Planning director says hub in OC will be convenient

By KARA O’NEIL staff writer

The multimodal hub being constructed in Oil City will make public transportation more accessible in Venango County, according to Jason Ruggiero of the Venango County Regional Planning Commission.

The county facility will have a covered storage area for the county’s entire fleet of vehicles as well as administrative offices and dispatch for county transit that is run by CATA out of Crawford County, said Ruggiero, who is the executive director of the planning commission.

Bus passes would also be available for purchase at that location.

The location of the hub in downtown Oil City will be much more accessible to people without transportation, Ruggiero said.

It would also make getting a bus pass or information about the buses easier.

Currently, Ruggiero said, “The buses are now kept on a lot by the airport which is not easily accessible, especially for someone without a car.”

In addition, the county doesn’t currently have covered storage for all 25-30 vans and buses in its fleet.

So the new hub would be a “huge benefit to the county,” Ruggiero said.

The hub would have a bus wash that the county would share with PennDOT and four maintenance bays. Three maintenance bays would be used by the county and one would be used by PennDOT.

Ruggiero said he isn’t sure when the traffic patterns will change due to construction. The changes aren’t imminent and may take a matter of months, he said.

Ruggiero said there will be plenty of advance notice before the patterns change.