COLTS 52
Carbondale to scranton
July 5, 2025
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Whoa, a new post on this comatose blog?! Well, I found myself in Northeastern Pennsylvania, and I ended up riding the full length of the COLTS 52 route. This may be an ongoing thing, where I do occasional blog posts when I ride full routes, but as a reminder, if you want more consistent content, check out my YouTube channel. Anyway, let's get into the review!
COLTS (the County of Lackawanna Transit System) is one of two main transit systems in the Wyoming Valley, which is the fifth-largest metro area in Pennsylvania, stretching from Carbondale in the north to Wilkes-Barre in the south. The Wyoming Valley is made up of two counties, Lackawanna in the north and Luzerne in the south, and hence has two main bus systems. The two systems, COLTS and the Luzerne County Transit Authority (LCTA), do intersect in multiple points, and both systems cross into the other's county, but the central hubs of each are in the downtowns of the two largest cities in the Wyoming Valley, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. From its hub in Scranton, COLTS operates 36 routes, serving Scranton and its surrounding municipalities. They are simultaneously a surprisingly extensive system for a small city like Scranton, and also have some really major drawbacks, which we will get into.
The 52-Carbondale route links the town of Carbondale, through a bunch of suburban sprawl, to Scranton, providing the only transit connection to the sizable town of Carbondale. At first glance, the route seems like your ordinary suburban bus route, but it has quite a few weird features that I noticed when riding. First off, and you'll see this in the pictures below, the route seems to keep alternating between genuinely rural-feeling sections, suburban sprawl, and surprisingly, walkable small towns! Rust Belt urbanism is very much still visible in towns like Carbondale and Mayfield. The northern section of the route has two variations, one via Gordon Av, and another via Rt 6 and the town of Childs. The run I took went down Gordon Av, which was definitely the weirder of the two northern routings. So, without any further ado, let's start the review!
The bus lays over on Lincoln Avenue, then heads north on Church St and starts on the northern end of Carbondale's Main Street, at a stop weirdly called "Cdale/Line Star". The stop is actually on the corner of N Main St and John St, but, COLTS's GTFS seems to be weird. Anyway, I boarded, paid $2 and got a 25¢ change card, and we headed a few blocks down through Carbondale's downtown.
The bus pulling in.
Yes, there is genuinely a hotel called the Hotel Anthracite. This is the Rust Belt!
We diverged from the Childs branch, heading south on Main St and veering left on Pike St. We passed some single-family homes and a freight rail line, and continued onto Gordon Av. We passed a few more single-family homes before it suddenly became super rural. We took a left on Erie St, crossed under the tracks, and turned left on Lackawanna Av, passing some industrial areas before rejoining with the Childs branch and entering the town of Mayfield.
Single-family homes on Gordon Av
Weirdly rural...
We passed through Mayfield, an older, walkable, suburb which reminded me a lot of some upstate New York towns, and took a left on Poplar St. After crossing the Lackawanna River, we turned left on Main St, which became Washington Av as we passed through Jermyn. We continued on Washington Av, following the Lackawanna River, which became Main St as we entered Archbald.
Passing through Mayfield...
...and Jermyn
We passed through Archbald, another small town, and soon entered the Peckville section of Blakely. After Main St veered left, the walkable towns ended, and we entered suburban land. I hesitate to call this a stroad, as it was still fairly narrow, but it was definitely suburban hell. Along this stretch, the driver pulled the bus off to the side of the road, yelled to everyone that he'd "be right back," and ran across the street to get ice cream!
Archbald (pictured here) and Blakely looked much the same.
But then we entered suburban hell!
We entered Dickson City, deviated into a strip mall that was a sort-of mini-hub for COLTS routes in this area, then continued south along Main St. We soon took a left on Boulevard Av, and crossed some railroad tracks and the Lackawanna River. We crossed under I-81, entering the city of Scranton, and then passed through a rural area, stopping at (but not deviating to) a nursing home.
Deviation time!
This might be an old station building...
After passing through the rural area, we turned right to stay on Boulevard Av, and then did a weird mini-deviation to Dickson Av using Electric St. We turned left on Delaware St, then right on Wyoming Av. This quickly became more and more urban until we reached Downtown Scranton. We turned right on Lackawanna Av, and pulled into the Lackawanna Transit Center.
The weird rural area.
Wyoming Av in Scranton.
Since I'm here, why not a mini-review of the Lackawanna Transit Center? It's the main transit hub of Scranton, serving buses from COLTS, Martz, Fullington Trailways, and Greyhound, but weirdly not Flixbus, which uses a streetside stop in a different neighborhood. It has a nice indoor waiting area, with Martz and COLTS ticketing counters, and COLTS information screens. It's also right next to Steamtown and the Electric City Trolley Museum, and will hopefully someday be the site of Scranton's Amtrak station. So, the Lackawanna Transit Center gets a 9/10. Genuinely a really good station, I only dock a point because actually getting to Steamtown/the ECTM on foot from the bus station is quite confusing. Also, Flixbus, why not stop here?!
The indoor waiting area.
The outdoor boarding area.
The bus, which through-ran to the 13
Route: COLTS 52 (Carbondale to Scranton)
Ridership: I can't find any public ridership stats, but my midday Saturday trip had about 10 people total.
Pros: The route serves a string of dense towns, and unique parts of Dickson City and Scranton. It also doesn't deviate all that much, and its routing clearly prioritizes serving every town it passes near. It is also COLTS's only real regional route, which is an important thing to have.
Cons: The fact that it serves every town it passes near makes it incredibly slow. It takes 70 minutes to go the 17 miles from Carbondale to Scranton. Driving is thrice the speed. For this reason, I think COLTS should split the route in two. Have one route run from Mayfield to Scranton, along the same routing as the current route. Then, make a true regional route (called the 52X) that simplifies/merges the two routings between Mayfield and Carbondale, speeds up the connection to Carbondale, and connects to Honesdale, where ShortLine service to New York starts/ends. Something like this could work, and would greatly expand this route and make it incredibly useful! Also, the entire COLTS system does not run on Sundays, and only very limited service after about 7pm, so...that's really not great.
Nearby and Noteworthy: All the towns along this route are pretty much the same: older, mostly residential, suburbs. Carbondale and Archbald have some railroad history, but that's about it. However, the Electric City Trolley Museum in Scranton is INCREDIBLE, and even worth the trip from NYC! Riding a restored Red Arrow interurban car down a classic early 20th-century interurban line is just amazing. Steamtown is also incredible, especially if you're into steam locomotives!
Final Verdict: 6/10
I feel like this route is trying to be two things, and is having varying levels of success. It is definitely trying to be a regional route, which it does succeed in — this is Carbondale's only transit connection — but it also could be so much better if it connected to Honesdale. Simultaneously, it tries to be a local route serving a bunch of small towns, which it does do well, albeit very slowly. Hence why my above proposal to split this route would work well! However, considering COLTS is in Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania's State Senate currently is full of idiotic braindead Republicans who want to cut transit, I don't have high hopes for much expansion.
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