The city of Knoxville is jump-starting a top-to-bottom upgrade of Knoxville Area Transit’s 1,100 bus stops.
Mayor Indya Kincannon is proposing $300,000 in “now” funding will launch an assessment of existing bus stops/shelters. Kincannon is hoping the city money will leverage three times as much from the state Department of Transportation – boosting total funding for new bus shelters to $1.2 million.
“We know that improving accessibility to bus stops and adding shelters increases transit ridership and improves the transit experience – that’s just common sense. But it’s also the right thing to do. People who rely on transit should have a safe, dry place to wait for their bus,” Kincannon said in a statement.
KAT will continue its assessment of the stops on all routes, setting priorities by hearing from transit riders and looking at boarding data where investment will make the biggest impact, said Isaac Thorne, director of transit.
Shelters are important, he said, but so are the concrete landing pads and sidewalk access to the shelters that make transit possible for people using wheelchairs or who have mobility issues. Each stop location is unique, with grading, right-of-way and other issues that require extensive analysis and design work, so the process takes time.
The public input process and the start of the upgrades and installation work for the shelters will begin in spring 2022.
The new $300,000 to fund bus stop improvements is part of a $35 million budget amendment to the city’s operating and capital budgets. The city council approved it on the first of two readings at its Oct. 19, 2021, meeting. The second vote is scheduled for Council’s Nov. 2 meeting.
A detailed listing of the mayor’s budget amendment proposal – mostly using American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds or money freed up by other federal assistance – can be found here.