Bus Blog Erie: A ride on the Route 14

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

A ride on the Route 14 - Edinboro

I had some things to do in Edinboro on Tuesday so I took the Route 14.
I hadn't taken the Edinboro bus since the early 1980s, and found that the route was pretty much the same.
I thought I would share a little of my trip, especially for those who are thinking about using that route.

It arrived on time at 10th & French. They used the smaller, newer CNG bus.
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I was hoping to see some foliage on the way down but oh my gosh, thick fog most of the way! The fog lifted about 10:30am and I was able to enjoy some great small town fall color.
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SHELTERS/BENCHES To the best of my knowledge, in Edinboro there is only one bus shelter for Route14 and that is in front of the student center (on campus). I didnt see any EMTA benches... if anyone knows of something I missed, put it in comments below. People who have some trouble standing would appreciate knowing where they might be able to wait while seated, and everyone likes to know how to get out of the bad weather.
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TIMING On the way back, I learned how tight the schedule was from Mall to downtown. The one I took leaves Mall at 2:03, get to downtown at 2:15... seems a little unrealistic. You have your Peach Street traffic, plus people who are waiting for the inbound Route 3 know they can catch the 14 into town... both of these will slow down the 14.
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THERE ARE TWO EDINBORO ROUTES. Route 14 is the Erie-Edinboro route that serves all. The Edinboro Express, however, is a campus shuttle sponsored by Edinboro's student government.
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MORE DETAILS PLEASE The service schedule could benefit from a little more detail. Although I'm very familiar with Edinboro, I was a little confused about where to wait for the trip back, and where the bus went. There are a few signs here and there, and I didnt realize it, but you can catch the Route 14 on any corner, just like in the Erie. You just have to figure out which way the bus is coming from.
Presently the Route 14 schedule features a route map that shows the span of the route, which is roughly 20 miles. If you want to see what the bus does once it gets to Edinboro, you just see a little bean-sized thing at the bottom of the map, with a big old number 7 plopped on top of it. This lack of detail appears to be an issue on all the county maps, and the odd thing is, all county maps have all kinds of unused space where you could fit a detailed map and a description of what the bus does, where it turns, etc. written in Basic English. I'm not suggesting getting rid of the long map, just include a detailed one too, please.
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Also I took some photos. Click if you want to enlarge.

UPDATE: This post was updated and edited on October 12, 2017.

Ken got on in McKean. I recognized him from the EMTA Riders Discussion group, so I introduced myself, and we chatted. He was going shopping in Edinboro.