The Transit Authority of River City (TARC) connects our campus and community to jobs, schools, medical appointments, shopping, and entertainment venues. TARC provides service to the IU Southeast campus through bus route 71 and recently through the TARC On Demand service.
Recently, Aida Copic, TARC’s director of planning, met with representatives of the Student Government Association, to discuss options for service changes in Louisville and Southern Indiana due to projected financial deficits.
TARC 2025: Moving Forward Together is a key strategy to address the financial challenges and better meet the shared priorities of riders and the communities served by TARC. It is also an important opportunity to redesign Louisville’s transit network to update and innovate service to better match the current and future needs of the Louisville region.
Through this year-long initiative, TARC will work directly with the community to develop strategies for an updated transit network that will better meet the region’s needs and priorities within the reality of the funding TARC expects to receive over the next 5-10 years.
TARC has identified three concepts based on ridership and coverage and is now seeking input through a survey and a series of community meetings.
The Ridership concept connects the busiest parts of the region with the best possible bus service. On average, more people can get to more places sooner with this concept, so ridership should be higher, but it doesn’t cover as many people as the current transportation plan.
The Coverage concept expands the network to cover more areas, but because there are so many routes, the frequency of pick-up is lower and it is anticipated that ridership will drop because people may not want to wait as long.
The Growth concept looks at whether the community should invest more in transportation services to provide more service, and therefore potentially add more ridership per person. Funding this option would require at least $50 million more per year in additional operating funding from the region. This concept provides both the frequency of the Ridership Concept and the additional places and neighborhoods served by the Coverage Concept. The additional service dramatically increases how many useful destinations an average resident can reach in a given amount of time, while also maintaining and expanding coverage.
TARC will gather input through fall 2024 and develop a final transportation plan to be publically shared in early 2025. The new TARC transportation plan is expected to roll out in late 2025.
“I want to extend my sincere appreciation to the Student Government Association for hosting the TARC forum, which allowed students to ask questions and offer feedback on the proposed TARC strategies,” said Amanda Stonecipher, vice chancellor for student engagement.
“I encourage all members of the IU Southeast community to review the TARC 2025 plan and participate in the survey to ensure your voice is heard,” said Stonecipher.
Details of the three concepts are available on the TARC 2025 website. TARC encourages everyone in the Kentuckiana region to participate in the review and input process by attending meetings and participating in the survey. Survey participants will be entered into a drawing for one of five $100 Amazon gift cards.
