New Castle revises park, ride bus service
CRANBERRY TWP — The New Castle Transit Authority will discontinue all service to the Route 528 park and ride beginning Monday.
All service will be from the temporary Cranberry Township park and ride location at the water park complex on North Boundary Road.
The New Castle Transit Authority will resume service to the Route 528 park and ride lot when it reopens early next summer.
Leonard Lastoria, general manager of the New Castle Area Transit Authority, said there are nearly 200 available spaces at the North Boundary Park location.
Lastoria said the authority decided to stop service to the Route 528 park and ride to save time on the commute.
“There’s no point in us going to both stops,” he said. “Right now it’s trial and error as we try to make everyone happy.”
The authority began making stops at the North Boundary Park on Monday. Lastoria said the authority has received numerous complaints about the service, which has been stopping at both the Route 528 and North Boundary Park locations, taking too long.
“If our buses get stuck in the traffic down on (Route) 19, it can cause problems,” he said.
Lastoria added the removal of the Route 528 stop will certainly save time on the commute.
Nearly half of the roughly 100-space Route 528 lot was closed Oct. 23 for construction of the Butler Transit Authority’s $1.9 million expansion project, meaning half of the riders depending on the stop have to find other ways of getting to Pittsburgh.
The Butler Transit Authority does not use the lot for its route, but hopes to do so in the future with service to Pittsburgh.
The expansion project will add about 200 spaces to the Route 528 lot.
The New Castle Transit Authority originally planned to stop using the lot Feb. 1 until the completion of the project.
