Effective today, March 14th, 2022, Knoxville Area Transit (KAT) has returned several bus routes to regular service levels.

Those changes include:

• Route 17 – Sutherland returned to 30-minute frequencies on weekdays

• Route 20 – Central Street returned to 30-minute frequencies on weekdays

• Route 32 – Dandridge returned to 30-minute frequencies on weekdays

• Route 34 – Burlington returned to 30-minute frequencies on weekdays

• Green Line Trolley returned to 10-minute frequencies on weekdays, but still ending at 8pm on Friday and Saturday evenings

“We are so glad to finally be bringing back some of our regular service levels,” says Isaac Thorne, Director of Transit for the City of Knoxville. “The workforce shortage that we have experienced along with so many others has been unprecedented. We are so grateful to our passengers and their patience during this past year.”

KAT hopes to return the remaining routes experiencing reduced service back to regular service within the year. These include the weekday peak 15-minute service on Routes 11 – Kingston Pike, 22 – Broadway, and 31 – Magnolia; and the weekday 30-minute service levels on Routes 40 – South Knoxville and 45 – Vestal.

In addition to the 30-minute service on Route 17 – Sutherland, this route will also be served with KAT’s new all-electric buses starting today. The Sutherland route was identified as an ideal route on which to begin the electric bus program, due to the topography, length of the route, and other factors. The electric bus fleet will continue to expand to other routes throughout the city as testing continues.

“We feel like we are coming out of this long and challenging period,” says Thorne. “However, because the pandemic is not fully over, KAT wishes to remind the public that the mask mandate from the Transportation Security Administration has been extended for public transit through April 18th.”

For more information, call 865-637-3000 or visit KATBus.com.