RRTA, Berks Transit Merger Complete

It is the state’s largest transit merger, and it is now official.

Lancaster County officials and Red Red Rose Transit Authority leaders took a little trip just over the Berks County line Thursday morning to meet with their Berks counterparts — and celebrate a transit consolidation nearly a year in the making.

They have established the new South Central Transit Authority to oversee both the Lancaster-area RRTA and the Berks Area Regional Transit Authority.

The RRTA name and logo on buses, as with BARTA in Berks, will not change, and the public may not notice much of a difference, transit official David Kilmer said Thursday, “We’re on a good track, and ready to move forward,” said Kilmer, who was named executive director of the new SCTA, which will oversee operations of both RRTA and BARTA.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/rrta-berks-transit-merger-complete/article_dc4c0840-817c-11e4-b535-1b031a28a372.html

Cincinnati Streetcar Plan Pits Desire For Growth Against Fiscal Restraint

Downtown Cincinnati (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

CINCINNATI, OH — It has been a long time since a streetcar was just a streetcar here.

Instead, a $133 million project to build a 3.6-mile streetcar line through downtown has come to represent, depending on whom you talk to, a debt trap that will sink the city or an ambitious development effort that is central to Cincinnati’s revival.

And when the debate ended last week in an unexpected last-minute victory for the streetcar proponents, it was seen as both a vote of confidence in the city’s future and a reminder of how tenuous support for the project had become.

On the brink of being shut down, the project was saved by a successful petition drive and a written commitment, provided by the Haile U.S. Bank Foundation, from about 15 private backers to pay up to $9 million in operating costs, if needed, over the line’s first decade.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/23/us/cincinnati-streetcar-plan-pits-desire-for-growth-against-fiscal-restraint.html?_r=0

Long-Planned Scranton Transit Center Makes Progress

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lackawanna County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The transportation hub planned for downtown Scranton is making solid progress after years of delays and false starts.

The County of Lackawanna Transit System has received the go-ahead from the Federal Transit Administration to open negotiations for the acquisition of two properties needed as part of the $12.6 million intermodal transit center project, COLTS Executive Director Robert Fiume said.

In addition, the project design by Sowinski Sullivan Architects, Sparta, N.J., is 60 percent complete.

“Should things stay on track – and I don’t even know if I want to say this – but if they stay on track, it looks like we can break ground in April or May,” Mr. Fiume said.

His hesitation is understandable, given the project’s history.

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/long-planned-transit-center-makes-progress-1.1593946

Casey Calls For Subway Extension To Navy Yard

Riders board Philadelphia’s Broad Street Subway on the Southbound platform of City Hall Station. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

WHAT DO YOU get for the corporate hot spot that seems like it has everything?

How ’bout some underground transit?

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey called yesterday for extending SEPTA’s Broad Street subway line into the Navy Yard, given the area’s dramatic rebirth as a sprawling office park that’s home to about 10,000 workers.

Casey sent a letter to Brigid Hynes-Cherin, the Federal Transportation Agency’s (FTA) regional administrator, urging her to discuss the potential project with SEPTA, the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98 and the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20131124_Casey_calls_for_subway_extension_to_Navy_Yard.html#mcdBvPyeYgAHg5K4.99

Developer Negotiating To Build Apartments, Parking Garage Near Dormont Light Rail Stop

Map of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States with township and municipal boundaries (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A developer is expected to begin negotiations with Port Authority next month for a $39.8 million, five-story apartment building and parking garage at the park-n-ride lot adjacent to the Dormont Junction Light Rail Transit station.

An authority committee today approved a one-year exclusive negotiating period with Fore Property Co., a national real estate developer based in Washington, D.C., and Las Vegas, Nev., on a lease agreement for the site, part of which is owned by Dormont Borough. The project would include an estimated $10 million in public funding, to be used toward construction of a 500-space garage.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/2013/11/20/Developer-negotiating-to-build-apartments-parking-garage-near-Dormont-light-rail-stop/stories/201311200133#ixzz2lFThxkzt

Wilkes-Barre Heralds New Garage, Bus Station Cameras

WILKES-BARRE, PA — Mayor Tom Leighton and city officials gathered at the Intermodal Transportation Center this morning to herald the recent installation of security cameras throughout the complex.

Read more: http://www.timesleader.com/news//877135/WB-heralds-new-garage-bus-station-cameras