Officials with the Transit Authority of River City have unveiled new network maps, which will cut bus service in Louisville by 12% next year.
TARC staff presented the new maps to the agency's board of directors Tuesday, marking the end of a two-year redesign that included public meetings and surveys on potential route options. The new routes, and an entirely new numbering system, will go into effect in August 2026.
Ozzy Gibson, TARC’s executive director, told reporters Tuesday that the changes will help the agency stave off anticipated financial problems until 2029 or 2030. He said the new map will also help the bus system be more efficient and useful for its existing riders.
“It’s something that we should have done many, many years ago,” Gibson said. “If you look at other cities and you see how their routes are, they’re streamlined, they’re out and back and they do that because you want to offer all that frequency.”
Residents in southeast Jefferson County will likely feel the cuts the most. Currently, areas like Fern Creek receive infrequent service on the No. 17 line. That route will be eliminated.
Areas to the east of Middletown, like Lake Forrest and Eastwood, will also see entire routes shut down. And people living in southwest Louisville may also need to walk farther to reach a bus line.
The cuts in some areas of the metro will allow TARC to increase the frequency of service elsewhere. For example, some lines along Frankfort Avenue/Shelbyville Road that currently run every 45 minutes or every hour will be replaced with a 30-minute bus route that runs all the way from NuLu to Lyndon and back.
As part of the new design, TARC is promising to implement a new system where many of the most frequent routes will meet at a single point downtown: a new on-street hub at West Muhammad Ali Boulevard and South 7th Street.
Scudder Wagg, president of the consulting firm Jared Walker and Associates that helped TARC in the redesign, said the goal of the new system is to make service “as useful as possible.”
“When you can only afford to run 60 or 30 minute service, waiting is a huge challenge and it's not just when you first catch a bus, it’s when you transfer to a new route,” he said.
By bringing many popular routes through the same hub, Wagg said TARC can ensure its “only a few minutes wait to transfer between lots of different routes.” The efficiency changes will be most notable for people on longer journeys or riders moving between Southern Indiana and Jefferson County.
All magnet high schools within the Jefferson County Public School District will also receive regular service during morning and afternoon bell times once the new routes go into effect next year.
TARC officials say they plan to launch a public education effort to help riders learn about the new routes and numbering system ahead of implementation.
The new maps, and how they compare to the current system, are available on TARC’s website.
