Blog: KAT Blog

What we heard: the first Trolleys on Tap

We had some great coffee and great conversations at Flow last Thursday at our first Trolleys on Tap listening session. Here’s a brief summary of some of what we heard and some ideas sketched out on our map:

Where to go:
• Service to The Old City was discussed as an important connection.
• The challenges of serving Ft. Sanders neighborhood were discussed. While there are lots of residents who could enjoy a trolley service, the narrow streets create substantial challenges. Ideas were discussed to serve the south side of Cumberland Avenue along Lake, in order to get the trolleys closer to Ft. Sanders. That idea is shown below. Some like the idea of a large loop, but others did not like the idea of having to ride a long way around.

trolley route idea

• Service is very important to Summit Towers residents, who would like to see direct service longer than 9 am – 4 pm on weekdays.
• The challenges of serving the waterfront were also discussed. While there is a great connection via the elevator on Hill Avenue (and sheltered transit stop), not many people realize that connection is there and open to the public. How can we improve pedestrian connections/awareness of our great waterfront resource?
• Everyone agreed that the south side of the waterfront should be considered as a ‘phase 2’ after its completion.
• We also discussed service beyond the current trolley boundaries, to places such as 4th & Gill, the south side waterfront and Happy Holler, which I’ll elaborate on below.

When to go:
Longer weekday hours were requested. Service after the current 6:30 p.m. would allow downtown employees to enjoy dinner downtown and still get to the outlying monthly parking garages such as the Civic Coliseum garage. Service on Sunday was also discussed.

Themes of the first Trolleys on Tap:
• Essential areas of downtown: Old City, Fort Sanders, Cumberland Strip, Waterfront
• A focus on the tourist, making it easier on the street level to know what route to take to get to destinations. Make obvious stop locations for major destinations. With Market Square as the heart of downtown, is there a way for trolleys to radiate from there to serve other destinations such as The Old City?

A note on trolley expansion: We have received many comments on trolley service expansion to outlying neighborhoods. This trolley examination is based on staying within our current trolley boundaries, since our operating resources will not be changing. But, the discussion does make us realize that we could do a better job of informing close-in neighborhoods about the excellent transit services available to connect them to downtown. Our first Trolleys on Tap gave us some great ideas for enhancing that KAT bus service, which we will be telling you about in future blogs.

Our next Trolleys on Tap is on Wednesday from 5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. at Suttree's on Gay Street.

Posted by bbrill On 15 September, 2015 at 9:07 AM

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