Fix Hudson Link

The initial phases of the New Tappan Zee Bridge proposed a MetroNorth line running through the middle of the two spans connecting Rockland and Westchester Counties, and maybe even giving Rockland a direct route into NYC. By the time the bridge was completed in 2017, that initial proposed train had morphed into a bus service by the name of Hudson Link. Since its introduction, Hudson Link service has had an average daily ridership of around 41,000 people, commuting both to and from Westchester and Rockland. The bus system has been plagued by delays and cancellations since its inception, with commuters often left stranded at stations waiting for the next bus to hopefully arrive later. This has caused a countless issues for commuters whose morning trip to work and evening trip home already take an hour and a half on a good day. However, in recent weeks one commuter, Carly Hart of Nyack, has dedicated her time to fixing this.

FixHudsonLink is a website Hart built using ClaudeAI in the 40 minutes between when her evening bus should have come, and when it actually arrived. Hart, who currently only commutes to the city around six times a month, was fed up with the unreliability of the bus service. She and her husband moved to Nyack after living in San Francisco and New York City, choosing Nyack because of its proximity to New York City and the walkability of the community. 

As commuters though, they’ve been frustrated. 

Since starting the website, Hart has reported daily incidents with buses late or canceled without much notice. Her site has three main options – View the canceled buses via a live feed of reports, report a missing or delayed bus yourself, or email the people in charge of the Hudson Link service. On April 15th, at approximately 11:30 a.m., the site reported that there had been 34 incidents with 29 canceled trips. The site reported 298 canceled buses in the last seven days alone.  

Since starting the site, Hart has been in contact with Transdev, the company who operates Hudson Link, but says their reply to her was essentially a non-response. The mayor of Nyack, Joe Rand is aware of the site, and many officials in Rockland are generally aware of the problems plaguing the service, but not much has been done to make improvements. Hart has sent a letter on behalf of Hudson Link commuters to the NYS DoT explaining the website and the countless issues with the service ahead of the contract renegotiation.

Despite all of this, Hart and her husband still rely on Hudson Link for their commutes into both Tarrytown and New York City. Her advice to commuters? Skip the service if you’re able but be prepared for delays and cancellations if you wind up taking it. Hart, and many Rocklanders, are reliant on the service due to price. The price to cross the bridge and park at a commuter station in Westchester is simply more expensive than taking the bus for $2.75, leading to over 40,000 people a day relying on a service that is notoriously unreliable. 

Hart has been handing out business cards at different Hudson Link stops to encourage commuters to use her site and make their frustrations known to the people in charge. If you are a Hudson Link commuter who is as fed up as everyone else, visit the website fixhudsonlink.com. Report missing buses, and email the people with the power to fix this broken service.