Increased demand means Main Street buses will run more frequently in Newark starting Nov. 10

If you’re looking for a bus on Main Street in Newark, you’ll find one twice as often as in the past – during peak ridership hours – starting on Monday, Nov. 10.

The Licking County Transit buses will stop every 30 minutes from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Buses on the Main Street route will continue to operate Monday through Friday from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. – and every hour outside of the new 9:30 to 4:30 schedule.

“This improvement allows us to better meet the needs of our riders by reducing wait times and increasing flexibility,” said Matthew Allison, executive director. “It’s another step forward in making public transportation more accessible and convenient for our community.”

The Main Street buses have been increasingly full during peak ridership times, said Jessica Wiley, marketing and communications specialist for the transit system.

“We were getting to the point where we had to send out another bus to pick up people waiting at the stops because a bus was full,” she said. “We exceeded expectations for ridership. Part of the reason for increasing frequency is the growth in ridership, and it’s also so people don’t have to wait as long between buses.”

Wiley said transit system leaders looked at ridership data to determine when to add buses.

Looking to the future, the transit system is considering increasing the frequency of buses stopping along the 21st Street and the Newark-Heath “Earthworks Circulator” line because of their popularity, Wiley said.

It’s also considering another north-south route in Newark to serve the south side and connect residents there with shopping areas to the north by following a route along Mt. Vernon Road and connecting with the Main Street and 21st Street lines.

In the long term, transit planners are looking at adding a route to the southwest from Newark to Pataskala and Etna, and one to the northwest to New Albany and Johnstown. Using a planning grant, Wiley said, the transit system will be studying – along with transit systems in Fairfield and Delaware counties – how they could create transfer stations, or “mobility hubs,” that would allow Licking County riders to transfer to buses in those counties. 

“Part of that plan will be looking at when to launch those,” Wiley said. “We’re hopeful that it could be in 2027 or 2028.”

Riding the bus remains free to all on the Main Street route and Licking County Transit’s four other routes – 21st Street, Newark to Granville, the Earthworks Circulator line and the Hebron-Buckeye Lake line.

For updated route maps and schedules, go to the Licking County Transit website or follow Licking County Transit on social media for the latest updates.

Alan Miller writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.