If you've ever been stuffed into a bus on West Market Street or Arlington Street, there could be some relief in sight.
Akron's Metro Regional Transit Authority is looking for public input this week to help reduce overcrowding on the system's two busiest routes - 1 West Market and 2 Arlington.
Metro spokesperson Molly Becker says that there are a number of possible solutions.
"It could be as simple as just having buses coming more frequently," Becker tells AkronNewsNow.com, "or it could be signal preemption, or it could be less stops so the buses move faster down the street."
Becker says that some form of "bus rapid transit" with longer "articulated" buses could be in the future. But she says unlike Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, where Greater Cleveland RTA runs the "Healthline" bus rapid transit route, there may not be enough room for dedicated lanes on West Market or Arlington.
Metro already plans to decrease times between buses on the West Market and Arlington routes from 20 to 15 minutes all day, starting in mid-January.
PUBLIC MEETING LOCATIONS:
Wednesday, November 14th, 10 AM-12 noon: METRO Downtown Transit Center, 631 S. Broadway Street
Wednesday, November 14th, 6-8 PM: Northwest Akron Branch Library, 1720 Shatto Avenue
Thursday, November 15th, 6-8 PM: Goodyear Branch Library, 60 Goodyear Boulevard
