RTS to End On-Demand Service and Restructure Monroe County Routes

RTS to End On-Demand Service and Restructure Monroe County Routes

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Regional Transit Service is drawing a line under its on-demand experiment in Monroe County, and the numbers explain why: the service carries less than 3% of overall ridership while consuming 14% of the agency’s budget, a mismatch that costs roughly 6.5 times more per customer than fixed routes, according to figures cited by newsbreak.com.

13wham.com reported Wednesday that RTS will eliminate on-demand service across seven suburban zones over the next five months, replacing it with fixed-route buses in three of them and cutting the rest entirely. The move affects riders in Brockport, Irondequoit, Pittsford, Webster, Greece, Henrietta, and along the Lexington Avenue corridor, with the first shutdowns hitting January 22, 2027, and the final on-demand rides ending April 2, 2027.

RTS announces end of RTS On Demand; other service changes

Seven Zones, Two Deadlines, Uneven Replacements

The phaseout happens in two distinct waves. On-demand service in Brockport, Irondequoit, Pittsford, and Webster ends Friday, January 22, 2027, with no fixed-route replacement planned for those four areas. Service in Greece, Henrietta, and the Lexington Avenue zone continues until Friday, April 2, 2027, but those three zones will see fixed-route replacements begin Monday, April 5, 2027, leaving riders in the first group facing a complete loss of flexible transit while the second group transitions to scheduled service.

RTS justified the cuts by pointing to the economics of the service. The agency said on-demand “proved to be very expensive and inefficient to operate and not as reliable as customers need it to be,” according to 13wham.com. For a system stewarding taxpayer dollars, running a service that eats one-seventh of the budget for less than one-thirtieth of the trips simply didn’t add up, especially when the cost per ride runs 6.5 times higher than conventional bus service.

“The entire RTS team recognizes that this service restructuring will have an impact on our customers, and we do not take that responsibility lightly,” RTS CEO Miguel Velázquez said in a statement. “However, as stewards of taxpayer dollars, we have an obligation to ensure that we deliver service in the most reliable, efficient, and financially sustainable manner possible. Even though this was a very difficult decision to make, it is necessary to help us ensure the long-term health and sustainability of our community’s public transit system.”

What Riders Lose, What They Gain

Route 91, the Newark/Lyons commuter line in Wayne County, ends after Thursday, December 31, 2026. The Fairport/Penfield route will now begin and end at the RTS Transit Center rather than the Blossom Loop Connection Hub, a shift that newsbreak.com notes will reroute service through St. John Fisher Hub, Friendly Home, and parts of Fairport Road and East Avenue with a direct link to the downtown hub.

In place of on-demand in the southern and western suburbs, RTS is adding fixed routes designed to hit major employment centers. A new commuter line will run from the Transit Center to the Lexington Avenue/Lee Road area, serving employers including LiDestri Foods, L3Harris, Love Beets, Flower City Group, Edison Tech High School, and Amazon, with morning and evening trips seven days a week. In Greece, a new local route will link the Transit Center with Affinity Orchard Apartments, the Dewey Avenue Walmart, and corridors along Route 22 Lake, West Ridge Road, Stone Road, Mount Read Boulevard, and Vintage Lane. Route 97 Elmwood Commuter will extend in Henrietta to the Rochester Calkins Road VA Clinic, Henrietta Community Center, Henrietta Public Library, and a nearby housing development.

⚠️ RTS ending On Demand, changing routes across Monroe County
Photo: newsbreak.com

The fixed-route expansion in Greece also widens the required ADA service area, though RTS said full details will be announced before the April changes take effect. Meanwhile, Route 70 Seabreeze will run less frequently during its May through September season, another cut to discretionary service.

The Reliability Trade-Off for Suburban Commuters

RTS argues that fixed routes are more reliable, and the budget math backs the agency: when a service costs 6.5 times more per ride than buses, every dollar spent on-demand is a dollar not available for frequency or coverage elsewhere in the county.

Riders in Greece, Henrietta, and Lexington will retain some transit connectivity through the new scheduled buses, while those in Brockport, Irondequoit, Pittsford, and Webster face the elimination of the service model entirely.

For questions or trip planning help during the transition, riders can contact RTS at 585-288-1700.

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