Berks Area Reading Transportation Authority

public transportation system serving the Berks County, Pennsylvania

The Berks Area Reading Transportation Authority (BARTA) is in Reading, Pennsylvania. BARTA has 50 buses, all hybrid electric buses.

Current fleet change

  • 2010 Gillig BRT 40 ft. hybrid electric buses (1096-1099) Powered by Cummins ISB/Allison E Drive
  • 2015 Gillig BRT 40 ft. hybrid electric buses (1542-1544) Powered by Cummins ISB6.7/BAE HybriDrive
  • 2016 Gillig BRT 40 ft. hybrid electric buses (1605-1608) Powered by Cummins ISB6.7/BAE HDS-200
  • 2018 Gillig BRT 35 ft. hybrid electric buses (1801-1805, 1808-1812) Powered by Cummins B6.7/BAE Hybrid
  • 2018 Gillig BRT 40 ft. hybrid electric buses (1806-1807) Powered by Cummins B6.7/BAE Hybrid
  • 2019 Gillig BRT 35 ft. hybrid electric buses (1901-1905, 1912-1918) Powered by Cummins B6.7/BAE Hybrid
  • 2020 Gillig BRT 40 ft. hybrid electric buses (2001-2002) Powered by Cummins B6.7/BAE Hybrid
  • 2020 Gillig BRT 35 ft. hybrid electric buses (2003-2006) Powered by Cummins B6.7/BAE Hybrid
  • 2021 Gillig Low Floor Plus HEV 35' buses (2104-2107) Powered by Cummins B6.7/BAE Hybrid
  • 2022 Gillig Low Floor Plus HEV 40' buses (2201-2205) Powered by Cummins B6.7/BAE Hybrid

Retired fleet (as of November 2015) change

  • 2003 Optima Opus 35 ft. buses powered by Cummins ISB (0301-0305) 0304 was scrapped after having a fire in January 2008. 0301-0303 & 0305 were put up for auction on 11/13/2015.
  • 2003 New Flyer D40LF 40 ft. buses powered by Detroit Diesel Series 50-EGR (0321-0323) All 3 units were put up for auction on 11/13/2015.
  • 2004 Optima Opus 35 ft. buses powered by Cummins ISB (0406-0410)
  • 2004 Gillig Low Floor 40 ft. buses powered by Detroit Diesel Series 50-EGR (0431-0432)
  • 2005 Gillig BRT 35' buses powered by Cummins ISL (0533-0549)
  • 2007 Gillig BRT 35' buses powered by Cummins ISL (0750-0756)
  • 2008 Gillig BRT 35' buses powered by Cummins ISL (0857-0862)
  • 2008 Gillig BRT 40' buses powered by Cummins ISL (0881-0882)
  • 2009 Gillig BRT 40' buses powered by Cummins ISL (0983-0984)
  • 2009 Gillig BRT HEV 40' buses powered by Cummins ISB/Allison E Drive (0991-0995)

3 of the Opus buses (0406, 0408-0409) were leased by COLTS (County of Lackawanna Transit System) in Scranton, Pennsylvania in June 2017. COLTS procured 4 buses from the South Central Transit Authority (SCTA) to fill a gap with the lack of buses in their fleet. One of the buses came from Red Rose Transit Authority. 0410 was donated to the Reading Muhlenberg Career and Technology Center for students to use for hands-on training after it retired at the end of 2016. 0407 was presumably going to be donated to the Berks Career and Technology Center. However, when it was listed for auction on Public Surplus website in February 2017, the transmission was broken. So therefore, 0407 was not donated to any of the CTCs for training, and it had to be towed from the property at the expense of the person with winning bid. 0756 and 0858 went to AppalCART in Boone, North Carolina. 0857 and 0861 went to ShuttleBus in York County, Maine.

All three of the New Flyers went to Indian Trails in Owosso, Michigan. They were renumbered 44-46, and 44 was assigned to Western Michigan University (Bronco Transit) service while 46 was assigned to Walmart Shopper Shuttle service.