Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority

The Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority, commonly referred to as PARTA, is a transit agency serving Portage County, Ohio. It is headquartered in Franklin Township just outside the Kent city limits. PARTA was formed in 1975 from an agreement between the city of Kent and Franklin Township[1] and has since expanded to include routes over much of Portage County. It operates several local routes including circulator and suburban routes in Kent, and an interurban route connecting Ravenna, Kent, and Stow. PARTA also offers express routes including services into downtown Cleveland, Akron and Columbus, as well as weekday service to the rural Portage County communities of Windham, Garrettsville and Hiram.[2] In addition, PARTA includes Kent State University's Campus Bus Service, which it acquired in 2004, and a dial-a-ride service. A proposed plan to acquire Lorain County Transit to serve better bus service in Lorain County.

Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority
SloganGoing Your Way
Founded1975
Headquarters2000 Summit Rd.
Kent, Ohio 44240
USA
Service areaPortage County, Ohio
Service typeBus service, dial-a-bus
Routes6 county, 12 campus
StationsKent Central Gateway, C-Midway, Student Center
Fleet70 buses
Annual ridership1,563,192 (2011)
Fuel typeDiesel, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)
Websitewww.partaonline.org

PARTA operates a fleet of Orion VII and Gillig Advantage low-floor buses and Gillig Phantom high-floor buses. Many of the Phantoms, though not all, were acquired second-hand from Canton, Ohio's SARTA and most have had their fare-boxes removed. Due to the lack of fare-boxes, many of the Phantoms are restricted to the Kent State Campus Bus Service, though the few retaining their boxes also make appearances on routes 21/22, the Gateway, and 61/62, the Black Squirrel. The Orions and Advantages are used for all other routes in addition to the Campus Bus Services.

PARTA also operates the Kent Central Gateway. Finished in July 2013, it is the only parking garage in downtown Kent. This garage houses the city's downtown transit facility (off-campus), along with storefronts and offices for rent.[3][4][5]

Kent Central Gateway in downtown Kent

Connecting services

PARTA provides connecting services with three neighboring transit authorities, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority[6] and the METRO Regional Transit Authority in Summit County. In addition, connections are possible to Greyhound, the Barons Bus Lines College Connection, the Stark Area Regional Transportation Authority (SARTA) by way of METRO's Pfaff Transit Center in Akron, and connections to Central Ohio Transit Authority in Franklin County at Polaris Fashion Place, and Downtown Columbus.[7]

References
  1. "Transit Authority Created". Record-Courier. Record Publishing. 22 May 1975.
  2. "PARTA". Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority.
  3. http://www.partaonline.org/ride-parta/campus-bus-service/
  4. https://www.record-courier.com/news/20180430/kent-central-gateway-on-track
  5. https://www.transit.dot.gov/about/news/federal-transit-administration-celebrates-opening-kent-central-gateway-transit-center
  6. "Out-of-County Connections". Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority.
  7. https://baronsbus.com/barons-bus-stops-routes/
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.