Centro to offer scaled-down park-n-ride service to this year’s State Fair

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Centro says it will offer “park-n-ride” service from downtown Syracuse, Destiny USA, and Long Branch Park for the upcoming New York State Fair and will once again deliver fairgoers to the Fair’s main gate.

When the State Fair was last held in 2019, the buses took riders to Gate 10 on the western side of the Fairgrounds. However, due to the difficulty of finding bus drivers, the pickup service is scaled down from prior years, when Centro offered many more pickup locations than the three available this year.

Centro is “very pleased to once again deliver fairgoers straight to the main gate of the State Fair,” Brian Schultz, CEO, said in a release. “Unfortunately, we are unable to operate our full network of park-n-rides this year because of a shortage of bus operators, a problem that is currently plaguing our industry. Limiting our services to these three locations will allow us to maintain our current daily service, maximize the use of our workforce, and deliver a dependable service for fairgoers.”

Buses will run each day of the 18-day State Fair from the Centro Transit Hub Downtown, and parking lots at Destiny USA and Long Branch Park to the main gate. Centro will operate the service in accordance with federal-government guidelines that currently require that passengers on buses and other forms of transportation wear face masks, regardless of vaccination status.

Centro will also operate free shuttles from the orange parking lot and Willis Ave parking lot — which has nearly doubled in size since the 2019 State Fair — during each day of the Fair. Masks will also be required to ride the free shuttle service.

The cost of the park-n-ride shuttles will remain $2 for adults and $1 for persons with a disability, seniors, and children 6-9 years of age. Parking at Long Branch Park and Destiny USA is free.

Centro will publish schedules for the service on its website at www.centro.org in coming days.

Centro also noted that it is currently hiring bus operators, mechanics and servicer / cleaners. For more information see Centro’s job listings at: https://www.centro.org/about-Centro/Career-Opportunities/hr-job-listings.

The Central New York Regional Transportation Authority (Centro) is the public transportation provider for Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Oswego counties.