Public transportation can be challenging to access and navigate in Toledo at the best of times, but add a cognitive or physical disability and those difficulties grow. That is where TARTA Move is trying to help.
TARTA Move, the paratransit division of TARTA, is available for certified passengers to use to access Owens Toledo campus. Another option is the Owens Toledo Campus Shuttle that provides free rides to different parts of the Toledo Campus from downtown Toledo at St. Francis de Sales or the Locke public library on Miami Street.
To access service with TARTA Move, a potential passenger will have to go through an application process and assessment. To start the process, call TARTA Move’s customer service at 419-382-9901 and ask for an application to be mailed or the application can be accessed online at WWW.TARTA.com.
The application is two parts with part one consisting of questions about the individual’s access to fixed-line service and ability to navigate said service. Part two is a questionnaire for a health care professional to complete on behalf of the passenger.
Once the application has been received and processed, the TARTA Move Mobility Specialists will meet with the potential passenger for assessment at the TARTA Move facility at 130 Knapp St. Service is often decided the day of the assessment and will be available starting immediately.
TARTA Move also provides free transportation to their facility for assessment or potential passengers can make their own way to Knapp St.
After a passenger has service, they are able to access anywhere in the TARTA Move service area for a $3.00 fare per trip. The TARTA Move service area, which is dictated by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), falls within ¾ of a mile from any fixed-line route. This includes areas in Toledo, Sylvania, Maumee, Rossford, and Oregon.
While the service area is broad for passengers getting picked up or dropped off at home, the service area does not include a large portion of Owens’ Toledo Campus. The only area accessible to TARTA Move passengers at the Toledo campus is the Owens Community College Dana Advanced Manufacturing Training Center. Students who use the service to access Owens would have to make their own way to other locations on campus from the Dana Center, which could be difficult for some.
When asked if the service area may change to incorporate more of the Owens’s Campus, Sylvester Jones the Operations Manager for TARTA Move said that “the service area could change, but there are no plans at this time.”
The vehicles that TARTA Move uses are not the large fixed-line buses, but smaller buses called “cut-away” buses and they are ADA compliant. All of the vehicles are equipped with multiple seats with seat belts and can take up to two passengers at a time who utilize wheelchairs.
TARTA Move does out-source some of their rides to a company called VIA. This company also has ADA compliant vehicles, though they are smaller vans, they are still capable of transporting passengers that utilize wheelchairs.
Alternatively, a student can use the Owens Toledo Campus shuttle which pickups downtown at the St. Francis de Sales church next to the TARTA hub or on Miami Street at the Toledo Public Library Locke Branch. The campus shuttle provides the opposite issue to the TARTA Move service in that it only pickups up at two locations off campus, but it stops at more locations on campus including the Center for Performing Arts and College Hall.
Students can access the shuttle either by taking any of the numerous fixed-line routes to the TARTA Hub located at 612 N Huron Street, or, if they are approved for service, they can use TARTA Move to access either pickup location for the Owens Shuttle.
As mentioned, fixed-line is also an option for students and approved TARTA Move passengers to use to access the downtown pickup/drop-off location for the Owens Shuttle. Unfortunately, at this time, there is not a route that goes out to Owens.
The closest a fixed-line route gets to Owens is Glenwood Road in Rossford, Ohio. However, the fixed-line routes provide multiple pickup/drop-off locations for passengers who wish to utilize the Owens Shuttle. Passengers who have been approved for service with TARTA Move may use fixed-line buses for free with a valid TARTA Move ID card.
