TARC awarded $1M to continue bus service

Louisville, Ky.-based Transit Authority of River City (TARC) is receiving another $1 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) to continue frequent bus service for another year on its two most popular routes.

Ridership has increased 20% on the routes — Dixie and Preston highways (Rt. #18) and Broadway and Bardstown Road (Rt. #23) — since last February when buses began arriving at stops every 15 minutes from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on weekdays. The increase is based on ridership for both routes during the first 10 months of the frequent service compared to the same 10 months a year earlier.

The two routes carry 30% of TARC’s ridership — 15,500 passengers per day, 2,500 more than before the frequent service began on the core portions of the two routes. Two additional afternoon trips will be added, beginning January 29, to Rt. 18 to alleviate overcrowding.

TARC received an initial $1 million last year in U.S. DOT Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program funds authorized by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to add service to the routes as part of a one-year demonstration project.