Chester County’s Community Transit Annual Report Shows Increase in Riders

The annual report of Chester County's community transit service, Chesco Connect, shows that more than 141,000 trips were provided to county residents during the 2024/2025 fiscal year. This averages to 556 rides per day, with nearly 1.8 million service miles traveled during the year.

Now in its second full year of operation, Chesco Connect continues to grow steadily in ridership. In July 2025, the service completed over 12,300 trips, an increase from 11,600 trips in July 2024.

"Chesco Connect is more than just a ride-it's a vital link to health, employment, and community life," said David Byerman, Chester County CEO. "This service empowers individuals-especially seniors and people with disabilities-by providing dependable access to essential destinations like medical appointments, jobs, senior centers, and grocery stores."

A key goal of Chesco Connect is providing reliable, on-time service. According to Pat Bokovitz, Director of Chester County's Department of Human Services, "Our on-time performance during the 2024-2025 fiscal year averaged 88%, with 89% of trips completed in under an hour. Since the start of 2025, we've improved on-time performance to 93%, thanks to expanded driver hiring and more efficient routing systems."

Chesco Connect also provides a vital service to vulnerable populations including reliable, life-sustaining services to dialysis patients. Top destinations include Handi-Crafters, Laurens House, and regional dialysis centers. Over the past year:

• Seniors made up 56% of those registered for the County's shared ride program;
• 27% were enrolled in the Medical Assistance Transportation Program; and
• 143 dialysis patients received more than 23,200 trips to dialysis treatment centers.

Chesco Connect's call center supported the growing demand in ridership by handling more than 72,700 calls during the fiscal year.

Gene Suski, Chester County's Department of Community Transit Director, emphasized the importance of increased staffing: "We are committed to providing a transit service that meets the growing transportation needs of Chester County residents, and will do that by recruiting more drivers and more call center staff, and improving the dispatch and routing technology.

"We have successfully partnered with the Chester County OIC (Opportunities Industrialization Center) to provide driver training to our drivers and two classes have already graduated, with another set to begin this month," added Suski.

Chesco Connect operates Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., providing transportation throughout Chester County for any authorized trip purpose. For non-medical or non-work trips, drop-off times are scheduled for 10:30 a.m. or later. Life-sustaining dialysis trips are available on Saturdays or during extended hours on weekdays.

For more information about applying for Chesco Connect services or becoming a Chesco Connect driver visit chescoconnect.org.