Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority

Public transportation in the greater Rochester area can trace its roots back to the streetcar and interurban lines operated by the Rochester Railway Company and later New York State Railways. In 1929, New York State Railways entered receivership, and local interests formed a plan to reorganize the former Rochester Railway. After several years of negotiation, the New York State Public Service Commission approved a reorganization plan in 1937 put together by attorney Howard Woods and his committee of stockholders.[6]

On August 2, 1938, Rochester Transit Corporation assumed operation of the bus and streetcar operations serving the city.[7] The last streetcar line was converted to bus operation in 1941, though contract operation of the city-owned Rochester Subway continued until 1956 (RTC ended freight operations in the Subway by 1957, transferring the responsibility to the connecting railroads).[8] The company was returned to local control in 1943 when the remaining shares owned by Associated Gas & Electric were bought out.

A 1990 Orion V bus

With postwar prosperity came increased use of automobiles and the spread of population out to the suburbs. Rochester Transit Corporation was plagued by labor unrest, and strikes in 1952 and 1965 ground the system to a halt.[9] A dispute over job listings and seniority caused a brief two-day strike in May 1967. With the transit workers contract coming to an end that fall, stalled negotiations led to another strike in November 1967. The work stoppage continued through the holiday season, and with no end in sight, the City of Rochester drew up a plan to condemn and purchase the transit company operations. Over the objections of RTC, the strike came to an end on January 25, 1968, and the city contracted with National City Management Company to operate the bus lines as Rochester Transit Service.[10]

Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority (RGRTA) was formed in 1968 by a state act of government which also formed three similar agencies in Syracuse, Buffalo, the Capital District around Albany and New York City. The RGRTA took over the former RTC bus operation from the City of Rochester and later began expanding bus service to outlying suburban and rural areas. The lines that made up the former RTC service became part of the Regional Transit Service (RTS) in Rochester and Monroe County.[11]

Regional Transit Service operates a number of individual routes, most of which operate on a hub and spoke system from Downtown Rochester. These routes originate at the RTS Transit Center (Pictured Below) at 60 St. Paul Street along Mortimer Street.

Prior to November 28, 2014, the opening date of the transit center, routes originated from the corner of Main and Clinton or from Broad Street. The Main and Clinton stops had been in place since 1863. With the move came a change in routes, stops and times including the elimination of through-routing, in which a bus would operate between two or more different routes during scheduled runs.

Routes are color coded with those in green serving the east side of the county and those in blue serving the west side. ROC-It routes are routes with limited stops.

The current routes operated by Regional Transit Service include the following (as of January 5, 2020):

