Dayton shuttle to provide free rides
‘The Flyer’ will circulate between Brown Street, destinations, job sites.
Getting around downtown Dayton should become a lot easier and faster when a new free shuttle service launches next month.
The Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority’s circulator bus called “The Flyer” will be a fast and no-cost way for the public to travel between Brown Street and some major destinations and job centers in the heart of the city, supporters say.
The Flyer is expected to be heavily used by University of Dayton students and downtown workers, visitors and residents who will be able to get to their destinations without having to worry about finding parking nearby.
The Greater Dayton RTA’s circulator shuttles, which officially launch on Nov. 9, will run in a continuous loop, arriving at stops every 10 minutes or less.
“It’s free, it’s easy to use and it’s frequent,” said Jessica Olson, communications manager for Greater Dayton RTA. “This is the fastest service RTA will provide.”
Free circulators like the Flyer help redevelop urban spaces into walkable mixed-use, high-density environments, according to the American Public Transportation Association.
The Flyer shuttles will have 23 seats and additional standing room and will run 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 4 p.m. to midnight on Saturdays. There will be no service
on Sundays and holidays.
The Flyer is a 30-foot blue hybrid bus, which is easily distinguishable from the Greater Dayton RTA’s other fleets of buses, which are green and gray.
There are 35 stops on the Flyer’s route, which travels from Irving Avenue by UD to East Monument Avenue, by RiverScape.
Three shuttles will be in service simultaneously, going around in a roughly 6.5-mile loop.
“People will be able to get from downtown Dayton to Brown Street to enjoy lunch and get back without having to worry about parking — finding a spot, paying for parking and, if there’s no parking, where do they go,” Olson said.
One advantage of the urban environment is having lots of options to get around, and the Flyer will supplement downtown’s walkability and transit and bike-share services, said Scott Murphy, vice president of economic develop- ment with the Downtown Dayton Partnership.
The hope is that visitors can park once and then get around downtown quickly and conveniently in a variety of ways, he said.
The Flyer will connect existing destinations — RiverScape, Oregon District, the Schuster Center, the Levitt Pavilion Dayton, Brown Street — and will be very beneficial when some other new projects come to fruition, like the Dayton Arcade and the Fire Blocks District, Murphy said.
“This is really about con- nections for us,” he said, adding that most people don’t feel like walking very far during freezing cold weather.
Shuttles will head north on Brown and Warren streets up to Jefferson Street and Patterson Boulevard.
The buses will drive west on Fifth Street, then head north up Main Street and then take a right on East First Street, before looping back around using Monument Avenue. Shuttle stops will be on both sides of the street.
CareSource and Premier Health, two giant employers downtown, are sponsors of the Flyer.
Their employees will use the shuttles so they can park blocks away from work. The employers will provide guar- anteed ridership for Greater Dayton RTA, which is covering about 70 percent of the cost of the free service.
“There is a need in this city, where we have parking outside the city’s core that is cheaper and easily accessible to people, but not if they are trying to get to work, not if they are trying to get some- place for dining or entertain- ment,” Olson said.
CareSource is building a new, six-story office tower at North St. Clair and East First Street.
CareSource will provide parking to its employees who work in the new office tower in the Transportation Center on East Fifth Street and the City Hall parking garage.
The Flyer will provide direct access to downtown from the UD campus, which will encourage more students to experience the urban cen- ter and visit its amenities, Olson said.
UD freshmen who live on campus aren’t allowed to bring cars on campus.
One condition of UD occu- pying a large portion of the Dayton Arcade was that stu- dents could get there using free shuttles, developers say.
Dayton gets cold in the winter, and the shuttles will shorten the time it takes to get between hot spots in the greater downtown area, officials say.
People will be able to track the Flyer shuttles using mobile apps (Moovit and Transit). People also can track the shuttles by sending the bus stop number by text to 41411.
Dayton is the latest metro area to start a free shuttle service, joining Cleveland, Columbus and a variety big U.S. cities that use free transit to boost tourism and improve connectivity.
About 200 cities worldwide have some form of farefree transit, according to the nonprofit Next City, and free circulators and street cars in other cities have been credited with assisting with economic development.