NEW COUNTY FAIR SITE LACKS RTA STOP
Official: ‘We didn’t make it happen this year.’ Option available.
The Montgomery County Fair opened Monday at its new site in Jefferson Twp., and fair-goers who have traditionally ridden RTA buses to the old Main Street fair location in Dayton found a tougher time getting there.
The nearest regular RTA bus stops are about 0.9 miles away from the new fairgrounds at Arthur O. Fisher Park on Infirmary Road, according to RTA’s website, meaning a bus rider would have to get off on West Third Street or Dayton-Liberty Road, then walk 15-20 minutes along two-lane roads with no sidewalk.
Spokeswoman Jessica Olson said RTA customers can now take a bus to the Westown Hub, then schedule a free “RTA Connect” trip to the fairgrounds entrance at no cost. That involves calling RTA or using the 937Connect feature on the Lyft app to arrange for a ride. She said RTA worked with multiple riders on that issue Monday.
“It is free, and they can book that trip in advance,” Olson said. “If they know what time their bus is going to be at Westown, they can call us today, tomorrow, whenever in advance and schedule for an on-demand vehicle to be there to pick them up and take them to the fairgrounds, and schedule to take them back to Westown. They don’t have to go there and wait.”
Olson said RTA previously had a route closer to the new fairgrounds site, but it was eliminated in February in a set of budget cuts, because of limited ridership in that area — 10 or fewer riders per day.
John Yancik, president of the Agricultural Society of Montgomery County, said the group will look into the possibility of adjusting RTA coverage for Fair Week next year, slightly similar to what RTA does for the Dayton Air Show. “But we didn’t make it happen this year,” he said.
“This year we have nothing worked out with RTA,” Yancik said. “We’ve been trying to get everything good and ready for everybody, and that is one thing that we haven’t achieved.”
Derrick Foward, president of the Dayton Chapter NAACP, said
continued from B1 he grew up just a few blocks from Fisher Park, playing basketball, football and baseball there. He said he hopes the lack of RTA access was not intended as a “deterrent” to keep any citizens being able to enjoy the fair.
“We just really hope that this was an oversight, and that they will take immediate, swift corrective action to ensure all citizens will have an opportunity to enjoy the new fairgrounds,” Foward said.
Agriculture is much heavier on the western edge of Montgomery County. Asked whether the ag community was happy to have the fair out of downtown Dayton and closer to farming communities, Yancik said that wasn’t the focus.
“I think everybody’s just more comfortable with the fact that we’ve got about three times the amount of space (that we had downtown),” he said. “We have more than adequate parking for everybody. We can get close to 1,800 cars in here.”
Olson said RTA will carefully watch how many people use the RTA Connect service to get to the fair this year when considering any changes for next year. She said RTA doesn’t typically run additional shuttle service to an area that doesn’t already have regular bus service (for the Air Show, they add buses to an existing route). But the fairgrounds move is a new obstacle.
“If we find that there’s a need for us to have additional service during this time of year, to make sure that Montgomery County residents can get to the Fair and get home and have safe, reliable transportation to do that, we will certainly work with the Fair as best we can to provide a service that makes sense for those customers and for all of our budgets.”
Yancik said there are several differences in the first year at the new site, including more rides, more food, air-conditioned buildings, and a flat, ADA-accessible site. He encouraged fair-goers to wear gym shoes to walk the larger site. Contact this reporter at 937225-2278 or email Jeremy. Kelley@coxinc.com.