Back in June LANTA LANTA June 2025 changes introduced a number of service changes. The most important, to my mind, was the refactoring of the service between the West Ward and College Hill in Easton. The 106 bus was extended through the Downtown up to Forks Plaza (location of a Giant grocery store ), and the frequency was doubled to half-hourly, with every other bus short-turning at Easton Hospital. Folks traveling from the West Ward to College Hill gained a guaranteed half-hourly connection.
No longer. LANTA, like every other transit agency in Pennsylvania, is stuck with rising costs and a flat budget. The state is allowing it (and other agencies) to raid capital funds, but there’s still a gap, leading to service cuts in January and a fare hike in March.
LANTA has a full breakdown of changes posted. Many of these aren’t very significant. One or two frequencies removed, various stops retimed. These are the most significant (I’m looking at weekday changes only):
- 106: service goes back down to hourly, though the service through the downtown is maintained. The short-turns at Easton Hospital are gone.
- 322: drops from ten to six trips per day.
- 323: drops from nine to four trips per day.
- 601: all weekday service eliminated (20 trips per day).
- 613: drops from every 45 minutes to every hour; nine of 25 trips eliminated.
LANTA characterizes this as a 5% cut and I’ll take them at their word, considering the full scope of their services, including demand response and paratransit. In terms of weekday regular bus service, my back of the envelope math puts it at 12%.
The biggest change is the elimination of 601, which was a free circulator in Bethlehem and according to LANTA “sponsored by the Bethlehem Parking Authority & City of Bethlehem.” The halving of service on the 322 and 323 reduces the options for people living in the Center Valley and Macungie. The apparent end of the 106 experiment is disappointing. I found it useful, but I admit that I didn’t see many people on the College Hill section. If you have to cancel a bus, cancel one that doesn’t have many people on it.