Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority

Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority

A Cincinnati Metro Route 41 bus heads West on Galbraith Road in North College Hill, Ohio in 2010
Parent Hamilton County and Cincinnati City Council
Founded 1973
Headquarters 602 Main Street
Locale Cincinnati, Ohio
Service type bus service, paratransit, express bus service
Routes
  • 22 local
  • 1 limited
  • 20 express
Stops 4,465[1]
Fleet 353 transit buses and 46 paratransit vehicles
Daily ridership 48,000 unlinked passenger trips[2]
Operator Veolia Transportation[3]
Website go-metro.com

Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority, abbreviated SORTA, is the public transport agency serving Cincinnati and its Ohio suburbs. The agency provides Metro transit bus services, as well as Access paratransit services through MV Transportation.[4] SORTA replaced the Cincinnati Transit Commission, which operated buses from 1952 to 1973. The agency currently operates 46 routes and facilitates approximately 48,000 passenger trips each day.

SORTA is funded primarily by Cincinnati's city earnings tax, second by fares, and third by federal sources, with some other minor sources. This stands in contrast to other Ohio transit agencies, such as COTA and GCRTA which are primarily funded by sales tax. For a sense of perspective, the portion of Cincinnati's earnings tax going to Metro's budget is about 0.3%.

Downtown Cincinnati is also served by the Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky (TANK), whose transit services extend over the Ohio River into Northern Kentucky.

Routes

Network map, 2011

SORTA operates about 40 major fixed bus routes, as well as a demand-responsive paratransit service. Of the major routes, roughly half run only at rush hours and are essentially commuter services, some of them serving the reverse commute. The other half operate throughout the day, and some offer better frequency at the rush hours. Approximately 90% of all trips are made on the all-day routes, 10% on the express commuter routes. In 2012 SORTA released its schedule information in the General Transit Feed Specification, making schedules more easily available to customers.[5]

SORTA also provides school bus services to Cincinnati Public Schools with vehicles from their fleet of transit buses. School bus routes are technically open to any fare-paying customer, though they are circuitous, not well advertised, and mostly used by CPS students. School bus routes are not listed in the table below.

SORTA will operate the Cincinnati streetcar between downtown and Over-the-Rhine when construction is completed.[6]

SORTA Routes
Number Route name(s) Average weekday boardings [7] Off-peak service Weekend service Reverse commute Goes Downtown
Unknown Cincinnati Streetcar (under construction) planned planned N/A planned
1 Museum Center - Eden Park 270 Yes Yes N/A Yes
2X Madeira Express 185 No No No Yes
3-3X Montgomery Express

Montgomery Job Connection

 350 No No No Yes
4 Kenwood- Blue Ash, Ridge Road, Silverton - Blue Ash, Norwood 3,774 Yes Yes N/A Yes
6 Queen City 1,406 Yes Yes N/A Yes
11 Madison Road - Oakley

Erie Avenue - Hyde Park

 2,890 Yes Yes N/A Yes
12X Madisonville Express 67 No No No Yes
14X Forest Park Express 240 No No No Yes
15X Daly Express

Mt. Healthy Express

347 No No No Yes
16 Mt. Healthy 814 Yes Yes N/A Yes
17 Seven Hills, Mt. Healthy, Mt. Airy, Northgate 4,467 Yes Northgate runs Mon-Sat N/A Yes
19 Colerain - Northgate 2,102 Yes Yes N/A Yes
20 Winton Road - Tri-County 941 Yes Yes N/A Yes
21 Harrison Avenue 2,343 Yes Yes N/A Yes
23 Forest Park Northside Job Connection < 300 No No Yes No
23X Forest Park Tri-County Express < 300 No No No Yes
24 Uptown - Mt. Lookout - Anderson 1,408 Yes Yes N/A Yes
25X Mount Lookout Express 67 No No No Yes
27 Northside - Casey 1,382 Yes Yes N/A Yes
28 East End - Milford 261 Yes Milford extension operates on weekdays only N/A Yes
29X Milford Express 205 No No Partial Yes
30X Beechmont Express 203 No No Partial Yes
31 West End - Evanston Crosstown 1,703 Yes Yes N/A No
32 Delhi - Price Hill

Glenway Crossing - Price Hill

1,213 Yes Yes N/A Yes
33 Western Hills - Glenway 3,778 Yes Yes N/A Yes
38X Glenway Crossing - Uptown Express 97 No No No No
40X Montana Express 144 No No No Yes
41 Glenway Crossing - Oakley Crosstown 886 Yes Yes N/A No
42X West Chester Express Job Connection 468 No No Partial Yes
43 Reading - Lockland

Evendale - Woodlawn, Roselawn

 5,975 Yes Evendale-Woodlawn runs weekdays only N/A Yes
46 Avondale - Zoo 1,791 Yes Yes N/A Yes
49 Fairmount - English Woods 311 Yes Yes N/A Yes
50 Sayler Park 284 Yes Yes N/A Yes
51 Glenway Crossing - Hyde Park Crosstown 1,655 Yes Yes N/A No
52X Harrison Express 177 No No No No
64 Glenway Crossing - Ferguson 1,968 Yes Yes N/A Yes
67 Sharonville Job Connection 51 No No Yes Yes
68 Sharonville Connection Unknown No No N/A No
71X Kings Island Express 306 No No No Yes
71 Kings Island Job Connection 306 No No Yes Yes
74X Colerain Express 356 No No No Yes
75X Anderson Express 193 No No Partial Yes
77X Delhi Express 127 No No No Yes
78 Springdale - Vine

