The Greater Dayton RTA opened the South Transit Center in 1998 and currently has a weekday base of 40 to 50 “park and ride” customers,” said Frank Ecklar, the Greater Dayton RTA’s director of planning and marketing.
Currently, all routes to WPAFB go through Wright Stop Plaza in downtown Dayton.
“The bus will travel directly to the base from our South Transit Center,” said Mark Donaghy, executive director of the Greater Dayton RTA. “We’ve been getting requests from current and potential customers.”
Donaghy said bus schedules will correspond with work shifts. Bus riders entering the WPAFB will be subject to the same security as other visitors, he said. The Greater Dayton RTA also will provide midday service from Wright Stop Plaza to the Wright-Patterson Medical Center.
“That’s an important market we need to address,” Donaghy said.
The expanded service is part of a statewide effort to connect Ohio’s work force to major job centers. It’s also an effort by the Greater Dayton RTA to boost ridership, that has slumped during the past two years due to the recession, Donaghy said. The transit company currently has daily ridership of about 35,000 people, compared to about 40,000 per day in 2008.
“More than 60 percent of our ridership is access to jobs. As unemployment rates go up, ridership goes down,” Donaghy said. “We have a dedicated ridership going out to the base that wants to use alternative transportation. We are hoping to grow our market out there.”
The transit company also is positioning itself to serve growing businesses along Ohio 741 between Austin Boulevard and Ohio 725.
Joe Tuss, assistant Montgomery County administrator for economic development, said there are “two pieces” to that puzzle: supporting both the new and existing work force.
In the short term — over the next five years — the area has the potential to grow 1,000 to 1,500 jobs, Tuss said. Plans call for a Kohls department store to be built as part of a larger commercial development that also includes the headquarters for technology company Teradata as well as a proposed hotel and another office building.
Tuss said the second component is to provide improved transit service for the existing workforce — including employees of MetLife and LexisNexis — and, a large number of apartments along Ohio 741.
“Whenever we’re working with a large project, we’re having discussions with RTA,” Tuss said. “Of course they have to look at how they justify the service from a cost perspective.”
Bus service to Brookville also will be expanded to reach the 600 employees of the Collective Brand shoe distribution center.
“If they have the need, I think it’s great,” John Wright, Brookville’s city manager said of expanded service to his community.
The close proximity of the Miami Valley Career Technology Center with the Caterpillar Distribution Center on Hoke Road in Clayton will enable the bus company to better serve both locations.
Kelly Herzog, public information coordinator for the career technology center, said RTA’s move will give more students access to their growing nurse’s aide and licensed practical nursing programs. The school also has had discussions with Caterpillar about training opportunities for its employees.
“It kind of worked out for RTA that we’re side-by-side out here,” Herzog said
Donaghy said the new routes/schedules are not finalized and the transit company is interested in hearing from customers regarding how it can best serve them. The Greater Dayton RTA’s Customer Support Services can be reached at (937) 425-8300 or by email at http://www.i-riderta.org/customer_support/inquiry_comments_or_concerns.aspx.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2362 or josmith@Dayton DailyNews.com.
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