TARTA invites public comment on route changes

7/28/2005

Conversion of TARTA routes to Maumee and Rossford to Call-A-Ride service, which will include combining two routes in South Toledo, will be the subject of a public hearing Monday.

Waterville, now served every two hours on weekdays by Route 29W and by a rush-hour commuter express, will have weekday Call-A-Ride service starting Aug. 29 if the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority adopts the changes.

Across the Maumee River, the No. 10L Perrysburg-Levis Commons route will become a Call-A-Ride service within Rossford on that same day, along with terminating at the Kroger store on Fremont Pike instead of continuing through downtown Perrysburg to Levis Commons. It will still serve downtown Toledo as its northern terminus.

The routes will be redesignated as the No. 29 Waterville Call-A-Ride and the No. 10 Rossford Call-A-Ride. The Waterville route will run between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., while the Rossford route will run between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Neither will operate on weekends. In that regard, they will be similar to the Spencer Township Call-A-Ride that TARTA established June 1 in place of the old fixed-route bus there, whereas the Perrsyburg, Maumee, and Sylvania Call-A-Ride buses run longer hours and on weekends.

Concurrent with the Waterville route change, the portion of the existing No. 29 route between St. Luke's Hospital and downtown Toledo will be combined with the No. 34C Detroit-Cass/Southwyck route, said James Gee, the transit authority's general manager.

The combined route, to be redesignated Route 34R, will curl through Toledo's south end on Western and Detroit avenues, then pick up the old No. 29 at Detroit and Sherwood avenues and take Sherwood to River Road. They will go through Maumee to St. Luke's and then take Ford and Perrysburg-Holland roads en route to Southwyck Shopping Center.

Outbound No. 34R buses will return via the current No. 34K route that goes past the Lucas County Recreation Center, while outbound 34K buses will return via the 34R route.

TARTA also plans to alter the routes for the No. 22M Bancroft Street and No. 19T Sylvania routes to add service to Lourdes College and, in place of the St. Joseph Park-and-Ride lot, Flower Hospital; to reroute the No. 15 Summit Street buses along local streets near I-280 because of ongoing construction along the freeway; and to make the Country Charm shopping center the southern terminus of the No. 3 Crosstown, instead of Levis Commons.

The hearing is scheduled to start at noon in the transit authority's offices at 1127 West Central Ave.