Apr. 13—SUNBURY — Sunbury city leaders are looking for residents to show interest in possibly bringing the Lower Anthracite Transportation System in to serve the community, offering free rides to residents age 65 or older.
The transportation system — more commonly known as LATS — is a public bus system based out of Mount Carmel. It operates along fixed routes and on specific time schedules. The system has three permanent routes running through Mount Carmel and Shamokin and Sunbury officials want to see if the LATS could thrive in the city.
Mayor Josh Brosious and members of the city council are looking for city residents 65 and older to take a survey, either in person at City Hall or online at the city's website or Facebook page.
Brosious said the survey will ask where the top spots would be for location drop-off and pick-ups, in an effort to gauge interest and viability.
"We want to know what our residents are most interested in," he said
There would be no cost to those 65 and older and a $1 fee for everyone else, he said.
"We are looking to have a stop from Sunbury to Shamokin Dam six days a week throughout the day," Brosious said.
LATS services many Valley communities and Brosious said he wanted Sunbury seniors to also have the opportunity to get to places with ease. It is one of several fixed-route, ride-share systems across the region.
"This is something we want for our residents here," he said. "Anything we can do to make it easier for people to get around."
City Councilman Jim Eister said he is in full support of LATS coming to Sunbury and encouraged residents to take the survey.
"This gives our seniors a chance to get out to places they may not be able to frequent.
"This helps everyone," Eister said. "A lot of the businesses that don't get to see our residents will now have the chance. This is something we want to be able to give to our residents."
Brosious said the survey is up and running and he said residents will have plenty of time to fill out the forms.
Gov. Josh Shapiro's budget proposes an additional $282.8 million investment for transit — the first of its kind in more than a decade. Funding would come from 1.75 percent of the Pennsylvania Sales Tax being deposited into the Public Transportation Trust Fund, according to a press release.
"Public transit doesn't just get seniors to medical appointments and bring people to work — the overall industry making the products and vehicles transit providers need is an important part of Pennsylvania's economy," Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll said. "(This) commonsense proposal wouldn't just help maintain clean, safe, and reliable transit services, but would also directly support jobs across the state."
Currently, all 67 counties have some form of shared ride services, according to officials.
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