A car is something some Athens residents have to do without.
According to GeoStat, 7% of people in Athens do not own a vehicle, with 28.8% having one vehicle and 36.1% having two. These residents can consist of students and families, and leaves them to rely on Athens Public Transit.
Hocking, Athens and Perry Community Action is the private, nonprofit community action agency behind APT, and has served the city for more than 50 years, according to its website. Ben Ziff, the mobility coordinator at HAPCAP, said the nonprofit averaged 1,300 to 1,400 APT passengers daily in 2025.
APT buses run Monday through Friday, but have different pickup times depending on the route and line, according to the website. The buses close for major holidays, including but not limited to Christmas, New Year’s Day and Memorial Day. APT runs through Athens, The Plains, Albany, the Village of Chauncey and Nelsonville.
Ziff said he enjoys making a positive impact on people’s lives every day through his position. He also said the bus is an essential part of people’s lives, and should be utilized for whatever people need.
“People sometimes think the public transportation is to go to work and to go to the doctor,” Ziff said. “And if your whole life is going to work and going to the doctor, then that is not a particularly full life, unfortunately.”
Due to support from the AmeriHealth Caritas Ohio, Ohio University students and Athens locals can take APT and Athens on Demand Transit for free until April 2027.
Ziff said he was excited for the locals to have the free services, especially due to the 40% of people who live below the poverty line in Athens, according to 2024 Census data.
“There's so many households that, despite having three or four or five drivers in them, have one or two cars or no cars,” Ziff said. “Public transit is there so that they still have the ability to access all the things that they need and want to be and deserve to access.”
AODT is a door-to-door service for anyone who needs a ride to a specific location and can be reached at (740) 597-2404. Priority goes to paratransit passengers, and rides must be booked at least 24 hours in advance.
Ziff said the Athens on Demand service is popular and recently changed how they provide the service to accommodate more passengers day-to-day. They used to have drivers pick up one person at a time and drop them off at their destination.
“What we're doing now is a little bit more of a ride share style,” Ziff said. “So if we have several individuals, up to three or four who are in the same geographic area, who need to go to roughly the same geographic area within an hour of each other, we'll go pick up one, two, three, four people, take them all (and) drop them off.”
Mark Thatcher has been driving for APT for more than five years and said he greets about 140 passengers daily, with 260 people at most. He said the most enjoyable part of his job is talking to the many passengers he picks up.
“I give all the kids suckers, I love seeing their smiles,” Thatcher said. “That and just meeting people.”
Thatcher said construction in Athens is the biggest factor in late buses, but other factors, including traffic lights and the number of passengers, can impact pickup times.
Sarah Perkins, a resident of Nelsonville, said she rides the bus every other day and appreciates AmeriHealth for sponsoring another free fare year.
Despite her frequent usage, Perkins had issues with her buses recently, and said she waited for them for almost two and a half hours.
“They never showed up, and then when we tried to call them, there was no answer,” Perkins said. “So it made it even harder.”
Perkins said this was stressful, as she needs the bus to go to the doctor, the gym and the store. Perkins also said the buses are often full and have to pass people, and APT could benefit from more buses and trips down Nelsonville streets.
Ziff said HAPCAP is receiving a 28-passenger bus to run on East State Street and Richland Avenue, their most crowded routes. He said the nonprofit is not sure when the new bus will be here, and it can take anywhere from three to 12 months.
“That'll be really, really nice,” Ziff said. “We won't have the capacity issues that people have been running into recently.”
For details on route pick-up times and locations, people interested can visit the APT rider guide. Passengers can also download the PassioGo app to track their bus in real time.
