Knoxville Area Transit

Knoxville Area Transit

Slogan	Ride For Change
Founded	1967
Headquarters	301 Church Avenue
Locale	Knoxville, TN
Service area	Knox County, Tennessee, United States of America
Service type	transit bus, paratransit
Routes	23
Stops	11,000
Destinations	234
Hubs	2
Stations	1
Lounge	66
Fleet	100
Annual ridership	3.6 million per year
Fuel type	Gasoline, Diesel
Operator	Amalgamated Transit Union local #1164.
Chief executive	Dawn Distler, Director
Website	katbus.com

Knoxville Area Transit, commonly referred to as KAT or KAT Bus, is the operator of public transportation in Knoxville, Tennessee. Twenty-five routes operate. