Transit authority plans new offices

September 11, 2000

Transit authority plans new offices

By RICHARD F. BELISLE / Staff Writer, Waynesboro

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - The Chambersburg Transit Authority, which provides public bus service to Waynesboro and Washington Township, will soon consolidate its administrative offices and bus garage into one new building in the Chambers 5 Business Park on Orchard Drive.

Eva Verdier, executive director of CTA, said the Authority negotiated a $150,000 sales contract with the Chambersburg Area Development Authority for a 3-acre tract for its new intermodal facility. The new building will house CTA's headquarters and a terminal that will be large enough to accommodate its growing bus fleet.

CTA currently rents office and terminal space at different locations on Wolf Avenue.

Money for the new building, the dimensions of which have not yet been determined, comes mostly from a nearly $1.3 million federal grant secured by U.S. Rep. Bud Shuster, R-Pa. The grant also provides money for new buses for the fleet.

Most of the grant, $1.2 million, will be used for construction of the building while $372,000 will be spent on three new buses which will be added to CTA's fleet next spring. The new vehicles will allow CTA to expand its network of routes.

The federal grant requires a 20 percent match in state and local funds. The local share, around $4,500, comes from each of the small municipalities the buses serve.

In addition to Chambersburg, Waynesboro and Washington Township, CTA buses also serve riders in Greene and Hamilton townships.

"It's good that the Authority will be established in a permanent, centrally located site," said L. Michael Ross, executive director of the Franklin County Area Development Corp. He said the new location not only will consolidate CTA's facilities under one roof, it will support its mission of becoming bigger part of the county's corporate community.

"And it's good for Chamber 5 to have an organization that has a community purpose. Public transportation is one of the weak links in Franklin County. CTA will be strengthened now with its new visibility."

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