Jamie Hughes, Associate Photography Editor
Lancaster County’s public transportation service, the Red Rose Transit Authority, implemented changes to its service on Monday, Sept. 8 affecting seven of its eighteen bus routes, including the route serving Millersville. The affected routes had adjustments made to their schedules in order to improve service reliability.
The bus system previously underwent a major overhaul in Nov. 2024 which resulted in changes to departure times and the creation and deletion of several routes. The schedules were meant to improve service by having buses depart either every 30 minutes or every hour. Another large change was the reduction of service between downtown Lancaster and Park City Center from three routes to one.
The changes, however, led to a number of complaints against the bus system, such as buses regularly running late. According to LNP, buses on the Colombia and Lititz routes often ran into traffic problems which caused them to be delayed.
Greg Downing, the Executive Director of RRTA’s parent company, South Central Transit Authority, told LNP that Route 17, serving Colombia, saw significant traffic issues at the intersection of Colombia Avenue and Rohrerstown Road. He also said that the Lititz route, number 10, runs into a similar bottleneck in Neffsville.
“Every bus is late every day trying to get through that, so we need to add more time,” Downing said.
The new schedules implemented Monday slightly tweak the departure and arrival times of some routes to account for traffic conditions. Route 16, which serves Millersville, now makes return trips from Millersville to Lancaster three minutes later than their previous departure time. The Colombia route on weekdays now has more time allotted for transit, especially during the peak morning and evening times.
An email sent by Jennifer Boley, the Director of Marketing at South Central Transit Authority, said that the schedule changes were approved in June.
“These changes are being made so RRTA can continue to improve our service for existing customers and the Lancaster community,” Boley said in the email.
Information about the schedule changes can be found on RRTA’s website.