Lincoln Heights

 2,757 Yes Yes N/A Yes
81X Mount Washington Express 65 No No No Yes
82X Eastgate Express 136 No No No Yes
85 Riverfront Parking Shuttle 501 Yes No N/A Yes
90 Metro*Plus 1,564 Yes No N/A Yes

Ridership

Weekday ridership through the day by line, 2014

Transit ridership in Greater Cincinnati has generally been on the decline for at least the last several decades. Of particular note, the 2008 recession significantly cut into SORTA's budget, resulting in service cuts and fare increases which seem to have had a very large impact on overall ridership. A few main lines, those running most frequently, account for a majority of all trips, while weekday rush-hour express services account for only about 10% of all trips.

Ridership also varies dramatically by time of day. Almost twice as many people board transit during the peak of either rush hour as do during midday. This phenomenon is also observed on the all-day lines, even if peak-hour-only services are disregarded.

Annual Ridership
Year Total unlinked passenger trips
1991 28,845,617
1992 27,883,500
1993 26,009,113
1994 25,212,426
1995 23,980,156
1996 26,456,015
1997 26,227,001
1998 28,809,040
1999 26,383,074
2000 26,637,640
2001 25,066,546
2002 24,615,383
2003 24,143,526
2004 23,319,650
2005 26,158,352
2006 25,555,566
2007 26,146,916
2008 26,072,321
2009 23,120,952
2010 19,007,620
2011 18,957,732
2012 17,553,120

Stops and stations

Located on Fifth Street between Walnut and Main in Cincinnati, Government Square serves as Metro's downtown transit hub

Most of SORTA's roughly 5,000 stops are simply marked with a sign on a pole listing routes the stop serves, and are fairly infrastructure-light. Several dozen stops include bus shelters and covered benches. Several suburban stops are park-and-rides. Government Square is the main transit station, located downtown near Fountain Square. SORTA owns and operates the Riverfront Transit Center though it's not currently used for any regularly scheduled transit service.

Fares

Currently, standard zone-1 fare is $1.75. Destinations outside the city of Cincinnati can cost between $2.65 and $4.25.[8]

On April 30, 2007, SORTA began a partnership with the University of Cincinnati to provide free rides to its students, staff, and faculty. The partnership was scheduled to last for two years and the initial response to the offer had been positive.[9] Current policy requires students and faculty to purchase a special UC*Metro card, costing $53 and $160 per semester, respectively.[10] A similar offer is available to students at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. Students can register for a free card which provide them with a $1 fare for any bus ride one direction. University of Cincinnati students and faculty are also eligible to choose this card instead of purchasing the other UC*METRO card.

Fleet

SORTA operates about 350 buses on fixed routes, and about 50 smaller vehicles as part of their demand responsive services. All vehicles in SORTA's fleet are ADA accessible. On average, vehicles in the fixed route fleet are 6.9 years old, and in the demand-responsive fleet 1.4 years. Vehicles in the fixed route fleet are rated, on average, for a capacity and 65 passengers, both sitting and standing. [11]

All fixed-route buses have a bike rack mounted on the front with room for two bicycles.

Public relations

In 1993, SORTA began experimenting with the use of biodiesel. In 2001, SORTA operated about half of its bus fleet on a biodiesel blend. Since September 2005 (initially because of Hurricane Katrina), SORTA has continuously operated its buses with a biodiesel blend. In 2006, SORTA consumed almost 1.8 million gallons of biodiesel made from soybeans grown in Ohio.[13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "SORTA's current GTFS feed data". Go-Metro.com. SORTA. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  2. ↑ "National Transit Database, TS2.2 - Service Data and Operating Expenses Time-Series by System". National Transit Database. USDOT, Federal Transit Administration. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  3. ↑ "Portfolio of Expertise: Bus Services" (PDF). Veolia Transport. September 2008. p. 14. Retrieved December 26, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2013" (PDF). Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority. 2014. p. 19. Retrieved December 26, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Developer Data". Go-Metro.com. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  6. ↑ "Streetcar project breaks ground". The Cincinnati Enquirer. February 17, 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-17.
  7. ↑ "SORTA Ridership data 2014". Cincinnati Transit Blog.
  8. ↑ "Fare Information". SORTA. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  9. ↑ "New UC/Metro Partnership a Sizzling Summer Success".
  10. ↑ "UC*Metro".. University of Cincinnati.
  11. ↑ "National Transit Database". National Transit Database. Federal Transit Administration. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  12. ↑ http://www.wlwt.com/news/cincinnati-metro-hybrid-buses-going-into-service-next-tuesday/32412986
  13. ↑ "THAT’S A LOT OF SOYBEANS: METRO USED ALMOST 1.8 MILLION GALLONS OF BIODIESEL IN 2006".

External links