On the outside, the former Goodwill building at Cherry and Huron streets shows little change from a year ago, but inside TARTA’s new main bus station is taking shape.
The former retail store area’s floor has been replaced with brown tiles, a new customer-service counter and security station have been built, and four single-stall restrooms have been added, along with interior painting.
The main external difference is construction of new doors on the building’s Huron Street face that will give Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority riders a shorter walk to and from bus lineups on that side.
But beyond that, decisions about how to modify the building’s exterior remain to be made, and will need to be approved by the Toledo Plan Commission, said James Gee, the transit authority’s general manager.
Exterior improvements, he said, were less important than getting the station ready inside for passengers’ use. No opening date has been set, but Mr. Gee said he hopes to have the station ready by mid-July.
“We want to get passengers in here before school starts,” Mr. Gee said. We wanted to get the passengers in here so they would benefit from it first.”
Late last week, work crews installed replacement lighting in the ceiling — the last element of building renovations performed by three local companies under four contracts totaling $510,407.
Benches and other furnishings and accessories like signs still need to be installed before the station is ready for passengers. As of Thursday, TARTA had spent $644,519 on the bus station project, all of which was funded with state and federal grants, Mr. Gee said.
The city of Toledo is providing a local match for the project by reconfiguring traffic on Huron between Cherry and Adams streets to support it.
Work began last week on supports for new traffic signals for two-way traffic on Huron, which is currently one-way southbound in those blocks, and new signs and stripe painting will follow.
Buses need to be able to go northbound on Huron to stop next to the bus station in the block between Cherry and Orange streets.
Line-ups are planned for both that block and Cherry’s block between Huron and Superior streets.
The bus station’s opening will eliminate the practice of having all buses in downtown Toledo circulate around a four-station loop in use since the 1980s. Ending the loop will reduce TARTA’s operating costs, while the new station will have rider amenities not previously offered, Mr. Gee has said.
For the first time, bus patrons can buy bus tokens and passes downtown when the station opens.
The restrooms are also a new service, with access controlled by off-duty Toledo police officers working at the security booth who also will patrol the station.
“They will provide a lot better coverage than we have now,” Mr. Gee said.
Along with its station facility, TARTA hopes to redevelop offices and classroom space in the building for use by tenants who can provide needed services for bus riders, such as daycare or medical care.
Unresolved is future funding for TARTA’s operating costs. The transit authority early this year eliminated Sunday and holiday buses and trimmed service on other days because of a budget shortfall it blamed on declining revenue from its two local property taxes and what it claims is inadequate state subsidy.
First Published June 2, 2019, 6:39 p.m.
