CATA night rides attract 1,400

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By Mike Joseph - mjoseph@centredaily.com

STATE COLLEGE — The CATA public bus service provided more than 1,400 rides for Penn State students — twice the expected number — in the extended early morning hours during its first weekend of such service.

“That’s a lot of people riding buses in the middle of the night,” said Hugh Mose, general manager of the Centre Area Transportation Authority. Over last Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights — actually early Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings — CATA launched a trial run of extended White Loop service from 2:10 a.m. to 4:10 a.m.

CDT/Nabil K. Mark

CATA buses, in a trial run of extended White Loop service from 2:10 a.m. to 4:10 a.m., provided more than 1,400 rides for Penn State students in its first weekend. CDT/Nabil K. Mark

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The White Loop makes a circular route on East Beaver Avenue, University Drive, Curtin Road and Burrowes Street. The loop’s stops include Schlow Centre Region Library, Beaver Avenue and Hiester Street in Beaver Canyon and the East Halls dormitories on the Penn State campus.

“I don’t stay up that late ever, but apparently there are people in the community who do,” Mose told Ferguson Township supervisors Monday night. “It’s easily twice the number I would have expected.”

Mose said CATA gave 195 rides during the two extra hours early Friday morning, 600 early Saturday morning and 623 early Sunday morning. CATA ran two buses and each bus makes three round trips in an hour, for an average of about 50 riders per trip on the two busier nights. The CATA buses seat 45.

“The average bus was really pretty crowded,” Mose said.

Students do not pay a fare for the CATA loops. CATA got a $12,000 funding addition from the Penn State administration and the student government group, the University Park Undergraduate Association, to cover almost all of the costs of the service.

The student group placed student ambassadors on the early morning buses to be on the lookout for rowdy behavior.

“There were no incidents of unacceptable behavior that we’re aware of here,” Mose said. “We did have some concerns because the later in the evening it gets, there are greater chances that we would have some unacceptable behavior.”

Before making the arrangements with CATA, the student group tried to organize an early-morning bus loop through the Highlands neighborhood, an area with fraternities and student housing south of Beaver Avenue. But the effort was dropped after opposition from permanent residents in the Highlands.

Mike Joseph can be reached at 235-3910.