LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- TARC is re-routing one of its popular buses around Dixie Highway and Louisville's west end.
The new route for the Dixie Highway bus is opening access for some riders to some essential stops at places like hospitals and schools. It brings service back to an area that had been left out.
"Travel patterns, over a period of years, really do change," said TARC spokesman Alex Posorske. That includes the bus stop at Mary and Elizabeth Hospital.
The stop has sat mostly empty for quite some time, but that has changed in the past few months. Before the change, bus 18 traveled up and down Dixie Highway from downtown Louisville to near Interstate-265.
"One of the biggest values that TARC brings to the community is providing access to affordable transportation that some folks might not have otherwise," said Posorske,
While TARC provides important transportation, it realized some important stops were being left out.
"As we were looking around over the last year, really it became clear that you didn't see the access to healthcare that you really need along the Dixie Highway corridor and certain parts of the west end of Louisville," Posorske
TARC made a change to the Dixie 18 route in August, after months of evaluating what was missing. Now, the bus turns off of Dixie twice to make stops around Mary and Elizabeth Hospital, UofL Health Southwest and JCTC Southwest.
"It's useful to people that have to come out here because of the hospital and the school down here. So, it is useful and beneficial, said Chaz Smith. He rides the TARC bus to a job he works near the hospital, and he recognizes the importance of the new route.
"It's very important, especially to the elderly or those that don't have a transportation, someone to come and take them. It is a way out," Smith said.
However, the new route hasn't seen high traffic, and there's hope that more people will utilize the resource.
TARC believes that will change, as more people learn of the change.
"Being able to provide that with this shift of the number 18 Dixie local, we think is a really important step towards a better quality of life for so many people in this area," Posorske said.
The change also brings back transit service to residents along Manslick Road and St. Andrews Church Road who have not had service in recent years. Riders along Dixie Highway can still rely on bus rapid transit, high-frequency service on the number 10 Dixie Rapid route.
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