COALDALE -- The Schuylkill Transportation System is now offering bus service to Coaldale.
Many of the people who live there didn't know the bus had started running, including Franklin Kunkel.
"I think I'm going to try to figure it out and see what it is because it might help because I don't have a license right now," Kunkel said. "So, getting to Tamaqua might help me."
STS added new stops in the borough at the beginning of the year, it will give the people of Coaldale access to St. Luke's Miners Hospital, Tamaqua, and even Pottsville.
"We always felt the eastern area of the county, including Coaldale, was under-served by public transportation," STS Director of Operation Gary Matinaitis said.
In addition to the stops added in Coaldale, STS also added stops in Tamaqua, including one at the community arts center.
"We've only been doing it now for about a month," Matinaitis said. "We're very pleased with the outcome. We have some additional ridership and we are sure we are providing a better service up in that area."
Matinaitis said in the first month of the route, the bus system had about 100 more riders than they did last January before the stops were added. Coaldale's Borough Council President, Angela Krapf, is also thrilled about the service to the borough.
"We have quite a few people who move here from cities," Krapf said. "That's one of the things that hurts them almost because they're used to having to have a car and around here that's usually the only way you can get anywhere."
The route that goes to Coaldale and Tamaqua runs Monday through Friday.