of the ridership in 2014, and less than half of ). In 2025, the ferry service was eliminated due to ongoing low ridership, high costs, and significant repairs needed at the Beacon dock. A connecting bus service is being provided instead.
Human Service Agency & Non-Profit Transportation Services
A number of human service agencies and organizations in Dutchess County provide transportation to clients. Most rely on advance reservations and serve limited trip purposes and areas using their own vehicles and paid drivers. Trip purposes include medical appointments, shopping, and recreational activities.
Human service agency transportation is an alternative to Dutchess County’s fixed bus routes and Dial-a-Ride, Flex, and paratransit services. The strength of human service agency transportation is the higher degree of operational flexibility, which allows them to better respond to individual needs on a case-by-case basis.
However, funding remains a challenge for many of these organizations, both from a capital perspective (i.e., replacing vehicles) and operationally (i.e., paying drivers ). To help, we develop a Coordinated Public Transit-Human Services Plan every five years that identifies the mobility needs of the elderly and differently-abled in the county and suggests ways to improve coordination among various transportation providers.
THE HUDSON RIVER
The Hudson River is our region’s original transportation “infrastructure.” For centuries, it was the primary means of regional travel and our economic lifeblood. Today, Dutchess has no public passenger transportation on the river. Ships regularly pass by with freight bound for New York City or Albany, but the only active ports in the county are private. For more on the Hudson River’s role, see our sections on Freight and Economic Barriers.
What We Heard
“For many years I was the director of a program for young adults with learning differences, many of whom were not ready to drive, but were otherwise very independent. They were very disappointed that the limited transportation impacted their ability to go out on their own.”
– Moving Dutchess Forward survey