Kent, Ohio – Thursday, March 18, 2021 – PARTA’s Dial-A-Ride service is providing free rides to vaccination sites around Portage County beginning Monday, March 22. Free rides will be in effect for trips riders take to and from scheduled COVID-19 vaccination appointments and are available on a first-come-first-served basis, subject to space availability.
“We are doing what we can to remove transportation barriers to assist local health agencies in their efforts to make vaccines widely available,” said PARTA General Manager Claudia Amrhein. “PARTA has been up and running throughout the pandemic as an essential service provider and we are well positioned to coordinate transportation for vaccination efforts.”
Individuals in need of transportation to vaccine appointments should call PARTA at 330-672-RIDE (7433) to schedule their free trip. Rides are only available to and from vaccination sites and are provided through PARTA’s Dial-A-Ride shared ride service.
PARTA is working in cooperation with the Portage County Emergency Management Agency and Portage County Combined Health District to make the community aware of the program. More information about the service can be obtained through the EMA and health district websites and social media or the PARTA website, www.PARTAonline.org.
Funding provided through the Ohio Department of Transportation ‘Rides to Community Immunity’ program is helping to make the free trips available. PARTA is eligible to be reimbursed up to $97,000 through the program. ODOT is providing $7 million across all 88 Ohio counties to help get the state’s most vulnerable populations transportation to vaccine locations.
Organized in 1975 under Section 306.32 of the Ohio Revised Code, PARTA provides fixed-route, ADA Complementary Paratransit and Demand Response service throughout Portage County. PARTA also operates the Kent Central Gateway Transit Center and parking deck in downtown Kent. In 2018, PARTA constructed the first Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueling station in Portage County.
For more information contact PARTA Communications and Public Advocacy Advisor Denise Baba at 330.678.7745 or email dbaba@partaonline.org.
