Transit Authority of River City (TARC)

Last week Director of Planning Aida Copic was a featured part of a Women in Leadership panel put on by Women Transportation Seminar KY Chapter. The panel discussed challenging experiences at work, inspiring the next generation of leaders, accomplishments and more. As part of the conversation Aida shared more about the TARC 2025 project, COVID's impact on TARC, and how women play a vital role in TARC's mission. Congratulations Aida! 

We recently released our TARC 2025 Draft Plans! This week let's take a look at the Limited Plan. The Limited Plan would provide significantly reduced service compared to today, but at a level TARC is confident existing revenues can support. This is a barebones plan that TARC hopes to not have to implement. While there are significant cuts to service outside the Watterson, it preserves the core high-frequency network. You can learn more about the each draft plan, and provide your input on our website: https://lnkd.in/dMmEcbME

Last week TARC launched the next phase of the TARC 2025 network redesign project with the release of the draft plans. But how did we get here? For this week's Transit Planning Tuesday, we review the concepts phase of the project, breakdown our outreach, and share the lessons we learned from the community. Review the draft plans, and fill out a survey today: https://lnkd.in/dMmEcbME

In an important next step for the TARC 2025 network redesign, today TARC released draft proposals for a new TARC at different price points, including both short- and longer-term options for the community to consider. The release of the proposals will kick off a two-month period of public engagement until April 30. Community feedback during the draft plan will help to guide TARC in making any changes to each proposal. After April 30, the TARC board will consider community feedback as they finalize proposals. The earliest that any redesigned network could be fully implemented is summer 2026. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/dMmEcbME

Today we held a Black History Month conversation in our Alyce French-Johnson Training Annex with Spalding University's Dr. Deonte Hollowell, Elmer Lucille Allen, and former TARC team member Alyce French-Johnson. Many thanks to our Kristy W. for putting together the conversation!

"Give it 100% and you'll be seen. You'll be heard. You'll be respected." For Black History Month, we spoke to Alyce French-Johnson who held a number of positions at TARC including Customer Service Representative, Coach Operator, Assistant Executive Director, and Union President. At her retirement, TARC recognized Alyce’s almost 40 years of service to the company by naming the training center in her honor.

Ahead of next week's Elmer Lucille Allen Conference at Spalding University, we spoke to Elmer herself and Dr. Deonte Hollowell about the conference, TARC's partnership with Spalding, and the accompanying art exhibition celebrating Elmer Lucille Allen's art.

For Black History Month TARC is speaking to local Black trailblazers like Elmer Lucille Allen, the first African American chemist to be hired at Brown-Forman in 1966. We spoke with her about her education, her time at Brown-Forman, and riding TARC3. Later this week we'll be sharing another video with her and Dr. Deonte Hollowell about next week's Elmer Lucille Allen Conference at Spalding University.

Throughout February, TARC is saving a seat on every bus in its fleet to honor Rosa Parks and her contribution to the civil rights movement. Each seat will feature a sign reminding passengers of how Parks changed history on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama in 1955. The #SaveaSeat signs will also have QR Codes directing passengers to Olmsted Parks Conservancy and their efforts at restoring the Chickasaw Park tennis courts—believed to be the only park in the country created by the Olmsted Firm for the Black community during segregation. Olmsted Parks is TARC’s Design-a-Bus partner this year. Learn more about how TARC is celebrating Black History Month, including a partnership with Spalding University, and an upcoming video series on our website: https://lnkd.in/ebAeBgFq

The TARC customer experience is about to get a lot better with the installation of a completely updated digital communications system on all TARC buses this winter. For customers, that means convenient access to reliable real-time locations for buses on their smartphones, enhanced audio and visual announcements on every TARC bus for easier navigation of the system, and overall improvements to TARC’s operations. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eSxRryBS