The Rochester-Genesee Regional Transportation Authority (RGRTA) is a New York State public-benefit corporation which provides transportation services in the eight-county area in and around Rochester, New York. Currently, RGRTA oversees the daily operation of eleven subsidiaries under the parent company of the RGRTA, including paratransit services. In , the combined system of eleven subsidiaries had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of .
Organization The RGRTA is guided by a 16-member board of commissioners (one of which is vacant). The management team is headed by CEO Miguel Velazquez, who reports to the board. In 2017, the RGRTA had operating expenses of $116.51 million and a level of staffing of 1,045 people.
History
Rochester Railway Company
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.
Rochester Transit Corporation
On August 2, 1938, Rochester Transit Corporation assumed operation of the bus and streetcar operations serving the city. 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). The company was returned to local control in 1943 when the remaining shares owned by Associated Gas & Electric were bought out.
From private to public
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. 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.
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.
Regional Transit Service The largest subsidiary of the RGRTA, Regional Transit Service (RTS) serves Monroe County (Rochester and its immediate suburbs) as well as providing service to students at Monroe Community College and Rochester Institute of Technology. Students in the Rochester City School District are also served. Suburban and park-and-ride routes serve the outlying towns in Monroe County and surrounding counties of Genesee, Livingston, Ontario, Orleans, Seneca, Wayne and Wyoming, including service into Avon, Victor, Lyons, and Le Roy. RTS also serves major shopping centers and malls in Monroe County, such as various Walmart locations, Marketplace Mall in Henrietta, Eastview Mall in Victor and The Mall at Greece Ridge in Greece.
Bus routes 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.
On May 17, 2021, the RTS launched Reimagine RTS and the system underwent a complete renumbering and opened new Connection Hubs at highly traveled points of interest, as well as introducing 9 frequent routes running every 15 minutes from 6AM to 6PM on weekdays, although one would later become a local route later that September. These routes would form the RTS Connect network, which is the term to describe the fixed route system.
Also introduced that May 17 was RTS On-Demand, an On-Demand rideshare service that allows for a door to door service when booked within a zone. There are seven On-Demand zones in total; Brockport, Greece, Henrietta, Irondequoit, Lexington Ave, Pittsford/Eastview, and Webster. All of which have at least one connection hub to at least one RTS Connect route.
On September 13, 2021, due to the Rochester City School District experiencing a bus driver shortage, RTS reduced frequency on all but one of their frequent routes in order to assist the RCSD with transporting its students with the drivers they had. Then on January 3, 2022, after hiring and training new operators, the 8 East Main and 16 Genesee had their 15-minute frequencies restored. Two years later, on September 3, 2024, the 22 Lake also had its 15-minute frequency between Downtown and West Ridge Road restored.
As of April 6, 2026, there are 30 routes routes that run within Monroe County, designated as RTS Connect. 24 of them run to the Transit Center in Downtown Rochester. These routes consist of the Following:
+ Downtown Routes Route # Route Name Outbound Terminus Inbound Terminus Additional Notes 1 St. Paul Irondequoit Plaza Connection Hub, Irondequoit Transit Center 2 North Clinton On weekdays (during school days), one outbound bus in morning, and one inbound bus in the afternoon head to Irondequoit and Drake Junior High Schools 3** Joseph Hudson Avenue Walmart 4** Hudson Irondequoit Plaza Connection Hub, Irondequoit 5** Portland Skyview Connection Hub, Irondequoit On weekdays (during school days), one inbound bus in the afternoon deviates to the Bishop Kearney High School 6 North Goodman On weekday school days, two outbound buses in the morning, and one inbound bus in the afternoon deviate to the Bishop Kearney High School 7 Clifford/Empire Baytowne Plaza Connection Hub, Webster 8* East Main Landing Heights Apartments, Brighton 9 University Blossom Loop Connection Hub On weekday school days, one outbound bus in the morning, and one inbound bus in the afternoon extends further east to the Mercy High School For Young Women 10 Park 11** Monroe St. John Fisher University Connection Hub, Pittsford 12 South Clinton Jewish Home, Brighton 13 South Ave Monroe Community College Brighton Campus (Rear Loop), Brighton 14 Marketplace Saginaw Drive, Henrietta 15 Plymouth UR Eastman Dental 16* Genesee 17 Jefferson/19th Ward Monroe Community College Brighton Campus (Main Entrance), Brighton 18 Chili Cedars of Chili, Chili Center, Chili 19 Buffalo Road Rochester Tech Park Connection Hub, Gates Certain outbound and inbound buses on both weekdays and weekends throughout the week head to the Amazon Warehouse before they continue as normal. 20 Lyell Greece-Ridge Mall Connection Hub, Greece 21-(S/L)* Dewey Short/Long Line Eastman Ave Connection Hub (Short Line) Walmart/Northgate Plaza, Greece (Long line) On weekdays from 6 AM to 6 PM, this route alternate between termini. On weekends, only the long line is active. 22-(S/L)* Lake Short/Long Line Eastman Ave Connection Hub (Short Line) Ontario Beach, Charlotte (Long Line) On weekdays from 6 AM to 6 PM, this route alternate between termini. On weekends, only the long line is active. Two inbound 22-L buses on weekdays, and three inbound buses on weekends serve the St. Bernard's Park Apartments. 23 West Ave/Airport Walmart/Westgate Plaza, Gates (Suspended)* Fredrick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport Terminal (Current) Service to Westgate Plaza is Suspended until further notice due to construction. 24 Bay Waring Road Plaza Notes: Routes with one * indicate that they run every 15 minutes on weekdays from 6AM to 6PM. Routes with two ** indicate that while they normally run every 15 minutes, they are currently running at a reduced frequency due to the RCSD bus driver shortage in 2021.
