PA: A bus every 10 minutes in Easton? The city wants to hear from you on transit plan.

With Downtown Easton growing, residents have raised concerns of parking and traffic congestion.

The answer may be better options for public transportation.

On Monday at the Easton Intermodal Transportation Center, Easton officials introduced a plan to bring more frequent bus service to city neighborhoods. The proposal, developed in partnership with the Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority, envisions shuttle buses running approximately every 10 minutes between Easton’s neighborhoods and downtown.

City Councilman Frank Pintabone said the expanded service would allow riders to travel more easily between neighborhoods as well as downtown. The goal is to create a system where riders would not need to rely on schedules, and instead have confidence in quick bus arrival.

He emphasized that this plan will not eliminate LANTA’s current bus routes.

Pintabone said residents will have opportunities to give feedback at public meetings and through online surveys. LANTA is working to complete the survey questions, and it will be released in two to three weeks.

The survey will be available on social media and the city’s website. The city will also announce the dates for public meetings to gain further input.

“We definitely want to hear from people via the survey and also in-person meetings, so we can put it all together,” Pintabone said.

Pintabone added that the studies will look closely at how often buses should run and where stops should be located. He said the city’s goal is a 10-minute frequency, but adjustments could be made based on resident feedback.

The first three years of the program would be funded jointly by the city and LANTA. The cost will land somewhere in the “low six figures,” and the city is responsible for 15% a year of the cost, Pintabone said.

If the program proves successful, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation could fully absorb that cost into the LANTA budget.

Owen O’Neill, LANTA’s executive director, highlighted the importance of frequency in making transit a realistic choice for daily trips.

“So if you have a bus every 15 minutes, every 10 minutes, something that people don’t have to even look at a schedule, that’s really kind of what we’re really trying to show here,” O’Neill said.

Mayor Sal Panto Jr. recalled growing up using buses, and he said increased investment in transit is critical as Easton grows.

“Public transit is really the wave of the future,” Panto said.

The plan has been in development for about two years through collaboration among the mayor’s office, public-works staff, economic-development staff and LANTA.

“Alleviating congestion, alleviating the need for parking, that’s really what we’re trying to achieve,” Pintabone said.

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