Escaping upstate may soon be easier sans car with Catskill Carriage's Aug. 3-5 pilot — just in time for And North’s Soiree on the Railway.
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| Your Catskill Carriage to the Hudson Valley is not only outfitted with free Wi-Fi, ample legroom and individual power outlets, there’s also beverage and drink service and Aesop products in the rest room. (Gabe Brodbar) |
By
Nikki M. Mascali, Metro
Longing to escape the sweltering New York City summer for the fresh
air and bucolic landscapes of the Hudson Valley? It may soon be easier
to do sans car thanks to a new
bus route pilot from Catskill Carriage.
[post_ads]On Aug. 3, Catskill Carriage will test run its aptly named Hudson
Valley Escape at 3 p.m. from Haymaker Bar on West 29th Street to Mohonk
Mountain House in New Paltz; Senate Garage in Kingston; Sportsman’s
Cantina in Phoenicia and Scribner’s in Hunter. Return service will leave
Scribner’s at 2 p.m. Aug. 5. Both trips are estimated to take just over
four hours.
Tickets are $55 each way if purchases five days prior, $65 one to
four days before or $68.75 day of. Anyone buying a ticket on the
inaugural Hudson Valley trip is entered to win a $500 gift certificate
to Mohonk Mountain House.
Known as the “Hamptons Jitney for Upstate New York” since its
official launch in May, Catskill Carriage has been “inundated with
requests” for additional service beyond its two current weekend routes
to the Catskills, founder Gabriel Brodbar said.
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Escaping to the Hudson Valley may be easier with Catskill Carriage's new bus route pilot on Aug. 3-5. (Gabe Brodbar)
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As the other two routes run from Memorial Day to Columbus Day,
Brodbar hopes the response to the Hudson Valley pilot “is strong enough
that we would immediately start running either on specially selected
weekends or, ideally, all weekends for this to become a well-established
option” by leaf-peeping season, he said. “We think there’s a really big
market in the fall and winter to establish this route.”
Among Catskill Carriage’s partners on this Hudson Valley pilot is And North, which is hosting its second-annual
Soiree on the Railway
on Aug. 4, a scenic train ride through the rustic Catskill countryside
that features local fare, live music and dressed-to-the-nines attendees.
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And for those thinking the pilot might be a packed-to-the-gills ride
to the Hudson Valley on any old bus, your chariot is not only outfitted
with free Wi-Fi, ample legroom and individual power outlets, there’s
also beverage and drink service and Aesop products in the restroom.
Though the bus can fit 54 “quite comfortably, we like to cap sales at
about 40 to provide more comfort and elbow room,” Brodbar said.
For more info on Catskill Carriage’s Hudson Valley route, visit
catskillcarriage.com.
What is Hudson Valley?
The Hudson Valley stretches 150 miles above the tip of northern
Manhattan across 10 New York state counties: from Rockland to Albany on
the west side of the Hudson River and from Westchester to Rensselaer on
the East Side, according to Hudson Valley Tourism.
In addition to being what Lonely Planet dubs “
a real city break,”
the Hudson Valley is also designated as a National Heritage Area. What
are National Heritage Areas, you may ask? They’re designated by Congress
as “places where natural, cultural and historic resources combine to
form a cohesive, nationally important landscape,"
the National Park Service explained.
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