sorta redirects here . for other uses see sorta . southwest ohio regional transit authority a cincinnati metro route 41 bus heads west on galbraith road in north college hill ohio in 2010 parent hamilton county and cincinnati city council founded 1973 headquarters 602 main street locale cincinnati ohio service type bus service paratransit express bus service streetcar routes 22 local 1 limited 20 express 162 tripper 1 streetcar stops 4 465 1 stations 17 streetcar station stops fleet 353 transit buses 5 streetcars and 46 paratransit vehicles daily ridership 48 000 unlinked passenger trips 2 operator mv transportation 3 transdev 4 website go metro.com southwest ohio regional transit authority abbreviated sorta is the public transport agency serving cincinnati and its ohio suburbs . the agency provides metro transit bus service access paratransit service and the cincinnati bell connector streetcar system in downtown cincinnati . sorta replaced the cincinnati transit commission which operated buses from 1952 to 1973 . as of 2015 update the agency operates 50 bus routes and facilitates approximately 16 million passenger trips annually . 5 sorta is funded primarily by cincinnati s city earnings tax second by fares and third by federal sources with some other minor sources . this stands in contrast to other ohio transit agencies such as cota and gcrta which are primarily funded by sales tax . for a sense of perspective the portion of cincinnati s earnings tax going to metro s budget is about 0.3 % . downtown cincinnati is also served by the transit authority of northern kentucky tank whose transit services extend over the ohio river into northern kentucky . contents 1 routes 2 ridership 3 stops and stations 4 fares 5 fleet 6 current bus fleet 7 public relations 8 see also 9 references 10 external links routes edit network map 2011 sorta operates about 40 major fixed bus routes as well as a demand responsive paratransit service . of the major routes roughly half run only at rush hours and are essentially commuter services some of them serving the reverse commute . the other half operate throughout the day and some offer better frequency at the rush hours . approximately 90 % of all trips are made on the all day routes 10 % on the express commuter routes . in 2012 sorta released its schedule information in the general transit feed specification making schedules more easily available to customers . 6 sorta also provides school bus services to cincinnati public schools with vehicles from their fleet of transit buses . school bus routes called metro xtra are technically open to any fare paying customer . however they are circuitous not well advertised and mostly used by cps students . school bus routes are not listed in the table below . sorta operates the cincinnati bell connector streetcar system between downtown and over the rhine . cincinnati bell owns the naming rights for the streetcar until 2026 . 7 service began at noon on september 9 2016 . general fare is 1 for a 2 hour pass and 2 for an all day pass . tickets can be purchased at ticket vending machines posted at each station . routes 28 29x and 82x extend into neighboring clermont county under an arrangement with the clermont transportation connection . routes 71 and 71x extend into neighboring warren county under an arrangement with warren county transit . sorta routes number route name s average weekday boardings 8 off peak service weekend service reverse commute goes downtown 100 cincinnati bell connector tba yes yes n a 1 museum center eden park 270 yes yes n a yes 2x madeira express 185 no no no yes 3 3x montgomery express montgomery job connection 350 no no no yes 4 kenwood blue ash ridge road silverton blue ash norwood 3 774 yes yes n a yes 6 queen city 1 406 yes yes n a yes 11 madison road oakley erie avenue hyde park 2 890 yes yes n a yes 12x madisonville express 67 no no no yes 14x forest park express 240 no no no yes 15x daly express mt. healthy express 347 no no no yes 16 mt. healthy 814 yes yes n a yes 17 seven hills mt. healthy mt. airy northgate 4 467 yes northgate runs mon sat n a yes 19 colerain northgate 2 102 yes yes n a yes 20 winton road tri county 941 yes yes n a yes 21 harrison avenue 2 343 yes yes n a yes 23 forest park northside job connection 300 no no yes no 23x forest park tri county express 300 no no no yes 24 uptown mt. lookout anderson 1 408 yes yes n a yes 25x mount lookout express 67 no no no yes 27 northside casey 1 382 yes yes n a yes 28 east end milford 261 yes milford extension operates on weekdays only n a yes 29x milford express 205 no no partial yes 30x beechmont express 203 no no partial yes 31 west end evanston crosstown 1 703 yes yes n a no 32 delhi price hill glenway crossing price hill 1 213 yes yes n a yes 33 western hills glenway 3 778 yes yes n a yes 38x glenway crossing uptown express 97 no no no no 40x montana express 144 no no no yes 41 glenway crossing oakley crosstown 886 yes yes n a no 42x west chester express job connection 468 no no partial yes 43 reading lockland evendale woodlawn roselawn winton hills bond hill 5 975 yes evendale woodlawn runs weekdays only n a yes 46 avondale zoo 1 791 yes yes n a yes 49 fairmount english woods 311 yes yes n a yes 50 sayler park 284 yes yes n a yes 51 glenway crossing hyde park crosstown 1 655 yes yes n a no 52x harrison