The ribbon was cut late Thursday afternoon for the Gettysburg Transit Center, a $1.1 million bus depot local officials are touting as something that will help connect tourists from the Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center to downtown Gettysburg.
The 1,500-square-foot, one-and-a-half story building at the former Petro fueling station stands on the northern side of the railroad tracks, adjacent to the Gettysburg Railroad Station on Carlisle Street. The building was constructed by the York Adams Transportation Authority (YATA). Set to open officially for public use Saturday, June 23, the bus hub will serve as a transfer center for Freedom Transit buses and a boarding location for the rabbitEXPRESS service between Gettysburg and Harrisburg.
“I’m overwhelmed at how well-done this is,” said state Sen. Rich Alloway, R-33, of the facility that was designed to incorporate prominent architectural features of the neighboring train station. “It will be key to helping tourists and residents get around town.”
Most of the project – 80 percent – was funded through federal grants from the Federal Transit Administration, with the remaining 20 percent picked up by state grants from PennDOT and the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development.
YATA officials hope the new bus stop will help boost Freedom Transit’s “Transit in the Parks” initiative, which YATA Executive Director Rich Farr said is not a part of many national parks nationally.
“The idea is for bigger parks to have less vehicle emmissions,” Farr explained. “Gettysburg (National Military Park) is split up by downtown. This will connect the visitor center to downtown, where people can visit the (David) Wills House and the Gettysburg train station.”
Farr talked about Freedom Transit’s increased ridership over the years, which grew 68 percent from 2010-11 and 44 percent from 2011-12.
“As a major destination point for millions of travelers, it is critical that public transit infrastructure is in place for this community, particularly as the 150th anniversary of the Civil War approaches,” Farr said.
The new facility will complement the adjacent Welcome Center at the train station by not only providing transit information but restroom facilities for the public as well.
Gettysburg National Military Park Supt. Bob Kirby commended the new terminal as an initiative that will help provide easy access to the 6,000-acre federally owned park from downtown.
“It’s an initiative to enhance air quality and so visitors aren’t frustrated sitting in traffic at busy parks,” Kirby said. “It’s a very intelligent system. When visitors come to town they are likely to stop at the train station and learn more.”
Kirby also discussed the Parking Management system. When the visitor center’s parking reached capacity, visitors will be directed via electronic signs on U.S. 15 to The Outlet Shoppes at Gettysburg along Pa. 97 in Mount Joy Township, where they will be able to board a Freedom Transit bus into town or to the visitor center.
“Nobody should be turning away from Gettysburg due to a lack of parking,” said Kirby, who also mentioned an $825,000 federal grant that will soon be used to convert Freedom Transit’s buses into vehicles that run on compressed natural gas (CNG). “There will soon be a fueling station for CNG vehicles which is part of a federal mandate to convert these buses into CNG vehicles.”
Kirby said that eventually, the fueling station will be made public for citizens to fuel their CNG vehicles.
“There’s a lot of benefits to this,” he said, noting that thanks to the park’s nonprofit partner, the Gettysburg Foundation, people can ride Freedom Transit for free and flag down a bus anywhere along the street.
“This is a long-awaited and much-anticipated addition to the borough,” said Gettysburg Borough Council President John Butterfield. “And the timing couldn’t be better with the sesquicentennial right around the corner.”
Site enhancements included streetscape improvements with landscaping and pedestrian-scale lighting, stormwater management rain gardens to improve water runoff and four bus bays. The southerly property boundary has been improved to incorporate a connection with a bike path facility and other site amenities including lighting, landscaping and a bike rack. Ground-mounted wayfinding signage was also provided along with a heritage sign presenting the history of the former Sheads Buehler Building that used to occupy the property.
Farr was quick to point to the group effort that helped get the project off the ground, thanking Deb Adamik, president of Main Street Gettysburg.
“Whenever I needed to get a bunch of entities together, Deb took care of it,” Farr said.
Adamik said that with Main Street being the hub of all the partners around town, it was a simple task.