CINCINNATI — In honor of Veterans Day, Cincinnati Metro will offer free bus rides to active-duty, reserve and retired military personnel on Nov. 11.
In a news release Wednesday, Metro CEO and General Manager Darryl Haley said, "There are at least 54,000 veterans living in Hamilton County, and Metro wants each and every one of them to be able to access the services they need, especially on Veterans Day."
As WCPO has previously reported, transportation can pose a disproportionate challenge to military veterans, especially as they acclimate back to civilian life. According to the Easterseals Serving Greater Cincinnati, a local nonprofit dedicated to integrating military members after discharge, roughly a third of the calls for assistance the organization received from veterans in 2019 were transportation-related.
City Councilman Jeff Pastor, who served as a non-combat U.S. Marine, earlier this year filed a motion directing the city administration to work with the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority to find a way to finance free rides for veterans on a permanent basis.
Members of the military can board any Metro bus for free that day, Haley said, by providing a federally-issued military ID, a Veterans Affairs ID card or a state-issued driver's license with a veteran designation.
