The Truth Staff
The Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday, March 27 to announce the opening of three new routes. “Promises made, promises kept,” said Lucas County Commissioner Tina Skeldon Wozniak as she spoke approvingly of the new transit access that so many Toledo area residents will now have available to them.
Route 33 is touted as a totally new route, replacing parts of Routes 28 on Indiana and 32R on Arlington and Spencer and will run every day, every hour rather than on the 90-minute rotation that the replaced routes ran.
Route 33 will connect the Uptown and Junction city neighborhoods with distant parts of the city such as the Walmart on Glendale and the University of Toledo Medical Center while also offering destinations such as “the African American Legacy Project, Warren AME, the Bible Belt of Black churches, and the Toledo Urban Federal Credit Union,” noted TARTA board member and president of the Toledo NAACP Rev. Willie Perryman.
“The NAACP applauds TARTA for exploring these opportunities,” Perryman added.
Route 32 has been extended will run into Holland, OH, the first time that that community will have the benefit of TARTA public transit. It will also extend into the Springfield Township.
Route 34, another extended route, now travels via Western Avenue and Detroit in both directions.
“The board approved and set a marker to expand services,” said Laura Kowprowski, TARTA CEO, of the actions the transit service has taken.
Kendra Smith, board vice chairman, expounded on the new services as well, explaining both the routes and the new hourly time frame. “Great cities need great transit systems,” said Smith.
“This route is more efficient and more frequent,” said State Representative Elgin Rogers. “We are proud of this work and TARTA has our support at the statehouse.”
Similarly, Lucas County Commissioner praised the new services and “the commitment TARTA has made to the community.” Sobecki also noted that a good deal of the expanded service was directly due to the voters in Lucas County who approved the recent change via levy from a property tax to a sales tax to support public transit. This switch has enabled TARTA to increase revenues and to expand service both in the original Toledo areas and also into outlying cities.
