LANTA

Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority

LANTA #0354 works the E line in downtown Easton.
Founded	1972
Headquarters	1060 Lehigh Street Allentown, PA 18103
Locale	Allentown, Pennsylvania
Service area	Lehigh Valley
Service type	Local Transit bus Service
Routes	24 local 7 evening and Sunday 4 Special services (35 total)
Destinations	Allentown Bethlehem Easton
Hubs	Allentown Transportation Center (ATC)
Fleet	82 Buses
Daily ridership	15,000 (weekday)
Operator	LANTA
Chief executive	Owen O'Neil
Website	www.lantabus.com

The Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority (abbreviated as LANTA and stylized as 'LANta'), is a transit agency that provides public, fixed-route bus service throughout Lehigh County and Northampton County, in Pennsylvania, United States. The primary area that LANTA serves is the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania, serving the cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton.

The Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority (LANTA) has ten voting and two non-voting members appointed by the County Executives.

The agency was created in March 1972 in response to the transportation crisis that was occurring in Lehigh, and Northampton. The solution was to create a bi-county, municipal Authority that would operate all public transit services in the two counties. Lehigh Valley Transit Company, a private for-profit entity, formally operated transit services in the Valley.

The Authority's main service is in the urbanized area of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton and surrounding boroughs and townships. About 380,000 people live within 3/4 mile of a fixed-route bus line.

About 15,000 trips are taken daily on the Metro city transit system.

In 1973, the Authority replaced the entire 65-vehicle fleet with modern air-conditioned city transit coaches. In 1974, LANTA added 30% more service hours and established a peak/off-peak fare structure offering discounts in the off-peak hours and Saturdays to encourage ridership. Seniors, through a state lottery funded program, were offered free fare access during off-peak hours and weekends in 1975.

In the mid-1980s, as the community transformed from a manufacturing based economy to a service and retail based economy, was completely revamped and a new "Metro" system was introduced in 1985. A color-coded route information system was introduced at the same time to make riding transit more 'user-friendly.' The following year, 'deep-discount' fares were introduced as LANTA raised the case fares but kept ticket and pass prices the same and providing frequent riders with a 25% discount.