Bus service between Newark and Granville, including a stop at Denison, coming in October

Alan Miller
·2 min read
A Licking County Transit bus stops in downtown Newark along the new fixed route that makes 25 stops along East Main and West Main streets. The county will add a fixed-route to Granville in October.
A Licking County Transit bus stops in downtown Newark along the new fixed route that makes 25 stops along East Main and West Main streets. The county will add a fixed-route to Granville in October.

Daily bus service to and from Newark is coming to Granville this fall.

The Licking County Transit bus service that began fixed-route service along Main Street in Newark on July 10 will expand in October to include the route to Granville and a connecting route along North 21st Street in Newark, with stops at Walmart and Kroger, according to Matthew Allison, executive director of Licking County Transit.

Allison spoke Wednesday during a community forum and panel discussion on regional transportation. The event, part of the United Way of Licking County’s monthly forum series, was held at the Licking County Aging Partners center, 1058 E. Main St. in Newark.

Matt Hill, technical study director for the Licking County Area Transportation Study, said dry runs on the new routes will start in August, when the transit system also will seek community input on where to put bus stops.

Raj Bellani, vice president and chief of staff at Denison University, said that public transportation will benefit Denison and the community at large.

"It is to support our students getting to services in Newark and also for employees to go back and forth," he said.

The schedule for the fixed bus route in Newark. Buses make 25 stops along East Main and West Main streets, running 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, picking up riders as far east as the Licking County Aging Partners’ Heritage Hall and as far west as Tamarack Road.
The schedule for the fixed bus route in Newark. Buses make 25 stops along East Main and West Main streets, running 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, picking up riders as far east as the Licking County Aging Partners’ Heritage Hall and as far west as Tamarack Road.

Generally speaking, the Granville route will start and end at the Tamarack medical complex, just off West Main Street in Newark, travel north along Cherry Valley Road and Thornwood Crossing, west onto Newark-Granville Road and onto East Broadway to Pearl Street, where it will travel north to the east entrance of Denison University. The bus will turn around at Mitchell Recreation Center and return to the medical park in Newark.

There, riders will be able to connect with the Main Street and 21st Street buses.

"We’re also looking at three more routes in the reasonably near future," Hill said.

One route would serve the north side of Newark along Mt. Vernon Road. Another would run south along Ohio 79 to employment centers between Newark and Hebron — and perhaps as far south as Buckeye Lake and Millersport. A third would run a loop in the core of Newark to connect neighborhoods and all of the other bus routes.

All buses include bike racks and are accessible for people with mobility issues, said Mona Large, mobility manager for the Licking County Area Transportation Study office.

Riding the buses will be free in 2023. After that, Allison said the transit service will charge what he expects will be a nominal fee of perhaps $1 per ride.

"We need local funding and investment in the program for the long term," Allison said, praising Licking Memorial Hospital for providing funds for the Main Street bus service. "We will continue to evaluate stops and ridership needs as we move forward."

For transit system information, visit the county website or call 740-670-5185.

Alan Miller writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of the Denison University Journalism Program, which is funded in part by the Mellon Foundation. The group can be contacted at thereportingproject@denison.edu.

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Bus service between Newark and Granville coming in October