Beginning October 1, 1997, in response to the Federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act the Holmes County Board of Commissioners established a Plan of Cooperation with the Holmes County Department of Job and Family Services to implement the Ohio Works First program bringing together all county resources including government, business, educational institutes, public and private community services, and social and religious organizations to help move county welfare recipients into the mainstream workforce. In a larger sense, this plan represents a commitment to enable the Holmes County community to engage our citizens in activities, which promote healthy, intact families by emphasizing employment, personal responsibility, and active participation in the community.

The Board of County Commissioners established policies regarding the transportation needs of residents striving to retain employment. This committee began meeting in September 1997 creating a draft work plan containing an inventory of existing transportation providers, unmet transportation needs, alternative solutions, a transportation strategy, and resources required to implement this strategy. With this as a guide, Committee members were able to identify short and long-term strategies that would help achieve the goals of reducing transportation as a barrier to citizens seeking to obtain work and improve transportation for the community as a whole.

The strategy selected involved hiring a transportation coordinator to facilitate the coordination effort between agencies, to help reduce route duplication and encourage the sharing of vehicles and resources to meet the needs of agency clients. The coordinator would identify transportation providers countywide and in adjacent counties and pinpoint gaps in service, help clients develop personal vehicle ownership options, explore the potential for central dispatching and improvement of driver training.

 

The plan called for committee members and the transportation coordinator to work with agencies interested in expanding coordination efforts.

The Holmes County Transportation Department began operation coordinating, scheduling and providing transportation on April 13, 2000. During the first few months its business doubled every month. By December 21, 2000 the Department had arranged or provided over 3,100 passenger trips. During the first quarter of 2001, 39 passengers were provided regular transportation to and from work. Eleven new passengers took advantage of the services assuring that the transportation needs of the workers and their employers are being met. In keeping with the goals of the plan, the ten individuals who left the program became completely self-reliant for their own transportation.

In 2001 trips were scheduled between the hours of 4:00 AM to 1:00 AM with weekend and holiday services for transportation to and from work.

The Department worked with 25 agencies to coordinate transportation. The Department was in 2001, funded by a “Coordination Grant” from the Ohio Department of Transportation, a Prevention-Retention-Contingency Grant and maintenance funds from the Holmes County Department of Job and Family Services, a grant from Kno-Ho-Co Communication Action Agency, the Holmes County Family and Children First Council and the Holmes County Board of County Commissioners.

In 2004 the Holmes County Transportation entered into a partnership with Wayne County to provide transportation not only to Holmes County residents but also to Wayne County residents. At that time the Holmes County Transportation name changed to Holmes Wayne Transportation. Holmes Wayne Transportation transported 47,881 passenger trips in 2004, over 4,000 passenger trips were transporting the elderly and persons with disabilities. There were 9,050 trip denials in 2004 due to lack of resources in the Holmes Wayne Transportation Department.

 

In 2005 Holmes Wayne Transportation entered into a partnership with Tuscarawas County to provide transportation not only to Holmes and Wayne County residents, but also to Tuscarawas County residents, to fill in the gaps where sometimes transportation services and resources were already at capacity. At that time Holmes Wayne Transportation’s name changed to Holmes-Wayne-Tuscarawas Transportation.

Holmes-Wayne-Tuscarawas Transportation had a central office where the dispatching, scheduling and administrative services were located at 10 South Clay St, Suite 210, Millersburg, Ohio.

Holmes-Wayne-Tuscarawas Transportation Wooster office was located at 2110 Burbank Rd, Wooster, Ohio. Several of the vehicles were stored at this location to provide transportation service to the Wayne County residents.

Holmes-Wayne-Tuscarawas Transportation provided transportation services to the Holmes, Wayne and Tuscarawas County residents with a fleet of 34 vehicles, 14 that were handicapped accessible.

The Holmes-Wayne-Tuscarawas Transportation Dover Office was located at the Port Authority, 339 Oxford Street, Dover, Ohio. Several of the vehicles were located and stored at this location to provide transportation services to Tuscarawas County residents.

Holmes-Wayne-Tuscarawas Transportation not only provided service to Holmes, Wayne and Tuscarawas County residents, it also worked in partnership to other bordering counties.

In 2005 Holmes-Wayne-Tuscarawas Transportation worked with over 65 agencies to provide transportation services to Holmes, Wayne and Tuscarawas County residents, providing 55,249 passenger trips for 2005. Of these 55,249 passenger trips, 10,102 were for the elderly and persons with disabilities.

In 2006 the Holmes-Wayne-Tuscarawas Transportation System partnered with over 70 participating agencies and anticipated providing service to over 60,000 passenger trips and over 12,000 passenger trips to the elderly and persons with disabilities.

In 2007 the Holmes-Wayne-Tuscarawas Transportation System peaked their performance by providing over 116,000 passenger trips and over 23,000 passenger trip to the elderly and persons with disabilities.

In 2008, due to the economy and downsizing in government agencies, a decision was made to privatize transportation services.

On July 1, 2008, due to several agencies requesting we continue transportation services to them, we privatized and became known as Holmes Transportation System. Privately we still maintain the high standards of Safety, Service and Excellence set by the State and Federal guidelines. Privately we are able to be more creative with pricing to meet the needs of our county agencies, businesses and the general public.

We are here to serve the residents, agencies and business of Holmes county and all surrounding counties. Give us a call today with any questions and for all your transportation needs.