While the Crawford Area Transportation Authority intercity bus service accommodates a wide assortment of people in Venango County, a point of camaraderie unites them – complaints about the route.
The bus that makes the loop through Oil City, Cranberry Township and Franklin picks up roughly every hour and a half at each stop.
Those boarding at Giant Eagle can take the trip through Seneca, including a stop at Walmart and the Cranberry Mall. To get from the Oil City Giant Eagle to the 11th Street gazebo in Franklin takes about 50 minutes, a trip that would take about 10 to 15 minutes by car.
“We hear those complaints,” Jones said. “We hear about very long trips. You don’t get a direct trip back home a lot of the times.”
Jones said the roundabout route is basically a numbers game.
“We try to incorporate enough stops in there to go to enough popular places,” Jones said.
Venango County commissioner Tim Brooks said the county is working with CATA to adapt the intercity route to make it more convenient for the riders.
“The problem is we have a limited resource with funding to pay for the buses, so we have to make it the most efficient to serve the most people,” Brooks said.
CATA general manager Tim Geibel said the authority is looking to try a revised route by July 1.
While the route operates on a circular pattern, Geibel believes riders may have better luck with a horseshoe.
“Right now, it operates on a circle between Franklin, Oil City and Seneca,” Geibel said. “What we’re going to do is more of a horseshoe design. We’re almost ready to roll it out, but we’re waiting until the start of the fiscal year.”
Geibel said CATA is also planning to bring a 29-passenger natural gas bus from Meadville to Venango County to run on the intercity route on select busier days and times this summer.
“On days we can anticipate higher ridership, we’ll put a larger vehicle on the route,” Geibel said. “It’s a much larger vehicle and much easier for passengers to board.”
Although many riders have expressed frustration with the timeliness of the routes, Geibel said riders have expressed appreciation for have a bus service and have requested that it adds later evening routes to the schedule, which is under consideration.
