CANTON: Two agencies will cooperate to provide bus transportation to a Veterans Affairs hospital in Cleveland.
The general public will be able to ride, too.
County commissioners on Wednesday approved a $72,000 annual contract for the Stark Area Regional Transit Authority to provide transportation for the Veterans Service Commission.
SARTA Executive Director Kirt Conrad said the service will begin March 4. Buses will leave the Cornerstone Transit Center in downtown Canton at 6:50 a.m., 10:50 a.m. and 2:50 p.m. Monday through Friday.
They will stop in Canton at American Legion Post 44 on Cleveland Avenue Northwest on the two earlier runs before heading north to the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center on Cleveland’s east side.
Return trips will leave the medical center at 8:40 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 4:20 p.m.. The cost for the general public will be $2.50 one way.
Veterans seeking medical care will receive seating priority and will not pay for trips arranged through the Veterans Service Commission. They should call 330-451-7457, ext. 3, to schedule medical trips.
Travel arrangements may be made for VA clinics in Akron and Parma by appointment only.
Those using mobility devices and parties of four or more are advised to make round-trip reservations 24 hours in advance by calling SARTA at 330-639-2812.
The contract is expected to cost the veterans commission less than it has been spending to provide medical transportation with its own vans and drivers.
Also Wednesday, commissioners agreed to let the Stark County Park District spend $5,200 for property needed for a bridge over the Tuscarawas River to connect Stark and Tuscarawas County legs of the Ohio and Erie Canalway trail.
Bridge construction is expected to begin in May and conclude in 2014.
Nancy Molnar can be reached at nancymolnar2002@yahoo.com.
