The existing nighttime and weekend service currently has a headway of 35 minutes. Instead of running two Campus Connector buses, one Packer Express bus will run with an 18 minute headway on Asa Packer and Sayre campuses. The 2nd vehicle will serve Mountaintop, Saucon Village and Goodman on demand. Ridership data indicated that Mountaintop, Saucon Village, and Goodman have very lower ridership after 8 PM and that it was not efficient to run two buses to these areas all night while ridership demands on Asa Packer Campus were not being serviced frequently enough. By servicing Asa Packer campus and Sayre with the Packer Express, the headway can be reduced from 35 minutes to 18 minutes. An on-demand system can more efficiently service the lower ridership stops on Mountaintop, Saucon Village and Goodman, rather than running an empty bus every 50 minutes to these locations. This will provide the riders at Mountaintop, Saucon Village, and Goodman with more frequent, efficient, and more flexible service.
In summary, the changes to night and weekend service are:
- Campus Connector service will stop at 8 PM
- Packer Express will run until 2:30 AM
- TapRide to service Saucon Village, Mountaintop, and Goodman from at 8 PM until 12:00 A.M.
- More frequent, more efficient, and more flexible service to Mountaintop, Saucon Village, and Goodman.