Knoxville Area Transit (KAT) wants you to know that transit is a key component to a successful city - and that now is a great time to try it.
Try Transit Week, July 11-16, 2016, will feature a variety of activities and events that will introduce new improvements to the system and give you an opportunity to try them out for yourself. A new East Superstop, a new neighborhood service bus, and a new trip planning system will all be rolled out during Try Transit Week - and Free Rides Friday will give everyone the opportunity to try them all out fare free.
The week’s events include:
Monday, July 11 - The Mayor’s on Board – Lunch ride with City pass program participants. Mayor Madeline Rogero will take a bus to lunch with City employees who have taken advantage of the City’s offer of free bus passes.
Tuesday, July 12 - Celebrity Ride – A Knoxville Celebrity will be riding the bus downtown to lunch from his "studio" office on Route 11 - Kingston Pike.
Wednesday, July 13 - KAT at the Market Square Farmers' Market - KAT will have a booth at the market to let folks know about Free Rides Friday and Neighborhood Group Rides on Saturday, as well as give away transit-related items
Thursday, July 14 - Ribbon-cutting of the new East Superstop, Kirkwood Street, 2 p.m. - Knoxville City Council will be invited to ride the bus to the new East Superstop to join Mayor Rogero for the ribbon-cutting, as well as for the introduction of KAT’s newest addition to the fleet, a neighborhood service vehicle.
Friday, July 15 - Free Rides Friday using Google Transit! - To introduce KAT’s new Google Trip Planner, the community will be encouraged to try transit for free, planning their trip using Google Transit on KAT’s website, katbus.com, or from Google Maps directly. Rides on the KAT system will be fare-free all day.
Saturday, July 16 - Neighborhood Group Rides to the Market Square Farmer’s Market - KAT is working with neighborhood groups to organize group rides into downtown for the Farmers’ Market. KAT will have a booth at the market and will be providing free passes home and other giveaways to participating neighborhoods.
“This is going to be a great opportunity for us to show the public and our elected officials all the progress we’re making here in Knoxville to grow our transit services,” says Dawn Distler, the City of Knoxville’s Director of Transit. “And, we’re really hoping people will take advantage of our Google trip planning and our Free Rides Friday to try out the system.”
For more information about Try Transit Week, visit www.katbus.com or call 865-637-3000.
KAT is the mass transit system for the City of Knoxville, operating about 80 buses, paratransit LIFT vehicles, and downtown trolleys.
For more information on this news release, contact Lauren Robinson at 865-215-7826 or at [email protected].