Hopper Riders Down Slightly; Montauk School Stop Added To Amagansett Route

Ridership on the Hampton Hopper’s free “Montauk Loop” shuttle was down considerably in 2021 from the numbers posted before the pandemic, and drivers reported regularly that some potential riders objected to the requirement that face masks be worn on the bus — and declined to ride because of it.

The Hopper buses, which ran daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., still provided between 1,300 and 1,400 rides a week throughout the hamlet over the summer, averaging between 170 to more than 200 rides per day in most weeks of the summer, and more than 300 daily rides over the July 4 holiday.

Before the pandemic, the Montauk loop, which began running in the summer of 2017, had been growing in popularity and had averaged more than 300 riders per day throughout the summer. The bus loop was not run in the summer of 2020 because of the pandemic.

A substantial portion of the dip in ridership, the Hampton Hopper surmised, appeared to have been due to the fact that travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic again prevented many foreign workers from coming to the area for summer jobs in 2021. Montauk’s hotels and restaurants, in particular, traditionally employ many workers from Ireland and Caribbean nations to fill their staffs — workers who typically do not have cars and were found to be the most regular riders of the shuttle buses.

In its weekly ridership reports to the town, the Hopper reported regularly that drivers had said would-be passengers — in particular, those coming from the Hither Hills State Park campground — refused to wear face masks while aboard and declined to get on the buses rather than put a mask on. Drivers of all buses had free masks available for those who wanted to ride but didn’t have one, the company said.

In late July, the company also reported a “spike” in disruptive riders on the final evening runs.

This was the first year that the 12-stop Montauk Loop route was run without the financial support of state grant funding. In 2017, 2018 and 2019, the state had earmarked $100,000 to subsidize the shuttle, which does not charge for rides.

In the absence of the grant, East Hampton Town and Stony Brook Southampton Hospital picked up the total $160,000 cost of operating the shuttles in 2021, with the town paying $100,000 and the hospital paying $60,000.

The buses this year also added a daily run between Montauk and Amagansett and East Hampton Village.

The Montauk Loop ended on Labor Day weekend, but the Hampton Hopper continues to provide the daily “last mile” leg of the South Fork Commuter Connection, meeting the additional Long Island Rail Road commuter trains on weekday mornings and afternoons. The Montauk School was recently added to the loop from Amagansett.