Additionally, there are two routes designated as crosstown routes, one route designated as suburban, one seasonal route, and two commuter routes. All but the 91 do not serve Downtown Rochester. These are: +Other RoutesRoute #Route NameEastbound/Northbound TerminusWestbound/Southbound TerminusAdditional Notes40Ridge CrosstownSkyview Connection Hub, IrondequoitGreece Ridge Mall, Greece41Culver/Goodman CrosstownClay Road & Walmart, Henrietta50Fairport/PenfieldPenfield Target, FairportBlossom Loop Connection Hub, RochesterThis route runs every 120 minutes throughout the day.70SeabreezeSeabreeze Amusement ParkSkyview Connection Hub, IrondequoitThis is a seasonal route, which is active from May 1 to September 30.91Newark/Lyons CommuterLyons Central Park, LyonsRTS Transit Center, Downtown RochesterOnly two roundtrips a day (one in the morning, and one in the evening) on weekdays.97Elmwood CommuterTwelve Corners, BrightonUR Eastman DentalOnly six roundtrips a day (three in the morning, and three in the evening) on weekdays.
Neighborhood Direct Service (These routes are designated with three digits and are only active twice per school weekday, to school in the morning, and from school in the afternoon) School of the Arts Prince Street Route 270 Prince St/Maplewood-Charlotte Route 271 Prince St/Maplewood-Dewey Route 272 Prince St/Edgerton Route 273 Prince St/Lyell-Otis Route 274 Prince St/Dutchtown Route 275 Prince St/19th Ward NW Route 276 Prince St/19th Ward SE Route 277 Prince St/Genesee Route 278 Prince St/Mayor's Heights-Plymouth Route 280 Prince St/Highland-Strong Route 281 Prince St/N Winton Village Route 283 Prince St/N Marketview-Northland Route 284 Prince St/N Goodman-Portland Route 285 Prince St/Joseph-Hudson Route 287 Prince St/St. Paul-N Clinton Route 289 Prince St/Park Ave Edison Tech/All City HS Colfax Street Route 350 Colfax St/Maplewood-Charlotte Route 351 Colfax St/19th Ward SE Route 352 Colfax St/Maplewood-Dewey Route 353 Colfax St/Edgerton Route 354 Colfax St/Dutchtown Route 355 Colfax St/19th Ward NW Route 356 Colfax St/Beechwood Route 357 Colfax St/Mayor's Heights-Plymouth Route 358 Colfax St/N Marketview-Homestead Route 359 Colfax St/St. Paul-N Clinton Route 360 Colfax St/Genesee Route 361 Colfax St/Joseph-Hudson Route 362 Colfax St/N Winton Village Route 363 Colfax St/Northland-Lyceum Route 364 Colfax St/Portland Route 367 Colfax St/N Goodman Route 368 Colfax St/City SE Franklin Campus Norton Street Route 420 Norton St/Genesee Route 422 Norton St/Dutchtown Route 423 Norton St/Lyell-Otis Route 425 Norton St/19th Ward SE Route 426 Norton St/Edgerton Route 427 Norton St/Mayor's Heights-Plymouth Route 428 Norton St/Northland-Lyceum Route 429 Norton St/N Marketview-Beechwood Route 430 Norton St/N Goodman Route 431 Norton St/St Paul Route 433 Norton St/19th Ward NW Route 434 Norton St/N Winton Village Route 436 Norton St/City SE Route 437 Norton St/N Clinton Route 438 Norton St/Maplewood-Charlotte Route 439 Norton St/Maplewood-Dewey Wilson Magnet Commencement High School Genesee Street Route 440 Genesee St/Maplewood-Charlotte Route 441 Genesee St/Dutchtown-19th Ward NW