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CINCINNATI — More people from Butler County are taking advantage of Cincinnati’s metro bus system express routes.
June marked the sixth consecutive month ridership increased for all of the system’s express routes, with the highest spike on Route 42X, which takes riders from downtown’s Government Square nonstop to West Chester Twp.’s Meijer park-and-ride location on Tylersville Road.
Metro provided 28 percent more daily rides on the route from January to June compared to the same last year, according to spokesperson Jill Dunne. In the first six months of this year, an additional 16,000 riders used the route.
Carla Lakatos, executive director for the Butler County Regional Transit Authority, said ridership on the 42X route is highly contingent on the volatility of gas prices.
“(Ridership) is rising back up again,” Lakatos said. “There are a lot of folks from surrounding counties, most of them professionals who work downtown, that find the route a positive choice to take because of the congestion and for convenience.”
Overall, ridership was up 7.3 percent in June on all the express routes compared to June 2010. Effective Aug. 14, metro will operate 20 express routes consisting of 18 peak-direction routes.
For Sandy Clark, 48, of Germantown, Friday marked her first time riding the 42X bus route after many recommendations from her friends.
“It was a great experience and it was a stressless one,” said Clark, who works at the Convergys building at 201 E. Fourth St. “It saves me a lot of time and money.”
The Fairfield Express or 62X will be discontinued due to low ridership, but the Tri-County Express or 23X will be extended, according to Lakatos.
BCRTA and Metro agreed to extend Route 23X to serve more Butler County locations, starting from Workforce One at Ohio 4 and Symmes Road to downtown Cincinnati.
“What we’re really doing (with the 62X route) is relocating it to the Workforce One location and working with Metro to extend the 23X route to that location so it can serve as a park and ride,” Lakatos said. “It will be better than the 62X because it will reduce the fare to $2.65 and offer connections into Hamilton County, including Forest Park Park and Ride and Tri-County Mall.”
The changes have effectively extended Butler County connections into Hamilton County and Cincinnati, and opened the west side of Hamilton County, Lakatos said. The route marks the first time there are really more connections into Hamilton County.
The Middletown-Hamilton shuttle operated by the BCRTA currently extends to Workforce One, and eventually, the BCRTA will introduce a connection to the 23X route, Lakatos said.
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