CAT owns a fleet of 87 fixed route buses. The fleet includes eleven 35 foot buses, twenty-one 29 foot buses, and fifty-five 40 foot low floor buses. CAT's buses followed a three digit numbering scheme until 1994. Buses bought in 1995 are numbered to show their year of acquisition (95) in the first two digits. Starting in 2001, all CAT buses ordered that year or later show the year in the second digit of the bus number. CAT's active fleet roster is shown below.
As of October 2020, CAT operates 32 bus routes in its fixed route network. These include short distance shuttle routes, longer distance, rush hour express routes, and regular, intermediate length routes. Nearly all the routes are organized into a hub and spoke system centered on Downtown Harrisburg. The hub in the system is the CAT Transfer Center, located at the southeast corner of the intersection of 2nd Street and Market Street in Harrisburg's Market Square.
CAT routes have either a number or letter and route name assigned to distinguish individual routes. Generally speaking, numbered routes operate in the Harrisburg "East Shore" area in Dauphin County, while lettered routes operate across the Susquehanna River in the Harrisburg "West Shore" area in Cumberland County. Many routes operate Monday through Saturday, though some only operate Monday through Friday during rush hours. None of CAT's fixed routes operate on Sundays; however the shared ride division does provide rides seven days a week. Many routes only operate over a portion of the route for certain runs.
The following routes provide local bus service, with all routes serving Downtown Harrisburg:
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Commuter routes
The following routes provide commuter bus service, operating during weekday peak hours to and from Harrisburg:
Raider Regional Transit
CAT operates Raider Regional Transit, which provides service to Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania and Shippensburg.
Connecting services
Essentially all of CAT's East Shore routes and many of their West Shore routes stop within one block of the Harrisburg Transportation Center, the primary intercity passenger rail and bus hub in the greater Harrisburg area. Transportation operators who currently provide service at the HTC include Amtrak, Greyhound Lines, Capitol Trailways, and Fullington Trailways. In addition, CAT's Route 7 (Middletown) stops within one block of the Middletown Amtrak station and the Route 322 (Hershey) shares multiple stops in Hershey with Capitol Trailways' Harrisburg/Reading route.
All of CAT's routes excluding the Route 81 – Shippensburg/Naval Base and Route L – Lemoyne Shuttle routes have shared stops in downtown Harrisburg with the Rabbit Transit York/Harrisburg commuter bus route, the RabbitEXPRESS. Rabbit Transit is CAT's counterpart public transit agency in York County.
Most of CAT's routes also connect at multiple locations in downtown Harrisburg with rush hour, commuter bus routes operated by R & J Transportation. R & J Transportation runs two Schuylkill County/Harrisburg routes.
In Hershey, the Route 322 connects with selected bus routes within the County of Lebanon Transit Authority or COLT system. COLT is the transit provider in Lebanon County. Connecting routes include COLT's Route 8, which connects with the CAT Route 322 at Tanger Outlets Hershey and COLT's Route 18, which shares stops with the Route 322 at various locations within the village of Hershey and at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center. COLT also has "Twilight Run", evening service on the Route 8 that connects with CAT's Hershey route.
Finally, the Route 7 (Middletown) stops on some of its runs at Harrisburg International Airport, the primary commercial service airport in South Central Pennsylvania. Most major U.S. passenger airlines, excluding dedicated low-cost carriers, have flights to/from HIA.
Proposed commuter rail services
Capital Red Rose Corridor (Corridor One)
In late 1999, CAT's board of directors voted unanimously to pursue the vision of bringing commuter rail to the Harrisburg metropolitan area. The project, initially named CorridorOne, will provide regional rail service along existing rail facilities within the lower Susquehanna Valley, linking Lancaster with Harrisburg. Original planning of the corridor would have extended service along a 54-mile stretch between Lancaster, Harrisburg and Carlisle, Cumberland County; however, the Harrisburg to Carlisle segment was dropped from the proposal in 2005.
Project schedule
Preliminary engineering and environmental studies phase – completed August 2006
Final engineering design phase – est. 2009
Construction phase – complete late 2010 (est.)
Lancaster to Harrisburg service – operational late 2010 (est.)
Corridor Two
CAT and the Modern Transit Partnership began discussing a second commuter rail corridor in 2009, designated Corridor Two. Corridor Two would operate between York, Harrisburg, and Lebanon. There may be difficulties implementing the Harrisburg-Lebanon segment of CorridorTwo, as this segment would operate on the heavily traveled and fast-growing Norfolk Southern Harrisburg Line, an east–west trunk line in Norfolk Southern's freight rail system. Norfolk Southern has discussed upgrading and potentially expanding capacity of the Harrisburg-Lebanon segment of their system for freight rail operations as part of their Crescent Corridor initiative between the U.S. Gulf Coast and northern New Jersey.
Park-and-ride locations
Carlisle Commons (Routes C, CX, 81N)
City Island (Routes 2, A, B, C, D, K, M, MA)
Clarks Ferry (Middle Paxton Township) (Route 23)
Colonial Park Mall (Lower Paxton Township) ) (Route 12)
Dillsburg Bon-Ton (Routes B, 120)
Dauphin (Route 23)
Elizabethville Wal-Mart (Route 23)
Fairview Plaza (New Cumberland) (Route A)
Harrisburg Mall (Swatara Township) (Routes 8, 13, 19, 20)
Hershey Intermodal Center (Derry Township) (Route 322)
Hershey Outlets (Derry Township)(Route 322)
Linglestown Amelia's Grocery (Lower Paxton Township) (Route 12)
Linglestown K-Mart (Lower Paxton Township) (Route 12)
Mechanicsburg K-Mart (Routes C, 81S)
Mechanicsburg Weis Market (Route MX)
Newville (Routes 81N, 82S)
Old Dillsburg Middle School (Route 120)
Olympic Skating Center (East Pennsboro Township) (Route F)
Point Mall (South Hanover Township) (Routes 14, 15)
Shippensburg Wal-Mart (Routes 81N, 82S)
Winding Hill Rd (Upper Allen Township) (Route 120)
