With gas prices still on the rise and public transit seeing an increase in ridership, the Maysville Transit schedule has been adjusted to help city residents get to work on time.
In April, the city issued a revised bus schedule to help insure consistency in pick-up and drop-off times. By June, the schedule was tweaked a bit more.
“We worked with our bus drivers who were getting feedback from passengers,” said Public Works Director Jim Fryman of the recent changes.
Essentially, the revised schedule has remained the same with adjustments only to the early morning routes, a time when many people are trying to get to work, Fryman said.
Bus service begins at 5:57 a.m. in downtown at Third and Bridge streets, winding its way through downtown into the east end of the city and then out U.S. 68 to the Kentucky 9 business corridor. The one-hour route ends at Bluegrass Shopping Center before returning downtown.
The previous schedule included stops at MCTC and into the village of Washington wedged in between stops at Gateway Shopping Center (Kmart) at 6:45 a.m. and Tucker Drive at 6:47 a.m. The two stops in the middle added almost 15 minutes to the time employees at businesses near Wal-Mart and Kroger had to ride the bus.
Now during the first two rounds of service, the route moves directly from the Gateway Shopping Center to Kroger, then Wal-Mart and then onto Tucker Drive, ensuring that employees are at their jobs prior to 7 a.m.
Fryman said the adjusted schedule has eliminated the stops at MCTC and Washington during the first two rounds of the bus route which begin at 5:55 a.m. and 7:06 a.m., respectively. On the third loop of the schedule, which begins at 8:22 a.m., the stops at MCTC and Washington are incorporated back into the schedule after the stop at Tucker Drive.
“We switched (the schedule) to accommodate employees getting to work,” Fryman said of the changes. “The afternoon has stayed the same as far as pick-up and route.”
In a story published in April about public transit as an alternative means of transportation in the face of escalating gas prices, Fryman said the transit system had an average monthly ridership of 3,200 people, with an adjustment for slow months and peak months.
Fryman, as well as passengers of the system interviewed for the story, all agreed ridership has been steadily increasing since March.
On Wednesday, Fryman said recent feedback from transit bus drivers indicates ridership is up again.
“It hasn’t been a big jump, but an increase of four to five people per day,” he said, explaining the new passengers are residents who are leaving their cars at home and ride the bus instead to do basic errands.
Bus fares are 25 cents for adults, 15 cents for students; children under five ride free with a limit of two children per paying adult. There are special fares for senior citizens and those with disabilities.
For more information or to obtain a copy of the Maysville Transit Bus Schedule stop by city hall at 213 Bridge Street or call 606-564-9419.
Contact Marla Toncray at marla.toncray@lee.net or 606-564-9091, ext. 275.
