Modifications to city bus service the Hot Springs Board of Directors will consider tonight include extending weekday hours of operation to 8:30 p.m.
The 2019 System Enhancements the board will consider extend the current 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekday service to 8:30 p.m. Public input Hot Springs Intracity Transit solicited during the development of the enhancements supported extending service hours, the city said.
"From the number of residents we heard from and the ridership we've had, we think there's going to be a significant amount of ridership in that time period," City Manager Bill Burrough told the board last week. "A lot of these riders are able to take the bus to get to a place of employment, but the bus service is no longer in service when they get off work. So it's difficult for them to get back home."
Saturday hours of 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. will continue, as will no service on Sunday.
The enhancements also include alterations to the city's three fixed routes, including removing the loop serving the former senior center on Woodbine Street. CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs had operated the senior center at the old Hot Springs National Guard Armory on Woodbine Street from 1991 until mold problems forced the center to relocate earlier this year.
"All three routes had some minor deviations to make them more efficient as well as safer," Burrough told the board. "They looked at moving bus stops to prevent certain turns and having to go up blind areas. So far we've heard no negative feedback. It's been all positive."
Alterations also include adding the new Hot Springs junior and senior high schools on Emory Street to the route serving Central Avenue and Higdon Ferry Road and removing the Fairgrounds Crossing shopping center. Medical offices on McAuley Court and the CHI St. Vincent entrance on Mercy Lane would be added under the proposed enhancements.
Burrough told the board the city expects extended hours to increase ridership. Intracity transit said 175,000 passengers, or 15 per hour, rode on the city's three fixed routes in 2017.
The 2019 intracity transit budget the board approved includes increasing the department's general fund subsidy from $396,903 to $414,602. State and federal funds also support the department's $1,533,663 budget.
Local on 12/18/2018