Lebanon Transit, public transportation authority for the city and county, is looking to close the gap between Lebanon and Berks counties.
The easternmost Lebanon Transit stop is the Salvation Army in Avon Heights, and the westernmost BARTA stop is in Womelsdorf. That leaves over 10 miles not covered by either system.
Mike Ritter, marking and outreach coordinator, said Lebanon Transit is in the process of communicating with residents in eastern Lebanon County to see what services they would require. They’ve had surveys available and held a few in-person meetings in Myerstown.
“In some of the initial things that we’re learning in our survey, there are a lot of people who live in Myerstown Borough who don’t drive, and they would like to get to places in Lebanon. Some of the specific places that have risen to the top are Walmart and the doctor’s offices on Norman Drive,” Ritter said. “There’s a benefit to the specific residents in Myerstown Borough, but there’s also a greater benefit in terms of providing transit for the region because we are trying to grow with the way that our community grows.”
He said it would be Lebanon Transit buses venturing into Berks County to pick up travelers in Womelsdorf, and it will require some coordination between the two transportation systems. The schedules would need to be relatively close so people can get off of one bus and onto another without excessive delay.
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Once Lebanon Transit connects to Womelsdorf, people using public transportation will have greater access all throughout the region. Someone would be able to go from the eastern edge of Berks County through to Hershey or Harrisburg, then use other transportation systems like rabbittransit or Capital Area Transit to continue on their journey.
“We want to get out there and get people moving to the place that they want and need to get to,” Ritter said.
The organization is approaching the growth in phases, with the first phase being their outreach to the ELCO community and the second being getting feedback from all of Lebanon County. There is an online survey available to get feedback about whether residents would use the service, how much they’d be willing to pay, and times and dates they might require transportation, among several other questions.
Expanding the coverage area would necessitate more Lebanon Transit drivers but not more buses, according to Ritter.
Currently, he said they have 18 buses, with 12 in operation at peak hours and 16 full-time bus operators.
“We have the fleet of buses on-hand that we would need to grow into that, but we need the drivers,” he said. “Trying to find drivers across industries is a bit of a problem in current history.”
There isn’t a specific timeline for expanding service at this point, especially because they are still in the beginning stages, but Ritter said he expects the new route to go into effect in about a year if everything goes according to plan.
“We, of course, wish it could be done tomorrow,” he said. “Our hope really is to close that transit gap in the region between Reading and Harrisburg, and hopefully people will see the possibilities that open up for people who live here when we do close that gap.”
Lebanon Transit’s website outlines several reasons someone might choose to take public transportation. These include saving money, reducing gasoline consumption, reducing carbon footprint, and reducing road congestion.
“We’re at about 100% of our bus fleet operating on compressed natural gas at this point, so there’s an air quality improvement benefit to riding out public transit,” Ritter said. “In addition to that, if you take 30 cars off the road and put those 30 people on a bus, and there are 30 cars that aren’t on the road that are burning fossil fuels and polluting the air, so there’s some environment impacts there as well. If we can convince more people to get on the bus, we can improve air quality here as well.”
Information about Lebanon Transit’s available bus routes and fares is available online.
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