Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority

Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority

LANTA #0354 works the E line in downtown Easton.
Founded	1972
Headquarters	1060 Lehigh Street Allentown, PA 18103
Locale	Allentown, Pennsylvania
Service area	Lehigh Valley
Service type	Local Transit bus Service
Routes	24 local 7 evening and Sunday 4 Special services (35 total)
Destinations	Allentown Bethlehem Easton
Hubs	Allentown Transportation Center (ATC)
Fleet	82 Buses
Daily ridership	15,000 (weekday)
Operator	LANTA
Chief executive	Owen O'Neil[1]
Website	www.lantabus.com

The Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority (abbreviated as LANTA and stylized as 'LANta'), is a transit agency that provides public, fixed-route bus service throughout Lehigh County and Northampton County, in Pennsylvania, United States. The primary area that LANTA serves is the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania, serving the cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton.

History

The Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority (LANTA) has ten voting and two non-voting members appointed by the County Executives.

The agency was created in March 1972 in response to the transportation crisis that was occurring in Lehigh, and Northampton. The solution was to create a bi-county, municipal Authority that would operate all public transit services in the two counties. Lehigh Valley Transit Company, a private for-profit entity, formally operated transit services in the Valley.

The Authority's main service is in the urbanized area of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton and surrounding boroughs and townships. About 380,000 people live within 3/4 mile of a fixed-route bus line.

About 15,000 trips are taken daily on the Metro city transit system.

In 1973, the Authority replaced the entire 65-vehicle fleet with modern air-conditioned city transit coaches. In 1974, LANTA added 30% more service hours and established a peak/off-peak fare structure offering discounts in the off-peak hours and Saturdays to encourage ridership. Seniors, through a state lottery funded program, were offered free fare access during off-peak hours and weekends in 1975.

In the mid-1980s, as the community transformed from a manufacturing based economy to a service and retail based economy, was completely revamped and a new "Metro" system was introduced in 1985. A color-coded route information system was introduced at the same time to make riding transit more 'user-friendly.' The following year, 'deep-discount' fares were introduced as LANTA raised the case fares but kept ticket and pass prices the same and providing frequent riders with a 25% discount.

In 1988 Metro Plus services for the elderly and people with disabilities were introduced. Fully accessible vans are available through contracts with private operators to take people to destinations door-to-door for a higher, zoned fare.

About 2,000 trips are taken each weekday on the Metro Plus paratransit system.

A transportation center was established in Bethlehem and centers in Allentown and Easton are on the drawing board.

As the years went on, the agency grew adding more and more bus routes around the Lehigh Valley. Ridership has grown 75% since LANTA's inception. On October 21, 2001 that LANTA started offering Sunday bus service to further increase access to public transit. The Authority is funded through revenues from the farebox; a grant from the Pennsylvania Lottery program with revenue generated by rides taken on the system by seniors 65 and older, grants from Lehigh and Northampton counties, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administration. Combined these grants pay approximately 60% of the cost of operation; the remaining funds come through the lottery program and passenger fares.

Eighty buses are in the Metro city transit fleet; 118 vans are used to provide the Metro Plus door-to-door van services. The Authority owns all vehicles. LANTA has two operating facilities: the main office, garage and maintenance building is at 1060 Lehigh Street Allentown Lehigh County and there is a satellite facility located at 3610 Nicholas Street in Easton, Northampton County.

LANTA has three operating divisions:

• Metro: The main transit service that is made up of 28 core, fixed bus routes in the Lehigh Valley. Special service routes add another 17 routes to the total.
• Metro Plus: A special door-to-door transportation service for people with disabilities and the elderly.
• CCCT (Carbon County Community Transit): A service the Authority agreed to manage in 1996 for the County of Carbon. Shared ride van services and a fixed-route bus line comprise the Carbon County Community Transportation service.

LANTA is also involved with these services:

• Starlight Evening Service
• Night Owl Service
• The Slater Express Van
• The 400 Routes
• The Lynx
• Silverline Express
• The Bethlehem Loop

The New Lanta

A new LantaBus system was introduced in August 2011 that changed the route naming scheme from a letter based one to three-digit based one. Routes are broken down into 6 categories (Corresponding to the first digit of the line number) and further broken down into specific routes after that (corresponding to the second and third digit). For example, Lanta route 108 is a "trunk" route that offers service from Fountain Hill to the Bethlehem Square Shopping center. Lanta route 410 provides service for the Allentown School District and only operates during the school year. New bus stop signs were also introduced throughout the system that lists the routes that operate at the stop (as compared to the old signs that only displayed a picture of a bus and the words "Lanta Metro").^[2]

Routes

LANTA previously operated 35 fixed bus routes in its Metro service. Seventeen lettered routes serve the inner city areas of the Lehigh Valley, while five numbered routes serve the surrounding areas. Two shuttles named "The Rover" and "The Whirlybird", that operate from the Lehigh Valley Mall and Palmer Park Malls to various neighboring shopping strips and centers, serve as the final daily fixed routes. In the evening, LANTA operates the Starlight service made of seven fixed routes which service center city Allentown, the Lehigh Valley Mall and Palmer Park Mall, Whitehall, and Emmaus. There is also the Night Owl service that runs late-night from center city Allentown to the Lehigh Valley Hospital. Metro also operates the Silverline Express which is an express bus that serves the Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton areas via Route 22, as well as The Bethelem Loop, which serves as a shuttle for that city's downtown core.

