The Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority, commonly referred to as PARTA, is a transit agency serving

Portage County, Ohio Portage County is a county in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 161,791. Located in Northeast Ohio, Portage County is part of the Akron Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Cleveland–Akr ...

. It is headquartered in Franklin Township just outside the

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

city limits. PARTA was formed in 1975 from an agreement between the city of Kent and Franklin Township and has since expanded to include routes over much of Portage County. It operates several local routes including circulator and suburban routes in Kent, and an interurban route connecting Ravenna, Kent, and

Stow Stow may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Stow, Lincolnshire or Stow-in-Lindsey, a village * Stow of Wedale or Stow, Scottish Borders, a village * Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, a small town * Stow, Shropshire or Stowe, a village * Stow ...

. PARTA also offers express routes including services into

downtown Cleveland Downtown Cleveland is the central business district of Cleveland, Ohio. The economic and symbolic center of the city and the Cleveland-Akron-Canton, OH Combined Statistical Area, it is Cleveland's oldest district, with its Public Square laid out b ...

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

as well as weekday service to the rural Portage County communities of Windham,

Garrettsville Garrettsville is a village in northeastern Portage County, Ohio, United States. The population was 2,449 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Akron metropolitan area. The village was formed from portions of Hiram, Nelson, and Freedom townshi ...

and Hiram. In addition, PARTA includes

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in As ...

's Campus Bus Service, which it acquired in 2004, and a

dial-a-ride Demand-responsive transport (DRT), also known as demand-responsive transit, demand-responsive service,
US National Trans ...

service. A proposed plan to acquire Lorain County Transit to serve better bus service in Lorain County. In , the system had a ridership of . PARTA operates a fleet of

Orion VII The Orion VII was a line of low-floor transit buses available in 30' rigid, 35' rigid, and 40' rigid lengths manufactured by Orion Bus Industries between 2001 and 2013 in three generations. The conventional powered buses, either with longitudinal ...

ENC Axess The ENC Axess is a line of Low-floor bus, low-floor transit buses available in 35' and 40' nominal lengths manufactured by ENC (company), ENC (formerly ElDorado National–California) in Riverside, California starting from 2003. In addition to th ...

, and

Gillig Advantage The Gillig Low Floor (originally named Gillig H2000LF and also nicknamed Gillig Advantage) is a transit bus manufactured by the Gillig Corporation. The second low-floor bus introduced in the United States (after the New Flyer LF), the Low Floor ...

low-floor buses. Many of the Advantages, though not all, were acquired second-hand from Canton, Ohio's

SARTA Sarta ( ar, سرطّه) is a Palestinian town located in the Salfit Governorate in the northern West Bank, 22 kilometers southwest of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, it had a population of approximately 3,382 in 2 ...

and most have had their fare-boxes removed. Due to the lack of fare-boxes, some of the Advantages are restricted to the Kent State Campus Bus Service, though the others retaining their boxes also make appearances on routes 35 and 40. The Orions and Axesses are used for all other routes in addition to the Campus Bus Services. PARTA also operates the Kent Central Gateway. Finished in July 2013, it is the only parking garage in downtown Kent. This garage houses the city's downtown transit facility (off-campus), along with storefronts and offices for rent. Kent Central Gateway night 1

County service

* 30 Interurban West (Stow) * 35 Interurban East (Ravenna) * 40 (North) 45 (South) Suburban * 46 Downtowner (Trolley) (Thurs, Fri & Sat after 4pm) * 70 Windham/Garretsville * 80 Raven (Cleveland Rd) * 85 Raven (Prospect)

Campus service

* 51 Campus Loop (Weekdays) * 53 Reverse Loop (Weekdays 8-6) SUSPENDED * 55 Allerton via Sports Complex (Weekdays) * 57 Stadium Loop (breaks and Saturdays) * 58 Summit East/Front Campus (Weekdays) * 59 Stadium Night Loop (Mon-Thur 10p-3a Sun 4p-3a) * 90 Akron Express (Weekdays) * 100 Cleveland Express (Weekdays) All buses in the route 50 series (i.e. 51, 53) are fare-free to the public. The Cleveland Express is $5.00 each way and The Akron Express is $1.00 each way. No passes accepted in either of these routes.

Connecting services

PARTA provides connecting services with three neighboring transit authorities, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority and the

METRO Regional Transit Authority METRO Regional Transit Authority (METRO RTA), also known as Akron Metropolitan Regional Transit Authority, is the public transit agency serving Summit County, Ohio and the city of Akron. It operates a number of local routes, and also operates ...

in Summit County. In addition, connections are possible to

Greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurge ...

, the

Barons Bus Lines Barons Bus Lines is an intercity bus company operating in the United States. It serves passengers in the U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Barons Bus operates GoBus, a federally funded b ...

College Connection, the Stark Area Regional Transportation Authority (SARTA) by way of METRO's Pfaff Transit Center in Akron.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
Bus transportation in Ohio Kent, Ohio Transportation in Portage County, Ohio Transportation in Akron, Ohio Transit agencies in Ohio 1975 establishments in Ohio