SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Marsha Akuna depends on TARC, each work day, to get to her job at the University of Louisville. She and other Bullitt County riders use TARC's Bullitt County Express (66X) route to get to and from work and home.
"For a lot of us, it's our only way to get to work," Akuna said.
So imagine her surprise when she stumbled across a somewhat hard-to-find bulletin on TARC's website that says her route is now on the shortlist to be discontinued.
"If we hadn't gotten word of that, none of us would know this," she said.
In fact, TARC wants to discontinue a handful of other routes too, including one to Okolona, another to Sellersburg, and one to Prospect (see the proposed 'Phase A' changes above). Eventually, if necessary, routes to Oldham County and another between New Albany, Clarksville and Jeffersonville could also be temporarily discontinued (see the proposed 'Phase B' changes below).
TARC's new co-executive directors say the changes should help streamline the system.
"With almost half of our routes being little used by the community, these proposed changes reflect TARC’s strategy to invest where our passengers are," said co-executive director Margaret Handmaker in an April 29 news release.
While a presentation on TARC's website acknowledges that the changes could potentially leave some commuters with no direct service, TARC says the shift would "better align services with actual ridership and create efficiencies amid a challenging budget climate."
In the past, TARC's former director, Ferdinand Risco, said routes like the Bullitt County Express weren't attracting riders.
A group of riders gets off a TARC bus at a Shepherdsville stop. (WDRB Photo)
"Our Bullitt County route is our third lowest performing route," Risco said in a 2019 interview with WDRB News.
But riders say that's probably TARC's fault, since drop-off and pick-up times are sometimes unreliable at the Bullitt County stop, and the bus stop itself is miles away from where a lot of people might want to go: the regional industrial park.
So, Akuna hopes TARC will consider those problems and give riders like her more notice and a better chance to meet with the transit authority before scrapping routes like hers.
"Please realize that we need these buses," she said. "We depend on these buses. Don't let us, you know, hang with no transportation."
Tuesday, TARC couldn't be reached for comment despite multiple attempts to reach the transit authority's spokesperson.
However, according to the April 29 bulletin, the authority is still collecting public comments on the proposed changes before potentially adopting them in August.
According to the site, public comments also may be submitted by email to PublicComment@ridetarc.org.
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