Perry Transit Making Strides

Perry County Transit has a new home and a new way to connect residents with essential locations within the county.

They’re currently hosting a pilot project called, “The Loop.” It connects residents to hotspots within the county like Genesis Healthcare, the Kroger in New Lexington and other services. There’s no cost for riding the loop. The mobility manager said connecting services has become more important.

“Many citizens choose not to drive or not to own a vehicle,” said Perry County Mobility Manger Lisa Leckrone. “So zero car households are becoming more common and it’s an alternative to them, so that we’re battling and fighting against isolation.

Another service of Perry Transit is demand response. Here they pick up the rider at their requested location. Rates are based on location not miles. All vehicles are ADA compliant. Some of the fleet will become electric, as they’ve been approved for a pilot project for electric busses. Perry Transit and Mobility has been run by Job and Family Services since 2014. With the addition of “the loop” and electric vehicles, there’s more news to share. JFS is finally in their new facility.

“So it’s a good opportunity to put them in a new building, make their services more efficient and have a new building for the Perry County residents,” explained Commissioner Ben Carpenter. “We have it on our County Home Property out by the Fairgrounds next to the Hocking College building so it fits in to this workforce development program that we’ve had and promoting those efforts to make it a little more valuable and JFS can pay for a building without any direct cost to the tax payers.”

Last year public transportation in Perry County was awarded the 2023 CTA National Small Transit Award.