Sandusky Transit rolling out new routes

[gallery]SANDUSKY — Forget about reversing course or staying in neutral on plans to improve Sandusky Transit.Sandusky officials are instead accelerating forward with a road map outlining significant changes to Erie County's largest public transportation system.Starting Wednesday, transit workers will unveil an all-new fixed-route system snaking through the 44870 ZIP code area."This is all to make everything more time-efficient and more convenient for people to get to where they need to go," transit administrator Nicole DeFreitas said.The major changes include:• Relocating all four routes to a centralized hub, on Wayne Street in front of the Sandusky Social Security Office, in downtown Sandusky; At the top of every operational hour, buses on each route will depart from the same spot. This would allow riders to easily hop off one line and access another heading in a different direction.• Creating various transfer stations along those four routes in areas other than the Social Security Office, including at the Sandusky Mall and Discount Drug Mart on Milan Road (U.S. 250)• Rebranding the four routes from numbers to colors; SPARC 1 is now the Blue Line. SPARC 2 is now the Red Line. SPARC 3 is now the Green Line. SPARC 4 is now the Purple Line. All lines should complete a specific loop in less than an hour's time, leaving from the Social Security Office on the hour, every hour while in operation.• Removing four stops along the Green Line due to lower ridership; This includes Bardshar Road and Fremont Avenue (U.S. 6) by the Ohio State Highway Patrol; Venice Road near the former Akro-Mils plant; Thorpe Drive and Venice Road (U.S. 6) by the Coronado Motel; and by Venice Heights Elementary School.• Adding two stops along the Green Line due to popular demand; This includes 519 Tiffin Ave. (U.S. 6) at Maytag Home Laundry and 428 Tiffin Ave. at Holy Angels Catholic Church.• Adding various stops, namely along Milan Road — including at the BP/Dunkin' Donuts/Mickey Mart, Taco Bell, Sandusky Fireworks SuperStore — so people can access these areas and others nearby, such as Meijer• Relocating the Sandusky Mall bus stop from a parking lot island halfway between JC Penney and Target to behind Best Buy• Installing signs to inform riders where stops are and at what times the bus is expected to make a stopWhy the changes?The transit shakeup aims to slam the brakes regarding where Sandusky transit's finances usually head toward.Since 2013, public transportation operations have lost about $1.3 million in public funding.In late 2017, to reverse the red ink, city officials introduced some sizable shakeups to SPARC. Most notably, they created a fourth line and added almost 40 extra stops all while making each route shorter in length and more direct. The average person can expect a 12-minute reduction in ride time.The goal revolves around providing passengers with a quicker round-trip experience compared to larger, indirect loops buses previously took. This ideally creates an ideal chain reaction for transit workers:• Faster rides mean happier riders.• Happier riders mean more frequent trips.• More frequent trips mean additional income, through fares, to help offset expenses.• And quicker trips mean less public resources spent on gas, maintenance and other vehicle-related repairs.Inevitably, some kinks resulted from the new routes, prompting officials to propose the aforementioned changes.Reach reporter Andy Ouriel at ouriel@sanduskyregister.com and follow him on Twitter @AndyOuriel.A Sandusky Transit bus drives down Meigs Street in Sandusky on Tuesday, July 31, 2018.