LANTA unveils 12-year plan for future

The Morning Call ran this article on June 23, 2009. It says that LANTA views providing bus service to rail stations in the next 12 years. Despite not actively endorsing rail service or helping actively bring it back, LANTA does appear to believe it will have a future role as a feeder service. This is good to see considering the ability to have connecting transit service to the train is important as the service itself. Without the ability to interconnect with the LANTA system, many people will be discouraged from using rail due to the inability to get to their final destination. So while LANTA might still not be behind rail, they seem to plan on taking some kind of positive role in the future.

LANTA unveils 12-year plan for future

Recommendations include more 'through routes,' better service to business, education and employment centers Public attendance was limited, but the comments were positive Monday regarding the long-range plan being developed by the Lehigh Valley's public bus agency.

The Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority's ''Moving LANTA Forward'' plan features consultant's recommendations including more effective use of ''core routes'' such as Tilghman Street/Union Boulevard, Hamilton Street/Hanover Avenue, and Susquehanna Street/Broadway; increasing the number of ''through routes'' between major destinations with fewer stops and transfers, and more frequent service to existing and emerging employment and business centers such as Fogelsville, the Sands casino, Airport Center shopping plaza and Lehigh Carbon Community College.

Further down the road, Abrams-Cherwony Group of Philadelphia also proposes development of ''bus rapid-transit'' concepts such as dedicated bus lanes and limited traffic-signal pre-emption, and the development of ''satellite hubs'' with links to the existing service hubs in Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton.

Satellites could be developed at high-traffic locations such as Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest; Emmaus; Lehigh Valley International Airport; the area of Routes 22 and 512, and Route 33's Freemansburg Avenue interchange, site of the planned St. Luke's Hospital's expansion.

Eventually, Abrams envisions LANTA being involved with long-range plans for the restoration of passenger rail service between the region and Philadelphia and New York, not as a direct operator, but by running bus routes to area train stations. Development of ''light rail'' or trolley operations within the Lehigh Valley could be another part of the LANTA's future.

The proposed 12-year plan, for which Abrams was paid $250,000, was presented to the public at 3 and 7 p.m. Monday at the Lehigh County Government Center, Allentown, and similar public meetings are scheduled at the same times today at Bethlehem City Hall and Wednesday at the United Church of Christ, 27 N. Third St., Easton.

At Monday's afternoon in Allentown, only five people attended in addition to officials from LANTA or Abrams. But the few who spoke were generally positive, and sometimes enthusiastic.

''I'm quite pleased with the bus system here,'' said Robert Clarke, an Allentown retiree who no longer drives a car, relying on LANTA for basic transportation. The future plans would only improve services, he said, liking in particular Abrams' proposal to improve service to inter-city bus terminals such as Bieber and Trans-Bridge.

Frequent customer David Lahr of Allentown also looked forward to many of the proposed improvements.

Future service demands, the state and federal funding picture and other variables will help determine how much of the plan gets implemented.

The LANTA board wants to consider the public comments being gathered before formally adopting the recommendations, but the administration basically views them favorably, said Executive Director Armando Greco.