Lackawanna County’s public bus service will resume normal service Oct. 5, but with tweaks to 11 routes, the agency announced Monday.
The County of Lackawanna Transit System said the changes will increase efficiency and add more service.
The system compressed its system since March because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The changes will include service to the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Plains Twp., renaming some routes, combining others on one paper schedule and other minor changes to routes and timetables.
“We took time during the pandemic to resize our bus system and reconfigure routes so that they best meet demand for service,” COLTS Executive Director Bob Fiume said in a statement.
COLTS will eliminate the No. 48 Dalton/Waverly/Clarks Summit and No. 99 Minooka/Montage because of low ridership. No. 48 riders can ask COLTS for demand response service. Employees of EDM Americas who ride the No. 99 can use No. 42. Some bay assignments at the downtown Lackawanna Transit Center will also change. The new schedules and bay assignments are posted on coltsbus.com.
Here are the route changes:
No. 14 Drinker/Chestnut weekday and No. 13 Drinker/Marywood on Saturday: No service to Dunmore Community Center. COLTS’ shared ride van will serve the center.
No. 18 Petersburg: Rerouted to Wheeler Avenue to Ash Street to Prescott Avenue inbound; no more service on Richter Avenue.
No. 21 Lake Scranton/Oakmont: Name change; rerouted with timetable changes and new stop times; no service to Seymour Avenue or East Mountain Road; bus goes up Crown Avenue from Moosic Street to River Street to Meadow Avenue back to Moosic Street and Route 307; cuts five inbound and five outbound weekday trips.
No. 26 Mohegan Sun/Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center: Three trips daily Monday through Saturday.
No. 31 Old Forge/Stauffer: Adds trips to Price Chopper/Walmart Express on weekdays to go only to Price Chopper and then Walmart in Taylor and back to the transit center (outbound trips: 9:15, 10;15 and 11:15 a.m., 12:15 and 1:15 p.m., with return to transit center at 55 past the hour; inbound trips from end of line at 10 and 11 a.m., noon, 1 and 2 p.m. are canceled — buses go only to Price Chopper and Walmart; on regular Old Forge trips, inbound arrival at transit center will be 15 past the hour or 45 past.
No. 36 Keyser Valley/Lafayette: Two routes combined; first inbound Lafayette leaves COLTS at 6:25 a.m. and first inbound Keyser Valley leaves COLTS at 6:15 a.m.; if bus goes outbound as a Keyser Valley, it travels inbound as a Lafayette; if a bus goes outbound as a Lafayette, it is inbound as a Keyser Valley; both go to Keyser Oak Gerrity’s.
No. 42 Olive/Providence: Service to EDM Americas on the 6:30 a.m. outbound trip from the transit center, arriving at 6:45 a.m. and will service EDM on the 3 p.m. outbound trip from the center, picking up at EDM at 3:30 p.m.
No. 43/45 Viewmont/Bangor & Viewmont Express: Combine on one schedule; if a bus goes out as an express, it comes back as Bangor and vice versa; weekday arrive time at the transit center changes to the top of the hour, not 5 after.
No. 52 Carbondale/North Main Avenue: New name; combines the former Oram route with Carbondale; services North Main Avenue from Scranton to Carbondale; eliminates Dorothy Street stop; bus goes into Geisinger at Mount Pleasant on Monday through Friday; adds new time points; travels Linden Street to Wyoming Avenue inbound to transit center.
No. 53 Marywood/U of S & No. 13 Drinker/Marywood on Saturday: Eliminates six weekday trips; cuts 11:40 a.m., 1:40 and 3:40 p.m. outbound, and noon, 2 and 4 p.m. inbound.
No. 54 Green Ridge/Dickson City: Rerouted with timetable changes; puts bus on Wyoming instead of Franklin inbound and outbound; bus will make a right onto Sanderson Avenue from Green Ridge Street, then go to Boulevard Avenue.
Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9147
