LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Big changes are coming for some TARC riders. The Transit Authority of River City is still on track to eliminate 15 routes as it tries to streamline.
The agency announced months ago that it plans to eliminate a Bullitt County route, one to Okolona, another to Sellersburg, one to Prospect, another to Oldham County, the route between New Albany, Clarksville and Jeffersonville, and others.
TARC shared more details of the changes, scheduled to take effect Aug. 9, on its website:
Discontinued routes include routes 01 & 77 (the LouLift circulators), local routes 62 & 82, circulator 96, and express routes 45X, 49X, 53X, 54X, 64X, 65X, 66X, 67X, 68X, & the 78X.
Minor schedule adjustments will also take effect for routes 6, 10, 15, 18, 23, 28, 31, & 61X.
The planned shifts make Theo Hamilton angry. Hamilton is the president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1447, the union that represents more than 500 TARC employees.
"I've been asked not to say it the way I'm going to say it, but it's piss-poor management," he said.
Hamilton worries TARC's decision to soon cut the routes will have painful repercussions.
(WDRB Photo)
"You're basically crippling a whole lot of people that don't have a vehicle who may just have a bicycle but can't ride that bicycle all the way to work," he said.
Hamilton worries a lot of riders still don't know about these changes and blames a lack of communication from TARC.
Eric King, TARC's new communication's director, has promised better communication.
"So what our team has done and will continue to do is make every effort to reach out to riders who have been on those routes," he said.
King said TARC is cutting the routes because they are some of the least used in the system.
"We would like to keep all the routes that we have, but just like every other industry in the country and in the city right now, we're having to re-evaluate during these very difficult budget times," he said. "We are trying to be as responsible as we can with the community's dollars."
A group of riders gets off a TARC bus at a Shepherdsville stop. (WDRB Photo)
According to the transit authority, half of its routes are used by only 3% of its riders.
TARC Co-Executive Director Laura Douglas in a recent news release said that some infrequently used routes are just not cost effective.
“In some parts of our community, TARC’s cost per rider is approximately $2.50; on other, less frequently used routes, it nears $60 per rider. When TARC charges just $1.75 per trip, this is unsustainable and drains resources from where they are needed most,” she said. “TARC does not want to merely move people around; we want a high level of service.”
Regardless, Hamilton feels some of the affected routes would have been more feasible with better management.
"If the City of Louisville passengers and those who are not passengers — or whoever has compassion for people — and want to step up, fight and argue and help. Fight for what people deserve and everybody should be outraged," he said.
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