New home, routes, and buses mark big changes for Knox County Transit

It’s more than just a rebranding. Knox County Transit (formerly known as Knox Area Transit) will be moving into a new headquarters, in Heartland Commerce Park (the former Cooper-Bessimer plant) in 2026.

Knox County Transit will be added to the list of businesses and organizations to move into the historic 47-acre, 10-building site, creating a new transit hub in the refurbished complex. 

“It's going to be a big change for us and we're really looking forward to it,” said Bethany Celmar, director of KCT. “We've really outgrown both our office space and garage space here. It's been pretty crowded. Finding a parking spot for all of our vehicles has been tricky sometimes.” 

With a dozen office workers in KCT’s current headquarters on Columbus Road, workspace is tough to come by.

“We only have three offices, so we do a lot of splitting and sharing right now,” said Celmar. “Over in the new building, we're going to have our own offices, and a space for the dispatchers which is big enough, so they won't be having the interference of the noise behind them. Right now, they're in a more concentrated space to answer the phones.”

The new location on Chestnut Street, next to Habitat for Humanity, comes with plenty of room for everything.

“One of the biggest things we’re excited about, is that we will have covered parking spaces,” said Celmar. “The location that we're going into was a warehouse and half of the building is a big, open area. That will allow us to park all of our buses and vans inside. That will keep them out of the rain, the snow, and the extreme heat. That will help to keep our buses in better shape for a longer time. We are really looking forward to that.” 

KCT’s new location will have a lobby area, allowing current riders to be better served, while engaging new riders.

“In our current building, we just don't have a place for people to wait or come in,” said Celmar. “We're looking forward to that as well, so we can be a little bit more accommodating and welcoming to the public. Along with that, we launched four new flex routes in June. We also made the place that will be our new location, the transfer area. The idea is that it will be a nice place for people to wait for the bus, that will be warm, dry, and safe. Of course, it's not open right now. We would love to be there. I'm hoping that by next summer, all the work will be done and, hopefully, we can move in by then.”

KCT’s new location will be more walkable and more accessible to a greater number of riders. 

“The current location at Columbus Road is a little bit of a difficult intersection (for pedestrians),” Celmar said. “It really is important, especially for someone who has no transportation, but they want to walk to a stop or walk to get on a bus. You really do need to be pedestrian friendly. Moving to the new building will open up that option. Also, it will put us close to the west side neighborhoods, while having better access to the north Sandusky area. Those areas are both very walkable.”

In the meantime, KCT will continue to serve the whole county, and will also have out of county service as well. 

“We will go to Columbus,” said Celmar. “We will go to Cleveland. Inside of Knox County we have fares for what we call a door-to-door or ‘demand response’ service. That means we will come to the person's address, their home, we'll go in the driveway, pick you up, and then we'll drop you off wherever you want to go. So, it is a little bit different than that fixed route or flex route.” 

KCT also does transportation for people with different mobility issues. Every single vehicle has a lift or a ramp. 

“That is compliant by law,” said Celmar. “Anybody we send can load in a walker, a wheelchair, or whatever the case may be. So, we are really proud to be doing that.”

Currently, KCT’s fleet of buses are being repainted blue and white with their new logo. Also, new buses are being added to the fleet, which are designed to give disabled riders a smoother ride.

“We have two vehicles that have a bit of a different floor plan,” said Celmar. “It puts the passengers in wheelchairs up closer to the driver and not toward the back of the bus. We will be rolling those out and we're really excited about that, because we do a lot of trips with disabled people and we want to make sure everyone is comfortable. On the old buses, people in wheelchairs are outside of the wheelbase of the vehicle and that makes for a little more of a jostled ride and the curbs and bumps can be more of a jolt.” 

In the last year, KCT has become more involved with getting people to and from work. About 45 percent of KCT’s trips are workforce transportation.

“In the last year to year and a half, one of our big changes has been having a night bus,” said Celmar. “We’re one of the first (rural counties) in the state to open up nighttime transportation. It’s just one vehicle, but it runs from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. We’re serving some of the manufacturing, down in the industrial park. We can go up to the Fredericktown Industrial Park and then we also do the Coshocton Avenue strip, because there’s a lot of food service like Walmart and a lot of retail and a lot of them don’t get out until 10 or 11 p.m. so there was a big need for that transportation. We would love to run a second bus, but we just don’t have the funding for it, right now.”

KCT’s new website can be accessed at www.knoxcountytransit.com while KCT can be contacted at (740) 392-1433.