Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority
 | |
| Slogan | Going Your Way |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1975 |
| Headquarters |
2000 Summit Rd. Kent, Ohio 44240 USA |
| Service area | Portage County, Ohio |
| Service type | Bus service, dial-a-bus |
| Routes | 6 county, 12 campus |
| Stations | Kent Central Gateway, C-Midway, Student Center |
| Fleet | 70 buses |
| Annual ridership | 1,563,192 (2011) |
| Website |
www |
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 and Akron, 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.
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.
Bus routes
County Service
- 10 Kent Circulator
- 30 (East) 35 (West) Interurban to Stow and Ravenna
- 40 (North) 45 (South) Suburban
- 70 Windham/Garretsville
- 80 Raven
Campus Service
- 20 Gateway
- 51Campus Loop
- 53 Reverse Loop
- 54 Student Center Express
- 56 Downtowner
- 55 Allerton via Sports Complex
- 58 Stadium via Summit East
- 60 Black Squirrel
- Late Night and Sunday Shuttle
- 57 Stadium Loop/Allerton breaks and Saturdays
- 100 Cleveland Express
- 90 Akron Express
Connecting Services
PARTA provides connecting services with two neighboring transit authorities, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority[3] and the METRO Regional Transit Authority in Summit County. In addition, connections are possible to the Stark Area Regional Transportation Authority (SARTA) by way of METRO's Pfaff Transit Center in Akron.
References
- ↑ "Transit Authority Created". Record-Courier. Record Publishing. 22 May 1975.
- ↑ "PARTA". Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority.
- ↑ "Out-of-County Connections". Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority.