CATA leaders brief Harris Township on ridership gains, service redesign and new CEOadship

Harris Township trustees heard a presentation from the Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA) on Nov. 10 as outgoing CEO David Rischel summarized recent operations and Todd Horsley introduced his priorities as incoming CEO.

Rischel said CATA redesigned routes after chronic driver shortages, increasing on-time performance by roughly 10% on many routes, reducing passenger complaints by more than 30%, and raising ridership on adjusted routes from 5% to 25% in places; he said the system recently reached 5,000,000 rides — the first time since the COVID pandemic. Rischel also described revenue improvements from apartment-pass contracts, higher negotiated Penn State rates, increased advertising income and the introduction of an electronic fare-collection system that will soon allow credit-card tap payments.

Todd Horsley described his roughly 25 years in public transportation and said his early priorities include a new CATA strategic plan in early 2026, an ongoing bus-stop accessibility study, operator recruitment and retention measures, and exploration of on-demand service to the regional airport and Amtrak stations. Horsley outlined organizational priorities: "safety first culture," customer service, workforce development and a renewed focus on innovation through an internal initiative (CATA Next).

During public Q&A, residents and supervisors asked about electric buses, hydrogen and renewable natural gas. Rischel said renewable natural gas is currently the system's primary low-emission fuel and cautioned that electric bus adoption is limited by vehicle range, charging infrastructure and supply-chain issues (including several manufacturersadbankruptcies). He said CATA is monitoring hydrogen and battery technologies but that operational duty cycles and upfront costs remain challenges.