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RRTA director announces 25-cent bus fares for September
Intelligencer Journal
Published: Aug 21, 2008
01:10 EST
Lancaster
By CARLA DI FONZO, Staff

Dave Kilmer
 
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Start saving your quarters.

Beginning Sept. 2, Red Rose Transit Authority will offer 25-cent rides for the entire month on all RRTA bus routes.

Dave Kilmer, RRTA's executive director, unveiled the promotion Wednesday.

"We want the community to have a chance to try RRTA as a part of their daily commute and give people breaks," he said. "With gas prices fluctuating between $3.50 and $4, who knows what next month will bring?"

On Wednesday, Kilmer and Congressman Joe Pitts stood outside the RRTA headquarters with a veiled easel.

Moments before Kilmer's announcement, he pulled the draping away to reveal a manhole-sized quarter — a manhole-sized Pennsylvania quarter, to be exact.

Kilmer said the special promotion was possible because of Pitts, who was instrumental in restoring federal operating assistance for RRTA this year.

"You led the charge," Kilmer told Pitts.

For years, the congressman supported a recently passed bill that allows small transit authorities to use federal funds to pay for operating costs.

It has been projected that the bill will provide about $1 million for RRTA in the coming fiscal year.

On Wednesday, Pitts commended the RRTA's special promotion.

"I applaud the RRTA for expanding opportunities for the public to use the bus system as an alternative way to get around," he said.

Kilmer said if the promotion is successful, the RRTA could gain about 10 percent in ridership.

"We … wanted to show the positive effects riding public transit can have on the community," Kilmer said.

Customers who ride often during September (and who don't want to carry a pocket full of quarters every day) can purchase a monthly pass for a discounted price of $10.

The price is equivalent to 40 rides at 25 cents. Discounted monthly passes will go on sale starting today. Ten-trip tickets will remain at their normal price through the month of September.

RRTA also will add additional weekday service to some county routes starting Monday. Those additions include:

Route 10/Lititz: 5:50 p.m.

Route 11/Ephrata: 5:50 p.m.

Route 12/New Holland: 5:50 p.m.

Route 16/Millersville: 6:20 p.m., 7:20 p.m. and 8:20 p.m.

Route 17/Columbia: Inbound trip at 9:25 p.m.

Route 18/Elizabethtown: 6:05 p.m.

Route 19/Manheim: 5:50 p.m.

For more information, call RRTA at 397-4246.

E-mail: cdifonzo@lnpnews.com


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Showing 5 most recent comments out of 29 total TalkBack comments about this article
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QUOTE(dee @ Aug 21 2008, 04:10 PM)
If you really believe that, I feel sorry for you. The Lancaster County Masses don't use the bus because of one word - selfishishness. Many cannot use it for one reason or another but many more don't use it because it is more convenient to jump into their huge SUV with their 2.5 kids, a bag of groceries and one soccer ball. It's too inconvenient to stand in the cold waiting for a bus. It's too inconvenient to not have a car to go out for lunch during their work day. I only SOMETIMES use the bus, so I too am to blame. However, at least I don't say nobody rides the bus because the routes don't fit their schedule. Or call a hardworking bus driver a Communist because he wants to keep his job.
thank you for that response dee, i would hate to see the bus system reduced or done away with. we rely on it in our house because we have one car and rather than making two trips when my husband and my schedule don't mesh we rely on the buses. my husband is also very good about car pooling with co-workers (i have noone to carpool with). both of us are currently looking at bikes for city use so that we don't have to use the car for minor errands either.

QUOTE(Right of Smart @ Aug 21 2008, 05:08 PM)

Dee
As far as the comrade comment I already said I was sorry to Mansfield.

But if the driver believes we should keep his bus driver job while he drives one passenger on his bus then we should call him a chauffer.
Ok, I live in Millersville and work in Lititz.

0545 am I walk 10 minutes to the bus stop.

I take the 0600am bus to RRTA palace in Lancaster and

Arrive at 0655am.

Make my connection at 0705am and arrive downtown Lititz at 0740am

I walk the last 5 minutes to my office.
2 hour commute! Call me selfish I'll ride and so will 99.99% of the county
Now for the bus home……
I'm just looking for accountability.
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and what you have just described is the average commute for a new yorker or someone who lives outside of d.c. and uses mass transit. we are spoiled here because we are not used to a commute of any kind.... my g-d people won't shop the outlets because it's on the OTHER side of town!!! oh my!!. but for anyone in any city mass transit is a fact of life and you factor it in as part of your daily routine.

QUOTE(littledutchboy @ Aug 22 2008, 09:25 AM)

How is the SUV driver selfish? I pay my own way and pay for the bus riders and the bus drivers.

You're darn right it's too inconvenient to stand and wait for a bus, why would I want to do that?

I don't go to food banks or use shelters they are for the needy and unfortunate …so are buses.
you have a rotten attitude about anyone you deem "lower" than yourself dutchy. busses are not for the "needy" and i think this post of yours just sums up your whole attitude towards the rest of the world. why don't you just go whole hog and get that hummer and leave nothing but an environmental mess for your kids.
june w.
I too would have to be up and out the door way before dawn to make the connections. I checked this out a few weeks ago after another LNP article.
Since I live near Reinholds and work in Lititz, I'd still have to drive several miles to catch the bus and parking in Ephrata isn't easy or cheap.
If my first bus was late, and I missed the second bus (according to the schedule there was only a 5 minute gap in Lancaster), I'd be late for work. Then I'd have to walk about a mile to my job (weather factors to consider here - plus a purse, briefcase, high heels, and carrying my lunch). If I work late, then I'd have the same trouble on the way home or if I needed my car for my job, I'd be out of luck.
Why spend more hours commuting, more money on a bus fare, and then end up needing my car while at work? I take back roads to work and am there in 20 minutes!!!
Don't even make me think about the winter and learning that the bus service is suspended!
It might work for sum, but not all!

nikki0912
i think people will start to be more choosey when deciding where to live. is it close to work, to family, to the gym, to the places i frequent, etc. i have read that there is a national trend towards moving back into cities and away from the suburban sprawl for this very reason. it will be interesting to see how it pans out over the next generation.
june w.
QUOTE(june w. @ Aug 22 2008, 01:57 PM)
i think people will start to be more choosey when deciding where to live. is it close to work, to family, to the gym, to the places i frequent, etc. i have read that there is a national trend towards moving back into cities and away from the suburban sprawl for this very reason. it will be interesting to see how it pans out over the next generation.

Very true, many are moving back. I'm from near Chicago (great transportation system) and loved it there, but married a man from PA. We do live near many things - family, church, etc. He works near Lebanon, and I in Lititz! Therefore why we chose Reinholds.

nikki0912
QUOTE(nikki0912 @ Aug 22 2008, 03:10 PM)

Very true, many are moving back. I'm from near Chicago (great transportation system) and loved it there, but married a man from PA. We do live near many things - family, church, etc. He works near Lebanon, and I in Lititz! Therefore why we chose Reinholds.

that makes sense, unlike major cities we don't have centralized business districts here either and that makes it more difficult for a two income family to live close to where both work.
june w.
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