KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Mayor Indya Kincannon is proposing funding to start upgrading Knoxville Area Transit’s 1,100 bus stops.
According to Mayor Kincannon, the immediate $300,000 in “now” funding would be a significant first step. She's hoping the City seed money will leverage three times as much from the state Department of Transportation – boosting the total funding for new bus shelters to $1.2 million.
“The need is great,” Kincannon said. 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.”
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, Director of Transit Isaac Thorne said.
Those priorities include concrete landing pads and sidewalk access to the shelters to make transit possible for people using wheelchairs or who have mobility issues.
The public input process and the start of the upgrades and installation work for the shelters will start 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, officials said.
City Council approved it on the first of two readings at its October 19 meeting.
The second vote is scheduled for Council’s November 2 meeting.