The new LANta comprises 29 routes that operate throughout the Lehigh Valley and 12 additional routes that operate during the school year for the Allentown School district. Routes with numbers in the 100s are "trunk routes" and offer the largest operating schedules for the entire week. The 200s routes operate through suburban corridors Monday-Saturday during the day. The 300s routes operate mainly in suburban corridors Monday-Friday during the day. The 400s routes are reserved for the Allentown School District. The 500s routes are reservation-based lines for suburban areas like Macungie. Finally, the 600s routes are designed to address the needs of certain markets, and include the Whirlybird line and the Bethlehem LOOP.

List of Metro Routes

Route	Terminals		Major streets
107	Village West Shopping Center	Broad & Guetter Streets (Bethlehem)	Cedar Crest Blvd., Tilghman St., Hanover Ave.
108	East Hills/Fountain Hill	Bethlehem Square Shopping Center	Stefko Blvd., East Blvd.
101	Broad & Guetter (Bethlehem)	Center Square (Easton)	Freemansburg Ave.
104	Lehigh Valley Mall	Emmaus	Emmaus Ave., MacArthur Rd.
220	Easton	Allentown	Hanover Ave., William Penn Highway
215	Lehigh Valley Mall	Creekside Shopping Center (Hellertown)	Schoenersville Rd, W. Broad St.
103	Northampton	LVIP IV	MacArthur Rd., Broadway, E. 4th St.
102	Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom	Sands Casino	Hamilton Blvd., Union Blvd.
209	Allentown Transit Center	Crest Plaza	Walbert Ave.
211	Lehigh Valley Hospital	Presidential Village	S. 24th St., Hamilton St., MacArthur Rd.
210	Lehigh Valley Mall	South Mall	MacArthur Rd., Allen St., 15th St.
214	North Easton	Harlen House	Northampton St., Freemansburg Ave.
217	Slate Belt	Broad & Guetter Streets (Bethlehem)	Route 512, Route 115, Route 248
604	Riverside Road	Broad & Guetter Streets (Bethlehem)	Riverside Rd., New St.
218	Allentown	Slatington	Route 309, Route 873, Main St.

List of Metro Suburban Routes

Route	Terminals		Major streets
219	East Catasauqua	Egypt	MacArthur Rd., Race St.
213	Fogelsville	Allentown	Route 100, Tilghman St.
322	Trexlertown	Allentown	Route 100, Hamilton St.
323	Stabler Center	Lehigh Valley College	S. 8th St., Mack Blvd., Interstate 78

Route	Route Name	Service Area	Fare
106	The Rover	West Easton, Palmer Park Mall, Easton Centre Square	US$2.00
602	The Whirlybird	Lehigh Valley Mall, Whitehall Mall	US$2.00

List of Metro Starlight Evening Routes

route	terminals
101	Bethlehem	Easton
102	Dorney Park	Allentown
103	Northampton	Bethlehem
104	Allentown	Emmaus
106	Palmer Park Mall	South Easton
107	Allentown	Bethlehem

List of Other Metro Services

Route	Description
The Slater Express Van	weekend mall shuttle
The Lynx	Carbon County transit routes, which alternate depending on the day of the week
The 400 Routes	school bus services

Fares

Metro

Fare category	Description	Cash
One Ride Fare	One Ride Fare	US$2.00
Day Pass	Unlimited rides all day	US$4.00
Whirlybird Express	One Ride Fare	US$0.50
The Rover	One Ride Fare	US$0.50
Transfers	Valid 2 hours after purchase	US$0.25
Senior Citizens (65+)	All day pass with ID	Free
People with disabilities	All day pass with ID	US$1.00
Children (5 and under)	With paying adult	Free

FareSaver Tickets

Fare category	Description	Cash
10 Ride Ticket	FareSaver Ticket	US$16.00
31 Day Pass	Good for 31 days after purchase or activation	US$60.00

LANtaVan (formerly Metro Plus)

Full Fare	General fare to access Metro Plus paratransit services - each way	US$22.15
Subsidized Fare	Seniors (65+) and others subsidized by agencies - each way	US$3.35
Ticket Books	6 Tickets, good for 6 one-way trips or 3 round trips	US$20.10

References

1. http://www.lantabus.com/board-of-directors/
2. "Fixed Route Schedules for LANta Bus". Retrieved 6 July 2012.

External links

• LANTA Official Web Site