Intermodal Transportation Center

They seem to be all the rage.  Hazleton has one.  Pottsville's is under construction.  Scranton's is in the planning stage, and the one you see above, in Wilkes-Barre, is opening.  This is the view from South Washington Street.

The goal of these so-called intermodal transportation centers is to have a bus and taxi depot in the same place.  Wilkes-Barre's is home to Martz Trailways and Luzerne County Transportation Authority buses.  There's a big, and sorely needed, parking garage above.

The city wants to get buses off Public Square to allow for more street level parking.  While I don't ride LCTA buses, I never saw it as that big of a deal.  An intermodal center seemed like money in search of a project, rather than the other way around.

There are some things that are nice.  You can wait for buses in a covered location, out of the weather.

You can even go inside and warm up, or cool down. Lost?  Read the writing on the wall.

There are some thngs that concern me.  You have to travel through some between building passageways to get out to the square.  This is one, above.  There are others.  I can see some people, especially the elderly, a little leery of this, especially in the dark.  If everything goes as planned, the area between the terminal and the square will be busy, and that lessens the chances of an incident.

The parking garage is nice, and needed.  The bus situation seemed okay to me.  The old system worked fine.  However, change can be good.  There's always a better way to do things, and I hope this is it.

By the way, the 6th deck of the parking garage is a great place to take pictures.  It's an excellent view, and I'll show you some of those in the weeks to come.