Berks Area Regional Transportation Authority

The Reading Franklin Street train terminal was converted to a bus terminal in 2013. Buses enter from Cherry Street. They won't let Joel use the bathroom there anymore. :-)

The old train terminal which is converted to a bus terminal.

Joel saw TV's Frank outside the station last year but he pretended not to know who Joel was. Frank started laughing at Joel and told him to go away. Frank isn't laughing now. Trust me.

The Berks Area Regional Transportation Authority (BARTA) is a transit company based in Reading, Pennsylvania. Joel currently works there as a part-time janitor since he came back to Earth, leaving behind his robot friends on the Satellite of Love. He cleans the bus terminal, and he cleans all the buses inside and out. He takes apart obsolete buses and uses the parts to build robots. BARTA operates a fleet of 50 buses.

BARTA's fleet

BARTA's fleet consists of 50 buses. Joel took apart the New Flyer buses and used the parts to build 3 robots reminiscent of Gypsy, Tom Servo, and Crow. When he took apart the 2003 Optima Opus buses (0301, 0303 & 0305), he sold the parts to the junkyard, and the parts are now used for robot wars. 4 of the 2004 Optima Opus buses (0406, 0408-0410) were diverted to COLTS (County of Lackawanna Transit System), the transit company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. This helped COLTS fill a gap with the lack of buses in their fleet. BARTA now has all hybrids because Captain Planet advised them to use more green energy.

Current fleet

• 3 - 2015 Gillig BRT 40' hybrids with BAE Hybrid System (1542-1544)
• 4 - 2016 Gillig BRT 40' hybrids with BAE Hybrid System (1605-1608)
• 10 - 2018 Gillig BRT 35' hybrids with BAE Hybrid System (1801-1805, 1808-1812)
• 2 - 2018 Gillig BRT 40' hybrids with BAE Hybrid System (1806-1807)
• 12 - 2019 Gillig BRT 35' hybrids with BAE Hybrid System (1901-1905, 1912-1918) [18 buses, 1901-1918, bought by the SCTA. 1906-1911 were leased to Red Rose Transit operation in Lancaster.]
• 2 - 2020 Gillig BRT 40' hybrids with BAE Hybrid System (2001-2002)
• 4 - 2020 Gillig BRT 35' hybrids with BAE Hybrid System (2003-2006)
• 4 - 2021 Gillig Low Floor Plus 35' hybrids with BAE Hybrid System (2104-2107)
• 5 - 2022 Gillig Low Floor Plus 40' hybrids with BAE Hybrid System (2201-2205)
• 4 - 2023 Gillig Low Floor Plus 40' hybrids with BAE Hybrid System (2301-2304)

Retired buses (as of November 2015)

• 5 - 2003 Optima Opus 35' buses (0301-0305) 0304 was scrapped after having a fire in January 2008. The remaining 4 units were listed for auction in November 2015. 0302 was listed for auction again on govdeals.com in May 2022, and it was bought by EG Used Truck Parts.
• 3 - 2003 New Flyer D40LF buses (0321-0323) All 3 units were listed for auction in November 2015.
• 5 - 2004 Optima Opus 35' buses (0406-0410)
• 2 - 2004 Gillig Low Floor 40' buses (0431-0432) 0432 moved to Charlotte in 2018. 0431 was listed for auction on June 5, 2018 and was having brake and suspension issues.
• 17 - 2005 Gillig BRT 35' buses (0533-0549) Buses began retiring in 2018. Remaining units were replaced with hybrids in 2019.
• 7 - 2007 Gillig BRT 35' buses (0750-0756)
• 6 - 2008 Gillig BRT 35' buses (0857-0862)
• 2 - 2008 Gillig BRT 40' buses (0881-0882) 0881 was listed for auction in December 2021. 0882 was eaten by Captain Planet.
• 2 - 2009 Gillig BRT 40' buses (0983-0984) Listed for auction in December 2021
• 5 - 2009 Gillig BRT 40' hybrids (0991-0995)
• 4 - 2010 Gillig BRT 40' hybrids (1096-1099)

0410 was donated to the Reading Muhlenberg Career and Technology Center in December 2016. 0407 was listed for auction in February 2017, but BARTA donated it to the Berks Career and Technology Center for training instead of selling it to a private customer.[1] One of the students at the Berks Career and Technology Center, who worked on the bus (0407), was pursued by Mr. Snuffleupagus saying "out of bed" messages. Snuffy scared him out of bed at night. Then, in the morning, while the student worked on the bus to make it more environmentally friendly and fuel-efficient, Snuffy sent an army of Snuffleupaguses after him. 0410 went to COLTS later, along with 0406, 0408, and 0409, because COLTS needed four buses to fill in the shortage of buses. 0410 returned to the Reading Muhlenberg CTC in January 2018. 0406, 0408, and 0409 went to Milewski's Auto Parts to be cut up for scrap. 0409 was cut up for scrap in 2021.

Paratransit

Good as new!

BARTA operates 54 paratransit (door-to-door) buses, including the 14 white ones that were purchased for Easton Coach.

• 11 - 2018 Ford/StarTrans E-450 gas cutaways (1868-1878)
• 7 - 2020 Ford E-450/Coach & Equipment Phoenix buses powered by unleaded gasoline (2025-2031)
• 9 - 2020 Ford E-450/Coach & Equipment Phoenix buses operated by Easton Coach (2032-2040)
• 5 - 2021 Ford E-450/Coach & Equipment Phoenix buses operated by Easton Coach (2120-2124)
• 3 - 2021 Ford E-450/Coach & Equipment Phoenix buses powered by unleaded gasoline (2125-2127)
• 6 - 2023 Ford E-450/Coach & Equipment Phoenix buses powered by unleaded gasoline (2314-2319)
• 12 - 2024 Ford E-450/Coach & Equipment Phoenix buses powered by unleaded gasoline (2403-2414)

All the paratransit vehicles that are currently active are strictly gasoline. BARTA replaced the hybrids with unleaded gasoline paratransit vehicles, which are cheaper.