| Founded: | August 8, 1969 July 1, 2022 (as RVTA) |
| Headquarters: | 1500 West Third Street |
| Locale: | Williamsport, Pennsylvania |
| Service Type: | bus service, paratransit |
| Fuel Type: | Diesel CNG |
| Website: | ridervt.com |
The River Valley Transit Authority (formerly the Williamsport Bureau of Transportation, and later River Valley Transit) is the public transit operator serving Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and surrounding Lycoming County.
In 1969, the City of Williamsport acquired the privately-owned Williamsport Bus Company, using grant funding from the Urban Mass Transit Administration and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. The resulting agency, the Williamsport Bureau of Transportation, began operations on August 8, 1969. The system served Williamsport alongside the surrounding communities of South Williamsport, Montoursville, Duboistown, Loyalsock, and Old Lycoming Township, which formed a partnership to contribute funding to the system.[1]
In 1980, the system rebranded its services as "City Bus," while the organization retained the name Williamsport Bureau of Transportation. City Bus began services to Muncy and Lycoming Mall in 1988, and began trolley service two years later.
November 1999 saw the opening of the Joseph M. McDade Trade & Transit Centre, the system's main hub, built on the site of the former L.L. Stearns department store in downtown Williamsport.[2] [3] The building has bus stop facilities on the ground floor, and also includes commercial offices and a performing arts center. A second building, dubbed Trade & Transit Centre II, opened next door in 2016.
In 2005, the system was rebranded again as River Valley Transit.
In 2011, RVT took over management of the Endless Mountains Transportation Authority, now known as BeST Transit, which operates in Bradford, Tioga, and Sullivan counties.[4]
On February 18, 2022, the Williamsport City Council voted to separate River Valley Transit from the city government, transferring it to a new, independent River Valley Transit Authority. The original RVT ceased operations on June 30, and the RVTA commenced operations the next day, July 1, 2022.[5]
In 2021, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced an investigation of RVT and the City of Williamsport, alleging misuse of state and federal grant funds from 2009 to 2019.[6] It was suspected that grant funding was used improperly to subsidize river cruise operator Hiawatha, Inc., among other misuses;[7] the city was then sent a letter by PennDOT to cease any potential use of transit dollars for ineligible non-transit related expenses.[8] The Federal Transit Administration also opened a "special review" into RVTA in November 2022.[9] [10]
Also in 2021, River Valley Transit hired accounting firm RKL to perform RVT's annual financial audit. Their audit, presented to the City Council's finance committee in October 2021, found a number of financial inconsistencies and evidence of comingling of funds.[11] The auditors, however, could not get sufficient comfort from the information provided by Slaughter's administration. The nature of transactions they reviewed did not allow them to give clean financial statements.[12]
RVTA operates twenty fixed bus routes, all of which originate at the Trade & Transit Centre in downtown Williamsport. Relative to Williamsport and the main bus station, the service area includes the boroughs of South Williamsport and Duboistown to the south; Woodward and Piatt Townships and the borough of Jersey Shore to the west; Old Lycoming Township, including Garden View and Grimesville, to the north; and Loyalsock Township, and the boroughs of Montoursville, Muncy, and Hughesville to the east, with Montgomery to the southeast.
Daytime bus service officially begins at 5:30 a.m., and continues until 7:00 p.m. After 7:00 p.m., the two Nightline buses provide service hourly as far east as the Lycoming Mall and as far west as the Reach Road industrial park. The 'late' bus provides outbound only service going west, and offers transportation to employees at the Reach Road Industrial Park at 11 p.m. Saturday services deviate from the weekday schedules on select routes. Fixed routes do not run on Sundays, except during the Little League World Series.
RVTA also offers a paratransit service, River Valley Transit Plus. Service is offered to eligible passengers across a service area extending 3/4 of a mile from a fixed route.[13]
Current as of September 2008[14]
On the bus:
Passes purchased at the Trade & Transit Center:
Others:
As of March 2023.[15]
| Fleet # | Year | Make | Model | Length | Propulsion | Engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1107 | 2008 | Gillig | BRT | 40' | Diesel | Cummins ISL |
| 1108-1109 | 2008 | 35' | ||||
| 1201-1202 | 2011 | 40' | Diesel Electric | Cummins ISB6.7 | ||
| 1203 | 2011 | 35' | ||||
| 1204-1205 | 2012 | 35' | ||||
| 1206 | 2012 | 40' | ||||
| 1301 | 2012 | Gillig | BRT Plus | 40' | CNG | Cummins Westport ISL G |
| 1302 | 2013 | 40' | ||||
| 1303-1304 | 2013 | 35' | ||||
| 1305-1306 | 2016 | 35' | ||||
| 1307-1308 | 2017 | 35' | Cummins Westport L9N | |||
| 1309-1310 | 2017 | 40' | ||||
| 1311-1314 | 2018 | 35' | ||||
| 1315-1318 | 2018 | 40' | ||||
| 1319-1320 | 2019 | 35' | ||||
| 1321-1322 | 2019 | 40' | ||||
| 1323 | 2022 | 35' | ||||
| 1324 | 2022 | 40' | ||||
| 1402-1403 | 2021 | 29' | ||||
| 1404-1405 | 2022 | 29' |
| Manufacture | Model | Length | Seats | Bus Numbers | Retirement | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MCI | 501 | 2007 January | ||||
| RTS-06 | 35 ft | 502 | 2009 Summer | |||
| Transportation Manufacturing Corporation | RTS-06 | 40 ft | 602 | 2009 Summer | ||
| Transportation Manufacturing Corporation | RTS-06 | 35 ft | 603 | unknown | ||
| Transportation Manufacturing Corporation | RTS-06 | 35 ft | 604 | 2009 Summer | ||
| Transportation Manufacturing Corporation | RTS-06 | 35 ft | 704-705 | 2007 January | ||
| Transportation Manufacturing Corporation | RTS-06 | 40 ft | 601 | |||
| Transportation Manufacturing Corporation | RTS-06 | 35 ft | 32 | 701, 702, 706 | ||
| New Flyer Industries | D40LF | 40 ft | 39 | 801-803 | ||
| Chance Coach | RT-52 | 805, 806, 809, 810 | ||||
| Transportation Manufacturing Corporation | RTS-08 | 35 ft | 807, 808 | |||
| New Flyer Industries | D35LF | 35 ft | 29 | 901, 902, 905, 906 | ||
| Optima | Opus | 30 ft | 903, 904 | |||
| Optima | Opus | 35 ft | 907, 908 | |||
| Freightliner | van | 909, 910 | ||||
| Gillig | BRT | 35 ft | 1101–1103 | |||
| Gillig | BRT | 40 ft | 1104–1106, 1201 |