Red Rose Transit Authority riders painted a vivid picture of their experiences with the service at a public input meeting last week, covering the good the bad and the ugly.
Some described friendly drivers who are mostly on time. Others mentioned problems with staff courtesy and inconsistent route operations. A visually impaired resident talked about challenges for that community of riders.
The meeting, held Thursday at the Holiday Inn Lancaster, is part of a process that will result in a fresh update to the South Central Transit Authority’s Transit Development Plan. The authority oversees the Red Rose Transit Authority in Lancaster County and the Berks Area Regional Transportation Authority.
Leading the session was Boris Palchik of Foursquare ITP. He and and Natasha Manbeck of McMahon Associates are working with the South Central authority to gather information about what is and isn’t working at its two subsidiaries.
The most recent update to the Transit Development Plan was completed in 2018, but implementation of its recommendations was paused due to Covid, Palchik said.
Get involved
The Red Rose Transit Authority will hold an online Zoom meeting from 5:30 to 7 p.m. this Thursday, Feb. 2, to discuss its Transit Development Plan update.
The meeting is an online counterpart to the in-person meeting discussed in this article, and the same information will be presented. No pre-registration is required; to join, use the link https://tinyurl.com/TDP23RRTA.
The authority also is conducting an online survey on its service. Click here to take the survey in English; click here for a Spanish version.
Click here for a PDF of the presentation given at Thursday’s meeting.
Public input
“One thing (RRTA) gets right is the standardization of the fares,” said one rider.
Others talked about the positives and negatives around RRTA Go Mobile, the authority’s smartphone app.
While some cited the functionality and visibility built into the software, others had issues with the inefficient use of multiple applications. In one case, a rider claimed that after looking up a bus on an application, and verifying it was in service, the bus simply never arrived.
“It’s almost like you need to be part of a secret society to know how to operate the bus system,” said one rider, recounting digital challenges.
Some in attendance asked RRTA to coordinate with Google — for example, to allow better online self-service planning tourists visiting the area for a few days.
Microtransit
While discussing efforts to expand ridership, Palchik mentioned potential initiatives such as a ‘microtransit’ model, an approach similar to Uber and Lyft.
Members of the audience expressed impatience for this kind of transit innovation.
“Why do you keep building our hopes up?” said one resident, as others shouted, “False hope!”
“We’re jumping up and down and asking questions about (microtransit) because we want it,” another individual said.
A major concern riders talked about a bit later was being left waiting for a bus.
One rider talked about her job at the Park City Center shopping mall. The bus schedule doesn’t match her job’s hours, so she has to forego some hours of income.
“That hurts,” she said.
Another resident asked officials to coordinate better with Amtrak, to make it easier for peope to connect with scheduled train service from Lancaster’s station to destinations like Philadelphia and Harrisburg.
What the data shows
The Transit Development Plan update is focusing on three key areas: Market information, service metrics and stakeholder engagement.
The Red Rose Transit Authority strives to be “a good steward of public funds,” Palchik said. He said an internal study found the Red Rose Transit Authority is outpacing its peers in cost efficiency, with an average cost of under $8.50 per trip against an average of nearly $17.
In analyzing route demand, he said, the authority uses a sophisticated methodology, counting jobs and people to make sure that routes are based on actual ridership demand.
He and Manbeck presented plans showing that actual ridership matches the overlay of calculated demand in a pretty consistent way.
Palchik also talked about components like land-use and transit need demographics that feed model improvements.
The Red Rose and Berks Area authorities each have their own garages and fleets, but they do some things collaboratively, such as reporting data to the federal government, Palchik said.
Next steps
SCTA plans to conduct digital route profiles in March, look at service improvement scenarios in April, and conduct a second round of community engagement this summer. A third “final vetting” round will take place toward the end of the process.
