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Free Transportation To Cleveland's Mass Vaccination Site

Cleveland RTA riders and Laketran shuttle riders can get to vaccination clinics for free. [Tupungato / Shutterstock]
Cleveland RTA riders and Laketran shuttle riders can get to vaccination clinics for free. [Tupungato / Shutterstock]

There are now free transportation options to the Wolstein Center or any vaccination site in Cuyahoga County to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Cleveland’s public transportation service, RTA, is offering free day passes, said Linda Krecic, RTA's spokesperson.

Free transportation will be available between March 17 and May 8.

“They’re good for a free ride, whether it’s bus, rail, or paratransit, to the Wolstein Center or to any of the vaccination sites throughout the county," Krecic said.

RTA riders should obtain their free transportation pass through the county’s website. RTA is not distributing the passes, she said.

The Ohio Department of Transportation provided $773,000 in funding, said Krecic.

Lake County residents can also get to the mass vaccination site at the Wolstein Center for free through a Laketran shuttle. Laketran is also offering free rides in-county to other vaccination sites.

“We want to make sure there is as much access to the vaccine as possible,” said Ben Capelle, Laketran’s CEO.

The free shuttle leaves from the transit center at Lakeland Community College and stops at the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Transit Center in downtown Cleveland.

It will start Wednesday, March 17, and run the entire eight weeks of the vaccination clinic.

The Ohio Department of Transportation provided $139,000 to Laketran for the services and $773,000 in funding to RTA for the free rides.

More than 200,000 people are expected to receive COVID-19 vaccines at the mass vaccination clinic in Cleveland over the next 8 weeks.

The mass vaccination clinic at Cleveland State University's Wolstein Center is a partnership between the state of Ohio and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and it will have the capacity to administer 6,000 COVID-19 vaccines a day.

lisa.ryan@ideastream.org | 216-916-6158