Your Stories Q&A: NYS Fair Park-N-Ride shuttles no longer cash-only

TOWN OF GEDDES, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — You ask, we answer!

As we approach the start of the 2024 Great New York State Fair, the Your Stories Team has received several questions about the Fair, from ticket prices, parking, entertainment and shuttles.

In the coming weeks, we will try to answer many of the questions.

One topic that keeps making its way to the YS Team is the Park-N-Ride shuttles.

Since 2021, Centro has only offered 3 stops:

1. Downtown Syracuse transportation hub on South Salina Street
2. Destiny USA, Solar Street parking lot
3. Long Branch Park in Liverpool

Centro’s VP of Communications, Steven Koegel, said those 3 locations will once again be the only stops for the 2024 NYS Fair.

Koegel pointed to a driver shortage and demand as two reasons for not adding previously popular Park-N-Ride stops, offered before the COVID-19 Pandemic

“The State Fair has expanded their parking and attendance has been down the past couple of years, so we’ve been able to handle the demand,” Koegel said in May.

While there are no changes to the Park-N-Ride stops this year, riders will not notice other changes.

Centro has rolled out contactless fareboxes on its buses. Customers will no longer need to buy a ticket in the Park-N-Ride lots. Instead, customers will use the new “Tap to Pay” fareboxes as they climb aboard.

The new system also means Centro will no longer be cash only. Riders can still pay with cash but credit/debit, mobile payments and other forms of payment will be accepted.

“Centro’s goal of offering alternative payment options provides our riders greater flexibility and is an example of how Centro is positioning itself to be a more efficient transit system,” Koegel said in a news release.

For more on the new system, Centro released this video on its website .

According to the NYS Fair website: “To ride the shuttle one way, the fee is $1.00 for adults, and $.50 for senior citizens, children 6 to 9 years old, and those who are living with disabilities. Children under 6 are free.”

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