"The 2011 Pennsylvania Governor’s Transportation Funding Advisory Commission (Commission) called for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) to study the formation of regional transit agencies. In alignment with the Commission’s report was a request by the south central Pennsylvania counties to examine the potential benefits of an integrated regional transportation authority providing both fixed route and demand response service. Pennsylvania Act 89 of 2013 (Act 89) further supported the establishment of regionalized transit operations by providing incentives for local municipalities to pursue such regionalizations. These incentives allow municipalities to lower or eliminate local match requirements commensurate with regionalization savings. 

An initial high-level regionalization analysis was performed (Phase I study) for the counties of Adams, Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry and York. Two counties, Berks and Lancaster, removed themselves from the larger regional process as they pursued a bi-county merger of transit services. The remaining counties, along with Franklin County, determined that the initial results of the Phase I study warranted a more detailed analysis that would examine the financial impacts of two regionalization scenarios focusing on management efficiencies and include an analysis of an integrated regional fare structure, a potential technology plan and a potential transition plan. This document summarizes the results of the Phase II regionalization study."

Read the entire Phase II Study