PA: Carlisle Pike has potential as 'high intensity mobility corridor,' transit official says

The bus route serving the Carlisle Pike may have potential as a future high intensity mobility corridor, a transit authority official told the Cumberland County commissioners last month.

Richard Farr is the chief executive officer of the Susquehanna Regional Transportation Authority, which operates as Rabbittransit serving Cumberland and nine other central Pennsylvania counties.

"We kicked off an initial study to identify what I'm calling high intensity mobility corridors," Farr said in late September. "There are routes in all our communities that have the propensity to be heavily used.

"We are going to pick three or four corridors in each community to begin narrowing down which ones will be a winner in each county," he said. "We will push those out and see what could be next in the future. That's going to be one of our big initiatives moving forward."

Farr cited, as an example, the Carlisle Pike.

"That bus should be packed and it's not. Why?" he asked. "No sidewalks. No bus amenities. It's not user friendly. We can begin by working with local municipalities on what it takes to put sidewalks in there. What does it take to put in good bus stops."

Improvements could include transit shelters, better lighting and displays showing real-time updates on bus arrival and departure times, Farr said.

The authority could also work with municipalities to obtain traffic signal prioritization for buses moving through key intersections, Farr said "If it's green, it can hold it for another three seconds so you [the bus] can get through the light. When we see you arrive, we are going to shorten the cycle. That could be a game changer."

Future talks could include local businesses exploring ways to better connect their employees to retail and other destinations along the Pike.

Recently, the transit authority increased the frequency of buses cycling along the main east-west route serving York city and its suburbs. Within three months, ridership went up by 15% after customers noticed the change from every 30 minutes to every 15 minutes, Farr said. "This is a little story about what the future could hold on certain corridors. If we service it, people will use it."

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