• Route 1 Park Ave/Lake Ave (Split into Route 31 Park Ave and Route 1 Lake Ave on November 28, 2014)[12]
• Route 2 Thurston Rd/Parsells Ave (Split into Route 2 Thurston Rd and Route 42 Parsells Ave on November 28, 2014)[13]
• Route 2 Thurston Rd (Merged with Route 12 19th Ward/MCC on May 4, 2015 to form Route 25 Thurston/MCC)[14]
• Route 3 Goodman/Lyell Ave (Split into Route 33 Goodman and Route 3 Lyell Ave on November 28, 2014)[15]
• Route 4 Hudson Ave/Genesee St (Split into Route 34 Hudson Ave and Route 3 Genesee St on November 28, 2014)[16]
• Route 5 South Ave/St. Paul Blvd (Split into Route 45 South Ave and Route 35 St. Paul Blvd on November 28, 2014)[17]
• Route 6 Jefferson Ave/Clifford Ave (Split into Route 6 Jefferson Ave and Route 36 Clifford Ave on November 28, 2014)[18]
• Route 7 Monroe Ave/Clinton (Split into Route 47 Monroe Ave and Route 37 Clinton on November 28, 2014)[19]
• Route 8 Chili/Strong/East Main (Split into Route 8 Chili, Route 28 Genesee Park/Strong, and Route 38 East Main on November 28, 2014)[20]
• Route 9 Jay/Maple/Bay/Webster (Split into Route 9 Jay/Maple and Route 39 Bay/Webster on November 28, 2014)[21]
• Route 10 Portland/Dewey Ave (Split into Route 40 Portland and Route 10 Dewey Ave on November 28, 2014)[22]
• Route 11 South Clinton/Goodman/Joseph Avenue (Split into Route 51 South Clinton/Goodman and Route 41 Joseph Ave on November 28, 2014)[23]
• Route 12 19th Ward/MCC (Merged with Route 2 Thurston on May 4, 2015 to form Route 25 Thurston/MCC)[24]
• Route 17 East Ave (renumbered Route 57 East Ave on November 28, 2014)[25]
• Route 18 University Ave (renumbered Route 48 University Ave on November 28, 2014)[26]
• Route 20 Brockport (renumbered Route 104 Brockport on November 28, 2014)[27]
• Route 21 Fairport (renumbered Route 81 Fairport on November 28, 2014)[28]
• Route 22 Penfield (renumbered Route 82 Penfield on November 28, 2014)[29]
• Route 25 Rochester Works Shuttle (Discontinued in 2005)[30]
• Route 26 Henrietta Loop (Discontinued in January or April 2006)[31]
• Route 27 Unity (Discontinued in January 2010)[32]
• Route 28 RIT Main Campus Clockwise Weekdays (Merged into Route 29 when the route was no longer a loop in summer 2004)[33]
• Route 28 RIT Weekdays (Created in fall 2006; discontinued in January 2010)[34]
• Route 29 RIT Main Campus Counterclockwise Weekdays (Merged with Route 28 to form Route 29 RIT Main Campus Weekdays when the route was no longer a loop in summer 2004)[35]
• Route 29 RIT Main Campus Weekdays (Discontinued in fall 2004)[36]
• Route 30 Webster/Xerox via Empire/Creek (Merged with Routes 40 and 45 into Route 103 Webster on November 28, 2014)[37]
• Route 31 RIT Inn/Racquet Club (Discontinued summer 2004)[38]
• Route 32 RIT Movie/Mall Route (Discontinued summer 2004)[39]
• Route 33 RIT Weekends (Merged into Route 24 in fall 2004; restored in fall 2006; discontinued in January 2010)[40]
• Route 34 RIT Holiday/Winter Break (Discontinued summer 2004; Restored for winter break 2006 season, but discontinued again early 2007)[41]
• Route 34 RIT Summer 2008 (Only operated in summer 2008)[42]
• Route 35 Webster/Xerox via Creek/Klem (Discontinued in 2005)[43]
• Route 40 Webster/Xerox (Merged with Routes 30 and 45 into Route 103 Webster on November 28, 2014)[44]
• Route 44 Greece/Ferry (Discontinued in January or April 2006)[45]
• Route 45 Webster/Xerox via Irondequoit Mall (Merged with Routes 30 and 40 into Route 103 Webster on November 28, 2014)[46]
• Route 50 MCC (split into Route 5 MCC Downtown Campus and Route 55 MCC Brighton Campus on September 4, 2017)[47]
• Route 52 Park Ave to URMC (Discontinued on September 1, 2014)[48]
• Route 68 RIT Henrietta (Discontinued on August 31, 2015)[49]
• Route 70 University of Rochester (Discontinued fall 2007)[50]
• Route 71 University of Rochester (Discontinued fall 2006)[51]
• Route 72 University of Rochester (Discontinued fall 2007)[52]
• Route 73 University of Rochester (Discontinued summer 2007)[53]
• Route 74 University of Rochester (Discontinued summer 2007)[54]
• Route 75 University of Rochester (Discontinued summer 2007)[55]
• Route 76 Gates/Ogden/Chili (Discontinued January 2007)[56]
• Route 91 Avon (renumbered Route 101 Avon on November 28, 2014)[57]
• Route 92 Perinton/Bushnell's Basin (renumbered Route 102 Perinton/Bushnell's Basin on November 28, 2014)[58]
• Route 95 N Chili/Westside Dr/Churchville/Bergen/LeRoy (Discontinued January 2007)[59]
• Route 96 Hilton/Hamlin/Clarkson (renumbered Route 106 Hilton/Hamlin/Clarkson on November 28, 2014)[60]
• Route 102 Concerts by the Shore (Only operated summer 2003)[61]
• Route 104 Wegmans Rochester LPGA (Only operated summer 2003)[62]
• Route 105 July 4 Celebration 2003 (Only operated summer 2003)[63]
• Route 118 Buffalo Bills Sports Shuttle (Discontinued in early 2008)[64]
• Route 119 SU Orangemen Sports Shuttle (Discontinued in early 2005)[65]
• Route 166 Geneseo (Discontinued in early 2008)[66]
• Route 177 Nazareth College (Discontinued in early 2008)[67]