Calling food trucks and bike renters: Cuomo Bridge has slots to fill

Peter D. Kramer, Rockland/Westchester Journal News
·2 min read

If you've got a food truck, the Thruway's got a captive clientele for you.

The agency behind the Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge is looking for local food-truck and bike-rental vendors to fill slots where the bridge's shared-use path makes landfall in Tarrytown and South Nyack. They're thinking hot dogs, coffee and ice cream to welcome hungry and thirsty runners, walkers and cyclists.

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1,000 a day

The Thruway says the three-mile path attracts about 1,000 cyclists and pedestrians every Saturday and Sunday, including peak hours from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., for a season that stretches from as early as April 22 through Oct. 29.

Bikers and walkers on the opening day of the shared use path on the Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge June 15, 2020. The New York State Thruway says the path has seen more than 500,000 visitors since opening.
Bikers and walkers on the opening day of the shared use path on the Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge June 15, 2020. The New York State Thruway says the path has seen more than 500,000 visitors since opening.

In the Westchester landing in Tarrytown, there are spots for two trucks and a pop-up tent at that time. South Nyack has a single truck slot and a single pop-up tent at a time. But the spaces can be used by different vendors at different times, morning coffee giving way to afternoon hot dogs, for example.

The Thruway is also interested in hearing from local companies eager to rent bikes to those who arrive at the landings without one.

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The Coffee Ride Cafe has set up shop in the old South Nyack Village Hall, at the end of a ramp leading to the Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge's shared-use path. The Thruway is seeking vendors to sell food on the path's Rockland and Westchester landings.
The Coffee Ride Cafe has set up shop in the old South Nyack Village Hall, at the end of a ramp leading to the Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge's shared-use path. The Thruway is seeking vendors to sell food on the path's Rockland and Westchester landings.

Two-year permits

The last time the Thruway sought vendors, in 2021 for two-year, seasonal permits, 10 applied. At the Westchester landing, Double Barrel Roasters and Sleek eBikes were granted two-year permits; in Rockland, Salonniere Coffee Bar was granted the permit.

In South Nyack, a brick-and-mortar non-wheeled alternative might give food trucks a ride for their money. The former village hall, down a ramp from the Rockland landing, has been reimagined as Coffee Ride Cafe. It sells pastries and lattes downstairs and the upstairs has a bike shop and mechanic and a massage therapist. (It opens at 7 a.m. seven days a week and closes at 5 p.m. every day but Monday, when it closes at 4 p.m.)

The deadline for vendors to apply for a slot on the bridge path is April 7. Submit questions to gmmcbinfo@thruway.ny.gov.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Thruway has spots for food trucks on the Cuomo Bridge