Knoxville (WVLT) - Knoxville Area Transit riders are coping with the news they may not have bus service soon.
KAT announced they need to cut some routes and raising several rates.
Sharwin Snelson rides the KAT bus every day to and from work. He has for four years. Today he's upset by the news KAT may cut routes and raise his rates.
"People have a job to do and have the right to get back and forth to work," Snelson said.
KAT operates 120 buses a day that get really bad gas mileage and with the skyrocketing prices of fuel, they can't cover expenses for this coming fiscal year.
"Fuel costs are fuel costs we're just as affected as everybody else and so it's just something we'll have to deal with," said KAT marketing director Belinda Woodiel-Brill.
KAT suggests all Sunday and the late line trolley be discontinued and a cost increase in football shuttles from 4 dollars to 5 dollars round trip. Route 100X the Halls Express and the 102X route the Farragut Express and Route 15 the West Town Express are also on the chopping block, and if the fuel prices continue to rise rapidly?
"If it continues to rise we'll continue to cut because there's not infinite resources out there for transit," Woodiel-Brill said.
But for now riders like Sharwin Snelson have a chance to express their opinion--before the Knoxville Transportation Authority rules on the proposals next month.
Knoxville isn't alone. Nashville cut 5 bus routes this past Wednesday. They also raised their basic daily rate 25 cents to a dollar sixty. Chattanooga has also proposed route cuts and rate increases.
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