📓

Getting Around: Harrisburg, PA

✔️

Harrisburg Essentials

Good bus if you can catch it
Pay for the bus inside the Transit app, or with TokenTransit
Plan ahead, some bus lines stop around 6pm

✅

Pros

Transit app integration
Centrally located transit center
Routes are useful

❌

Cons

Doesn’t run late
Some lines stop very early
Poor frequency

Intersection in front of Harrisburg Amtrak station.

“(Bicycle) May Use Full Lane” sign, above street cleaning sign. Sidewalk at lower right, street full of cars at left.

Bioswale with plants and cemented rocks.

Traveled April 2023

First, Disappointment

I passed through Harrisburg when the “Getting Around” project was just a vague idea. I took Amtrak from NYC to Milwaukee with several stops. Harrisburg was the second stop.

I wanted to ride transit at least once at each stop. But Harrisburg was challenging.

Harrisburg has pretty decent bus coverage, but, most bus lines only run every 45-60 minutes. Worse, some stop running as early as 6pm, and most by 9pm.

I wanted to try a gym across the river when I arrived, but the timing just wouldn’t work. That bus stopped at 6. I’d need to catch an Uber, at least for the return trip. Or else have a really long walk along the side of a sidewalkless road.

Train station interior. View from stairway with golden bannister leading from tracks to a windowed mezzanine.

Harrisburg Amtrak station.

Large blue drum with “Welch’s” label, indicating Grape, Concord 27 Brix, Pasteurized, Non-GMO. Drum takes right half of picture. Park on left.

Garbage can, which used to hold an obscene amount of grape something.

I thought, well, maybe I just won’t ride the bus in Harrisburg. I wandered around town for a while and got coffee and a muffin at a bakery. The proprietor of the bakery recommended a few spots, including a bookstore that was apparently a big deal.

Also explored the riverfront. Gorgeous!

River under overcast skies. Railing and plants in foreground.

Harrisburg’s gorgeous waterfront.

Then, a Nice Surprise

The next morning, I set out to the bookstore.

I passed by the Transit center, and thought, well, even if I can’t take a bus to the gym, maybe I can take it somewhere else, even just ride some direction at random a few stops.

I opened the Transit app to see which buses were coming, and braced myself, expecting to have to figure out the fare structure and how to buy a ticket.

But I was in for a surprise!

The Transit app immediately offered me the option to buy a bus ticket, right in the app! And I looked at departures, and a bus was coming in a few minutes, headed right towards the book store!

Bus interior, looking forward and slightly left. Multicolored upholstered seats. “Watch Your Step” on poles. Buildings visible outside.

On the bus!

Mobile Screenshot: “rabbittransit - Cgion. Show operator your ticket. 11:16:57 AM. 1 Way Local. Regular Local One Way. Harrisburg PA. Expires Apr 18, 2023 at 11:46AM”

My ticket, from inside the Transit app

Got a ticket, showed the screen to the driver, got on. Easy peasy.

View from across the street of two buildings that are part of the same book store. Building at left has an awning that reads “Coffee - Tea - Live Music - Books”. Building at right looks to be a converted theater with a sign that says “Midtown”.

Midtown Scholar bookstore

The bookstore was huge and really cool. Definitely worth a visit! Got some books and stopped nearby for a croissant, then grabbed my bags and boarded the train to Altoona.

Sometimes just one little thing, like a prompt to buy a ticket, can make it easier to take transit.

Roundabout in Harrisburg.

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