ABC Essentials: All Aboard!

Do you know how bus routes are determined? Or, how many cars are taken off the roads thanks to those buses? Have you ever thought about who is behind the wheel of our local bus transportation system?

At this month’s ABC Essentials program, All Aboard!, we learned the answer to these questions - and many more! ABC Essentials is a complimentary program hosted by the Chamber of Business & Industry of Centre County (CBICC) and explores volunteer opportunities at the municipal level through our local authorities, boards, and commissions (ABCs). Driving the conversation forward this month was Louwana Olivia, General Manager of the Centre Region Area Transportation Authority (CATA).

“People say your fall in love with the transportation industry and that’s certainly been true for me,” Olivia shared with the attendees. 

With 20 years in the industry, she’s been in State College for nine years and has an expert grasp of everything from the bus fleet, fuel options, routes, ridership data, payment processes, regional and national trends, community needs, and everything in between. After an informative presentation, Olivia answered attendees’ insightful questions for half an hour, covering a broad range of topics.

“The first thing people often ask is what exactly CATA is,” Olivia began. “CATA is a stand-alone municipal authority with a five-member board appointed by the founding municipalities: College Township, Ferguson Township, Harris Township, Patton Township, and State College Borough.”

Board members are appointed to a five-year term and are volunteers. They meet monthly and also participate in special topic work sessions for things like budget and strategic planning. Board members must be residents of the appointing municipality; currently, only Patton Township term limits their representative board member. Current board members include John Spychalski, Joe Davidson, Richard Kipp, Mark Parfitt, and Kelly Felix.

“Relative to some other boards we’ve been learning about, your board is smaller but does so much,” commented Joleen Hindman of FirstEnergy.

CATA is on the move with a fleet of 71 buses and 200 employees. In the 2017-2018 fiscal year, CATA provided 6.5 million rides - removing an estimated 28,000 cars from the State College area roads each day.

“We just purchased another eight used buses that we’ll rehab and add to our fleet to meet the growing demand,” noted Olivia. “We also just completed a grant application for five articulated buses.”

In some student-heavy corridors, five buses are “platooning” to keep up with peak demand times. This means that they are on the same routes and leap frog each other from one bus stop to the next in order to pick up all the students. The articulated buses will be able to hold nearly double capacity.

“Fifty percent of our costs are covered by fares and contracts,” explained Olivia. “The US average is around 18 to 20 percent. We were a national leader in using apartment complex contracts as funding sources.”

Previously, apartment complexes had been running their own shuttles to and from campus. Now, they contract with CATA to provide service as an additional perk that residents may enjoy. These contracts have allowed CATA to expand service options for all riders.

“For example, in the Vairo Boulevard corridor, we were able to add Saturday and Sunday service for the entire neighborhood thanks to the contracts with the apartment complexes there,” said Olivia.

CATA relies on a diverse set of funding sources.

“The bus wraps bring in around $150,000 – money that helps us pay for things that we don’t have to ask the municipalities for,” noted Olivia.

Federal money requires local matching money from the municipalities receiving bus service.

“We have the greatest demand for service in the Bellefonte area, whether it’s from students moving there or people searching for affordable housing,” Olivia shared. “Many residents work third shift or on the weekends, others need to come into the State College area for medical appointments.”

Currently, there is no Sunday service in Bellefonte.

Amy Debach of The Arc of Centre County added that she knows someone who had to stop working on Sundays due to the lack of bus service.

“What is the process to expand a route,” asked Megan Williams of Maher Duessel.

Olivia explained that that an agreement must be reached with the five member municipalities to allow a contract for service to a municipality outside the immediate area. With that contract approved and funded, then data analysis begins. The travel needs are assessed for the new area, including density, destinations, and growth potential.

Another funding source comes from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania via Act 89.

“One volunteer opportunity is to be an advocate for CATA, which could include support for the Act 89 funding,” said Olivia.

In fact, there are several ways to get involved with CATA.

Aside from serving as a board member, there are also periodic community feedback sessions to share ideas to improve CATA service. Bus Buddies help first-time riders learn how to select a route, pay their fare, and signal for their bus stop. The ADA Committee helps CATA vet new policies and buses so that riders with disabilities can easily board and navigate the bus, whether that is done through education initiatives or training sessions.

“Older adults [65+] ride free,” added Olivia. “The federal government pays 50 percent of the fare for ADA riders.”

There is also CATA Ride, a curb-to-curb service that is scheduled a day in advance. The van is equipped to be ADA accessible.

Speaking of various riders, Christine Bailey wondered if smaller buses should be used a night for cost savings.

“Commuters and students have very different schedules,” Olivia began. “We’re finding that students are now going out around 11 p.m. …[and] the cost is more tied to the driver than the bus fuel.”

For commuters, there is another option beyond buses - CATA Commute, a vanpool service. A route must originate or terminate in the State College area; then, a group of people are put together from a similar area. One person volunteers to keep the van, do the driving, and complete any necessary paperwork. CATA provides a gas card; all costs – including insurance – are divided among the vanpool participants.

“We were one of the first in the state to offer this program and are currently reaching 10 counties,” Olivia explained. “We currently have about 43 vanpools with many serving employees at the university and the prison.”

Lisa Richardson of SmartPivot Energy asked about fuel options and the impact of driverless cars on CATA’s strategic plan.

“Europe is definitely ahead of us,” acknowledged Olivia, speaking to fuel advances in the United States as a whole. “We’re certainly exploring the two main options around electric buses…looking at microtransit for rural areas…[and] we’re many years away from driverless [buses] – there is a lot of infrastructure that would still need to be installed.”

Hindman wondered if cash is still accepted.

“The fare is $2 and we still accept cash,” answered Olivia. “Cash is still very convenient for many people so we don’t think fare boxes will become totally obsolete. Other payment options include tokens, passes, a mobile app called Token Transit, and we also have a $6 day pass for unlimited rides. We are always looking into the future to see what’s coming next.”

Over the years, forward-thinking has become CATA’s forte. With the third largest ridership in Pennsylvania and one of the densest route systems in the country, CATA has been able to secure grants to keep it moving forward to better serve its riders. It was an early adopter of an app for riders to track their bus routes, one of the first in the state to have bike racks, one of the first to have a 100 percent compressed natural gas bus fleet, and CATA was one of the first to participate in land use studies.

“We know that many of our [bus] riders are pedestrians or bike riders first,” Olivia said. “So we’re a big advocate for sidewalks.”

Sidewalks, bus shelters, and cut-outs for buses to glide in and out of traffic while picking up passengers are all priorities for CATA when advising and reviewing land use plans of local municipalities. Sometimes, it can benefit developers to install these features in the communities that they design and build.

Generational changes are also on the horizon for the transportation industry.

“Millennials are buying houses but maybe only driving one car,” added Olivia. “So, we’re starting to hear demand from neighborhoods of single-family homes...[currently,] cul-de-sacs make it difficult for our buses to navigate through these areas.”

Is volunteering at CATA in your future? To learn more about CATA volunteer opportunities, budget, strategic plan, routes, and more, please visit their website.

If you’d like to learn more about our local authorities, boards, and commissions – including how to volunteer – please join us for a one of our monthly ABC Essentials programs. These programs are hosted in collaboration with our municipal partners and are sponsored by Maher Duessel.