Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority

Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority

A Metro Route 41 bus heads West on Galbraith Road in North College Hill, Ohio in 2010
Overview
Owner	City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
Area served	Hamilton County (in addition provides commuter routes from Butler County, Clermont County, and Warren County into Cincinnati)
Transit type	Bus, Express bus service, Paratransit,
Number of lines	22 local 1 limited 20 express 162 tripper
Number of stations	4,465 bus stops,[1] 18 streetcar stations
Daily ridership	53,147 unlinked passenger trips[2]
Chief executive	Darryl Haley
Headquarters	525 Vine Street, Suite 500 Cincinnati, Ohio
Website	go-metro.com
Operation
Began operation	December 30, 1952 (as Cincinnati Transit Commission)
Operator(s)	MV Transportation[3] Transdev[4]
Number of vehicles	353 transit buses, 46 paratransit vehicles, 5 streetcars

The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) is the public transport agency serving Cincinnati and its Ohio suburbs. The agency provides Metro transit bus service, Access paratransit service, and the Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar system in downtown Cincinnati. SORTA replaced the Cincinnati Transit Commission, which operated buses from 1952 to 1973. As of 2015, the agency operates 50 bus routes and facilitates approximately 16 million passenger trips annually.^[5]

SORTA was funded primarily by Cincinnati's city earnings tax, second by fares, and third by federal sources, with some other minor sources. This stood 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 was about 0.3%. On May 14, 2020 Hamilton County voters passed Issue 7, which switches the source of SORTA funding to a sales tax. The sales tax in Hamilton County will be raised to 7.8% and the Cincinnati earnings tax is eliminated. The levy is projected to generate 130 million dollars a year, which will be split 100/30 between Metro and road infrastructure respectively. The new sales tax rate went into effect on October 1, 2020.^[6]

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[]

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.^[7]

Starting with the 2021-22 school year, SORTA will no longer provide direct school bus services to Cincinnati Public Schools. Students will be given bus passes to use on regular service. Students in grades 7 & 8 will be able to ride from 6:00am - 6:30pm on school days. Students in grades 9-12 will be able to ride regular service Monday - Saturday from 6:00am to 9:30pm, to allow students to participate in extracurricular activities and to after school jobs. There will be increased service on 12 routes to accommodate the increase of students riding regular bus service instead of the specialized routes. Some routes may deviate off route to drop off students in front of their schools before returning to their regular routing. Two new crosstown routes will be added (routes 37 & 65).^[8]

Routes 29X and 82X extend into neighboring Clermont County under an arrangement with the Clermont Transportation Connection. Routes 71X & 72X extend into neighboring Warren County under an arrangement with . Route 42X extend into neighboring Butler County under an agreement with Butler County Regional Transit Authority (BCRTA).

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 only used for a layover point for the Metro*Plus route and a stop for route 85.

Fares[]

Since April 4, 2021, Metro introduced a simpler fare structure.^[9] With this new fare model, base fare increased 25 cents to $2 per ride on all local routes & school Xtras. Express buses are $2.65 within Hamilton County. Certain express routes turned into commuter routes and have a $2 fare. Express routes that go into Butler, Clermont, and Warren County have a fare of $3.75. Zone fares and paper transfers were be eliminated. Transfers are only be available to those that use the Transit app and 5-ride ticket users. There are several day pass options available to purchase. Mobile fares must be purchased through the Transit app. Refer to the charts for more information. Transfers to higher-cost service requires paying the fare difference. Under 5 ride for free with fare-paying rider; 2-kid limit applies.

Paper transfers are no longer be issued as of 4/10/2021. Zone fare was eliminated on 4/4/2021.

Garages and 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.^[10]

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

Garages

• Queensgate Garage 1401 Bank Street, Cincinnati, OH 45214
• Bond Hill Garage 4700 Paddock Road, Cincinnati, OH 45229

Current buses in service at Queensgate

Current buses in service at Bond Hill

Future bus orders

See also[]

Adjacent public transit agencies:

• (BCRTA), serving Butler County, Ohio
• Clermont Transportation Connection (CTC), serving Clermont County, Ohio
• Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky (TANK), serving Northern Kentucky
• , serving Warren County, Ohio

Other major public transit agencies in Ohio:

• Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA), serving Columbus, Ohio
• Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA), serving Cleveland, Ohio
• Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority (formerly the Miami Valley RTA), serving Dayton, Ohio

References[]

External links[]

• Go Metro, SORTA official website