Local Transit 40th Celebration Starts Saturday Morning
Fixed-route Driver Dave Loose has driven with Town and Country Transit for 30 of the company’s 40 years. The company will celebrate with a free tent full of music, food and prizes this Saturday.
by Jonathan Weaver
Town and Country Transit officials finalized plans for their birthday bash this Saturday.
Rain or shine, transit leaders and drivers will give out free food and refreshments to all who stop by the anniversary tent at the corner of North Grant Avenue and Campbell Street in Kittanning Borough.
Prizes – such as an iPod Touch, a 32-inch television and free bus passes - will also be awarded every half hour, General Manager Patti Lynn Baker said – who began as financial manager until she was promoted in 2011.
“We’re looking forward to everyone coming out,” Baker said.
Armstrong County residents have taken Town and Country Transit fixed-route or shared-ride buses throughout the county, as well as to medical facilities regionally in Butler, Pittsburgh and Natrona Heights, during the past 40 years.
Since Mid-County Transit merged with Armstrong Rural Public Transit in August 2002 to form Town and Country Transit, drivers have provided more than 1.2 million trips and traveled in excess of 7.3 million miles.
“We average somewhere between 80-85,000 people a year using the fixed-route and shared-ride services combined,” Baker said. “That’s a lot of trips we provide to people to a lot of different places. A lot of these people don’t have other transportation options, so it’s nice that we’re able to take them where they need to go.”
Last fiscal year, nearly 82,000 passenger trips were taken.
Town and Country Transit Operations Manager Gerry Miller has spent nearly 37 years in the transportation industry – between both the Pittsburgh Port Authority and Town and Country Transit - and while he constantly supervises new routes or vehicles or equipment, one thing will remain the same.
“As my two-year-old granddaughter says, the wheels on the bus go round and round,” Miller said. “That’s always going to be the same.”
Miller recalled riding public transportation while he studied social work at West Virginia University – a free service even in the 1970’s available with student ID. He hopes Armstrong High or Lenape Tech students learn how to use the bus effectively if they receive a similar opportunity in college.
Buses have become smaller while mileage logged every day has become larger during the 40 years the transit company has been in business.
Baker said students at her alma mater – the University of Pittsburgh at Titusville – also have a similar opportunity now. Miller taught her the Pittsburgh bus routes during monthly meetings.
Dave Loose, who lives between East Brady and Chicora, has driven Armstrong County residents throughout the county for 30 years – the longest of the 20 drivers on staff, including a pair that just began Monday.
“I’ve enjoyed it – I wouldn’t have stayed here this long if I didn’t,” Loose said.
Miller said Loose’s seniority has helped train new drivers.
“There’s no substitute for experience,” Miller said.
Baker said the employees – whether in the North Grant Avenue headquarters or on the roads - are the company’s best asset.
“Everyone we have here, they’re very caring people – that’s what makes them very good at what they do,” Baker added.
Originally referred to as Mid-County Transit Authority, the transit agency was formed in 1975. Until 1981, it operated under Armstrong County Community Action.
Local News | jweaver October 1, 2015
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