New Castle Area Transit Authority is a public transportation service located in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. It provides inter-city bus and paratransit service to select communities within the county. Because the region is located within the metropolitan (but not the urban) area of Pittsburgh, service is provided to the downtown area.
Connections can no longer be made to Youngstown's Western Reserve Transit Authority, at least for the time being. The western end point of the New Castle system is on Route 91, on U.S. 422 at the Country Manor Social Hall at the Ohio/Pennsylvania border, about 3 miles from the eastern most point in the WRTA system (Route 32 Wilson-Struthers, U.S. 422 at Struthers-Liberty Road). The New Castle system formerly served the nearby Lincoln Knolls Plaza and made a direct connection with the Western Reserve Transit Authority (WRTA Youngstown) route, but New Castle buses can no longer enter Ohio.
Routes
1- Highland Avenue/Jefferson Street
2- North City/Neshannock Township
3- Union Township/Westgate Plaza
4- Westside/Mahoningtown
5- Southside
6- Cascade Park/Lawrence Village
7- Croton Avenue/Lower Eastside
8- Gaston Park/Upper Eastside
11- Jefferson Street
71- Pittsburgh Service
72- New Castle Circulator
75- New Wilmington/Volant/Grove City
76- Ellwood City
81- Iron Mountain/Boyers (Mon-Fri, rush hour)
91- Ohio Line/Villa Maria
92- Ellwood City Circulator (does not serve Downtown New Castle)
93- Wampum Circulator (does not serve Downtown New Castle)
Today, the NCATA has a fleet of 29 buses operating on 17 fixed routes. The NCATA is now serving over 1,000,000 passengers annually and has 77 employees.
Lets look at the fleet...
Gillig Advantage low floor 117 at the garage.
Gillig Phantom, 3042 at the garage.
Phantom 3043 in New Castle.
29' Gillig low floor 8092 at the garage. When they decide to part with these, I would love to get my hands on one of them for a RV conversion. With no rear door, it would be ideal!
Gillig low floor 117 at the garage.
Gillig 126 at the Transit Center.
Phantom 3041 on the East Busway.
Orion 1 number 108 at the garage.
Phantom 3044 and friends at the Transfer Center, in downtown New Castle.
Gillig BRT Low Floor, 1077 crossing Grant St, Pittsburgh. There are two of these, and they have been nicknamed the "Colorados" The reason for this nickname is because These buses (1076-77) were purchased when the Front Range Express (FREX) folded in Colorado. Below is a picture of our 1076 in her "FREX" livery.
1076 as she was numbered on the "FREX" line in Colorado. F0703, and that label still exists inside the bus.
Drivers area of 1076.
1076 Passenger area.
Check this ou... Each seat has cupholders for the ride. Pretty nice idea. These buses also are Wi-Fi equipped, although it doesnt seem to work here.
6015 in downtown New Castle.
1061 sitting on a lunchbreak during my training in Portersville, PA.
Drivers area of Phantom 1061.
Passenger area of Phantom 1061. Not exactly transit interior, but these buses make a long run from New Castle to Pittsburgh.
116 on the Mahoningtown Run, coming down Rt. 18.
126 Around the downtown Transfer Center.
128 and 3042 sitting at the garage, getting ready for the next run.
3043 at the garage between runs, with the operator preparing to leave.
8093 on Grant St. in downtown Pittsburgh.
8094 also on Grant, passing Liberty Ave and the Port Authority East Busway.
128, A Phantom, discharging passengers on Grant St.
128 still in Pittsburgh.
Phantom 1061 on Grant, with a PAT Metroliner closing in...
8093 exiting the East Busway in Pittsburgh.
8091 at the Lark building in Neshannok Township.
Poor 123 has seen it's last days on the roads of New Castle. She is retired.
Sitting in storage are our 2 "trolleys". Sitting there because we can't do charter work any longer. The charter bus companies cried foul, yet they feel it's ok for them to do transit line runs. Can't have your cake and eat it too!
Death row at NCATA...These are ready to say farewell.
8092 at the garage, preparing to go to Ellwood City.
I am glad I got to run this one the day before it was retired. Nothing like the sound of a classic 6V92!
1061 downtown Pittsburgh, on Liberty Ave.
1071 Leaving the East Busway recovery location, headed back to New Castle.
1076 at the NCATA Garage.
122 coming down Taylor St.
8094 rolling past PNC Park.
6035 at the upper end of the transfer center, waiting to head to Pittsburgh.
6005 at the upper end of the transfer center, preparing to head to Ellwood City.
1061 headed to recovery on the East Busway, Pittsburgh.
Gillig Hybrids
Here's 4 of them all in a row. The numbers are 1331-1335.
Electric cooling fans for the radiator and transmission cooler.
Yes, it is!
1332 ready to go...
As is 1331.
And you do tend to smile when you drive these. They are great to drive!
Looks just like 1076 or 1077. It is 1335.
I was kind of surprised with the blue flooring, but it really looks good.
1334 running in downtown New Castle.
1331 sitting at the transfer center.
1852 pulling into the transit center.
1334 on Jefferson St.
1334 sitting at the transfer center.
1331 departing the transfer center, headed to Gaston Park.
Coming through the gates at the transfer center.
1701 by the Old post office downtown.
1073 coming off the East Busway.
BRT 1076 preparing to turn onto Grant St.
1077 leaving town via Grant St.
1856... Somebody is watching you...
1856 on Grant St.
8093 on The East Busway.
8093 on Grant St.
1891 at the Penn Park recovery location in the East Busway.
Let's take a ride in the "Wayback Machine"...
The following is a series of pictures of a 1966 MiniBus Corp model MB-711.
This is unit # 32.
The other side of 32...
Unit 34. Compare these to the Gilligs of today...
The interior of #34...
These two GM Old Look buses were leased by New Castle to supplement the existing fleet of buses. 781 has seen better days, and was found in this state behind a old barn.
Moving right along, in 1983, New Castle literally went from an hodgepodge of older buses in various colors and liveries to a brand new fleet of Neoplan AN435A's overnight. The Neoplans were a tremendous improvement for the NCATA and brought a few firsts to the transit system. The first was an air conditioned fleet of modern coaches and secondly it moved the NCATA from having an average fleet age of over 20 years old to one that was just days old when the Neoplans arrived. The new Neoplans also featured kneelers and electronic destination signs which also added to the many firsts for the operation.
Pennliner 112.
In 1999 many of the 1983 Neoplans were sent out for rebuilding. The rebuilt Neoplans were painted in a new livery and looked very attractive.
Much different, and this is the livery that is still used today!
More to Come...
