Bus transportation is an essential public service to the Lancaster community, allowing residents to get where they need to go for school, work, shopping and leisure.
On Monday, Nov. 11, the Red Rose Transit Authority, RRTA, will launch a new set of routes, the first major changes to its fixed-route service in almost five decades.
South Central Transit Authority (SCTA) overseas both the Red Rose Transit Authority (RRTA) in Lancaster County and the Berks Area Regional Transit Authority (BARTA) public transportation system in Berks County.
To experience the RRTA service first-hand, I joined SCTA’s Marketing Director Jen Boley and Marketing Coordinator Natasha Halukakos to ride the bus in Lancaster.
Community engagement to determine new bus routes
Red Rose Transit is going through some major changes this fall, by changing most of their bus routes in one capacity or another. They are adding new services and making adjustments to the bus schedules, as stated by Jen Boley.
The decision to schedule new routes was not taken lightly and robust community engagement has been a major part of the process, which started with public surveys and public meetings as part of the Transit Development Plan (TDP) in 2023.
RRTA went out into the community to meet current and prospective riders and residents to collect feedback. RRTA staff attended community events such as Mayor’s neighborhood month to hear from residents directly and organized opportunities for city residents to ride proposed new routes.
This led to iterations and changes such as frequency and rerouting by identifying new bus stops and making sure that key community places such as medical facilities and schools were included, based on the feedback received from residents and community organizations.
“We did the best public engagement we have ever done at SCTA, and received feedback to help make our services more convenient and efficient for our customers to get around Lancaster,” Boley said.
Focusing more on innovation and continuous improvements
“We are reimagining how we transport people to and from all around the county and are looking at new and innovative ways to get people from one side to the other,” said Gregory Downing, Executive Director of SCTA. “This includes looking into microtransit options, our bus network as well as new and innovative ways to do our shared-ride services. We are doing a lot of good things here in Lancaster.”
Implementing the new routes doesn’t preclude further improvements to the bus service in Lancaster County. “Even after this change process, we still want to listen to our customers,” Boley said.
Customer Feedback Requested
I would like to encourage all residents and visitors in Lancaster to try the Red Rose Transit Authority bus service and provide your feedback about your experiences and ideas for improvement.
Stay tuned for more content and resources on bus transportation such as tutorials on how to ride the bus.
More Information
Bryant Heng is a Bloomberg Harvard City Hall Fellow studying how Lancaster City can make transportation better. Learn more here.
