PA: Schuylkill transportation authority gains independence

The Schuylkill County Transportation Authority is no longer a county-affiliated agency, and will have sole ownership of its public transportation fleets and facilities.

The authority, which operates the Schuylkill Transportation System, will own all of its vehicles and its building headquarters, per a resolution approved by the county board of commissioners.

At their work session Wednesday, commissioners approved the resolution enabling the “transfer of all county transportation functions and assets” from the county to the SCTA, effective July 1.

County Solicitor Paul J. Datte said that PennDOT has requested all counties adopt a similar policy for their local transportation authorities.

“It’s just an administrative action,” Gary Bender, county administrator, said after the meeting. “Nothing’s going to change.”

STS Executive Director Gary Martinaitis said the public will not see a change in day-to-day operations, and fares are not expected to increase. The biggest change will be in streamlining the grant application process, as grant funding for the authority was previously channeled through the county, he said.

“We are going to become the direct grantee,” Martinaitis said.

When the board of commissioners formed the SCTA in 2010, PennDOT wanted all of the authority’s equipment and buildings to be under county ownership, according to Bender.

But recently, PennDOT has had “a change of thinking” and been in favor of authorities operating independently, he said.

“We were the only county in the state that still owned all the buses and owned the building, and not the authority,” Bender said.

Bender said the county will continue to provide an annual allocation — typically around $223,000 — to SCTA.

“Financially, things will stay the same,” he said.

Datte said the county will retain ownership of the old STS building, at the Saint Clair Industrial Park. After 37 years at that location, STS moved its headquarters to the current 85,000-square-foot facility at 300 Wade Road, Saint Clair, in 2023.

Datte said the commissioners are still responsible for appointing the SCTA board members.

Before the transportation authority was formed, the Regional Development Authority (REDCO) was in charge of the county’s public transportation services.