express 177 no no no no 64 glenway crossing ferguson 1 968 yes yes n a yes 67 sharonville job connection 51 no no yes yes 71x kings island express 306 no no no yes 71 kings island job connection 306 no no yes yes 74x colerain express colerain express via banning 356 no no no yes 75x anderson express anderson job connection 193 no no partial yes 77x delhi express 127 no no no yes 78 springdale vine lincoln heights 2 757 yes yes n a yes 81x mount washington express 65 no no no yes 82x eastgate express 136 no no no yes 85 riverfront parking shuttle 501 yes no n a yes 90 metro plus 1 564 yes no n a yes ridership edit weekday ridership through the day by line 2014 transit ridership in greater cincinnati has generally been on the decline for at least the last several decades . of particular note the 2008 recession significantly cut into sorta s budget resulting in service cuts and fare increases which seem to have had a very large impact on overall ridership . a few main lines those running most frequently account for a majority of all trips while weekday rush hour express services account for only about 10 % of all trips . ridership also varies dramatically by time of day . almost twice as many people board transit during the peak of either rush hour as do during midday . this phenomenon is also observed on the all day lines even if peak hour only services are disregarded . annual ridership year total unlinked passenger trips 1991 28 845 617 1992 27 883 500 1993 26 009 113 1994 25 212 426 1995 23 980 156 1996 26 456 015 1997 26 227 001 1998 28 809 040 1999 26 383 074 2000 26 637 640 2001 25 066 546 2002 24 615 383 2003 24 143 526 2004 23 319 650 2005 26 158 352 2006 25 555 566 2007 26 146 916 2008 26 072 321 2009 23 120 952 2010 19 007 620 2011 18 957 732 2012 17 553 120 stops and stations edit located on fifth street between walnut and main in cincinnati government square serves as metro s downtown transit hub most of sorta s roughly 5 000 stops are simply marked with a sign on a pole listing routes the stop serves and are fairly infrastructure light . several dozen stops include bus shelters and covered benches . several suburban stops are park and rides . government square is the main transit station located downtown near fountain square . sorta owns and operates the riverfront transit center though it s only used for a layover point for the metro plus route . no passengers are allowed at this layover . fares edit currently standard zone 1 fare is 1.75 . destinations outside the city of cincinnati can cost between 2.65 and 4.25 . transfers are 0.50 extra which can t be used for round trips nor stopovers ; no charge next two uses within 2 hours . day passes are 4.50 within zone 1 or 6.30 within zone 2 . no fare to kids under 35 inches 89 cm ; limit 2 per fare paying passenger . 9 on april 30 2007 sorta began a partnership with the university of cincinnati to provide free rides to its students staff and faculty . the partnership was scheduled to last for two years and the initial response to the offer had been positive . 10 current policy requires students and faculty to purchase a special uc metro card costing 53 and 160 per semester respectively . 11 a similar offer is available to students at cincinnati state technical and community college and to antonelli college students . students can register for a free card which provide them with a 1 fare for any bus ride one direction . university of cincinnati students and faculty are also eligible to choose this card instead of purchasing the other uc metro card . fleet edit sorta operates about 350 buses on fixed routes and about 50 smaller vehicles as part of their demand responsive services . all vehicles in sorta s fleet are ada accessible . on average vehicles in the fixed route fleet are 6.9 years old and in the demand responsive fleet 1.4 years . vehicles in the fixed route fleet are rated on average for a capacity and 65 passengers both sitting and standing . 12 all fixed route buses have a bike rack mounted on the front with room for two bicycles . current bus fleet edit year manufacturer model fleet numbers engine & transmission fuel type garage notes 2001 gillig phantom 947 950 974 26 cummins isc voith d864 .3 diesel 947 950 952 bond hill 953 974 queensgate 924 946 948 949 were retired in 2015 . 947 was retired but was temporarily brought back to service . will be re retired when new buses arrive . 940 942 944 & 948 were sent to lextran in lexington ky. 2002 gillig phantom 2100 2119 2121 2125 2127 2137 36 cummins isc voith d864 .3 diesel 2100 2119 2121 2122 qg 2123 2125 2128 2137 bh 2120 ran into a tree resulting in 1 death in 2012 . bus is retired . 2126 caught fire on interstate 275 on 2 28 14 . bus is retired 2004 gillig phantom 4000 4022 23 cummins ism allison b400r diesel 4000 4008 bh 4009 4022 qg 2006 gillig advantage 6000 6002 6004 6021 6023 6039 38 cummins ism allison b400r diesel queensgate 6003 retired and scrapped in 2015 due to an accident . 6022 retired and scrapped in 2010 for an unknown reason . 6006 6008 and 6010 mostly used on the 85 . 2008 gillig advantage 8000 1 cummins ism allison b400r diesel queensgate 2008 new flyer d40lf 8001 8024 24 cummins ism allison w400r diesel queensgate 2008 09 new flyer de40lf 8025 8030 6 cummins isl9 allison ep 50 hybridrive hybrid queensgate 2009 new flyer d40lf 9000