(Toledo, OH) TARTA officials are hoping a new vision will help win support for new funding.
The transit agency unveiled its Move Toledo plan Tuesday after several meetings with bus riders. Longer bus routes, longer service hours and the launch of a smartphone app to pay fares are part of the plan.
TARTA officials drafted the proposal in an effort to replace its property tax funding with a sales tax that would raise $30 million per year for bus service and road repairs.
Sylvania Township trustees shot down a complicated process last year that required the transit agency to get approval from all member communities to add Lucas County to the fold. That step is needed to put a county-wide transit sales tax on the ballot.
Township trustees cited a lack of a long-term plan in their opposition, so TARTA has come back with its Move Toledo action plan.
But whether that will be enough to ask again for the bus service's seven member communities to approve a proposed half-cent sales tax could still be a longshot. TARTA is facing heavy competition on the November ballot from social service agencies, a jail bond issue, and several school property tax proposals. New money issues have not fared well at the ballot box in recent years.