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To Mayor Safford and CDTA Board:

We, the undersigned, urge you to continue Route 452.

This route provides valuable service to the Skidmore College community and the Embury Apartments. Many members of these communities are dependent on the CDTA buses to get around Saratoga Springs. We use this route to interact with the city, get groceries for our households, and receive medical care at health centers and pharmacies.

Route 452 keeps our community safe. By having a regularly scheduled bus service, Saratogians can stay off dark roads and have a secure way to get around the city. Furthermore, many roads and pathways are not walkable year-round due to cold weather and frequent snowstorms.

While this route is set to be replaced by the FLEX service, this service will remove several important stops, including the Wilton Mall. Additionally, FLEX vans are small, and the Navigator app will be difficult to access for those without mobile phones or internet access. A once-reliable system will become increasingly unreliable, leading to a disconnect between the city and those who depend on the bus.

This route is scheduled to be canceled on November 30, 2025–this gives us just over a month to act. We implore you to save this route and keep our community safe and connected.

UPDATE 10/30:

Yesterday, we met with CDTA to discuss the elimination of Route 452 and the rollout of the new FLEX system. We’re encouraged by their willingness to engage and share new information, but there’s still a lot that needs to be fixed before this system can serve everyone in Saratoga.

CDTA shared new data showing that since March 2025, FLEX wait times have averaged 30 minutes or less, and riders who don’t use the app will be able to call for pickups—something that had not been made clear to the public. Trainers will also be visiting elder communities to teach residents how to use the system, and CDTA agreed to review how this information is communicated.
That said, significant improvements still need to happen for FLEX to truly replace Route 452:

Add Wilton Mall to the FLEX service zone.
Make the call-in option visible and permanent at every stop.
Maintain the 30-minute wait time cap and publish that data publicly.
Ensure ADA-accessible vehicles and sufficient service during peak hours.
Expand outreach and training to include students, workers, and all daily riders.
We’re proud that our advocacy helped push this conversation forward and got CDTA to engage directly. That progress came from students and residents demanding better—not from city leadership.

Unfortunately, Mayor John Safford mishandled this issue from the start. Instead of communicating clearly and helping residents understand what FLEX actually is, he used it as a political talking point and created confusion across the community. That made CDTA’s job harder and left students and workers without clear answers.

We’ll continue holding both CDTA and city leadership accountable until Saratoga’s public transit system is transparent, accessible, and reliable for everyone.

Thank you to everyone who’s signed, shared, and spoken up—your voices are making a difference. Let’s keep pushing.

— Skidmore College Democrats
October 2025