Riders on the Chillicothe Transit System’s Western Avenue route will find three new stops and one relocated stop starting Monday, Nov. 16, the transit system announced. The changes are designed to put the fare-free route within easier reach of several apartment communities, according to the announcement as reported by J News Network.
The new stops are at Delano Avenue and Arch Street, serving residents behind Central Center; at Fairway Apartments, which also serves Worthington Manor; and at Fifth and Walnut streets, giving Tiffin Towers residents direct access to the route, J News Network reported, citing the transit system’s announcement. The existing Central Center stop is moving diagonally across its intersection.
The added stops use time already built into the route’s schedule, so the Western Avenue route’s overall run time does not change, the transit system said in its announcement, as reported by J News Network. Stop times across the Chillicothe Transit System also update on Monday.
Under the updated times, the route’s top-of-the-hour run begins at 7 a.m. and the bottom-of-the-hour run begins at 10:30 a.m., according to the announcement reported by J News Network. All Chillicothe Transit System services remain fare-free for riders.
For residents of the apartment communities gaining stops, the change removes a walk to a more distant boarding point — a meaningful difference for seniors, riders with disabilities and anyone carrying groceries or traveling with children. Direct access at Tiffin Towers and Fairway Apartments puts the bus at the door of two of the city’s larger residential complexes.
Chillicothe, the Ross County seat, operates its transit system as a free public service, and the Western Avenue route is one of the corridors connecting residential neighborhoods with the Central Center shopping area and downtown.
Transit officials framed the change as a stop-placement fix rather than a schedule overhaul: the buses already pass these corners, and the new stops simply let riders board where they live. Because the route absorbs the stops inside its existing run time, no other part of the Western Avenue schedule had to be cut to pay for them.
Riders should check the transit system’s updated stop times before Monday, since boarding times shift system-wide when the new schedule takes effect. The new stops and the relocated Central Center stop all begin with Monday’s service.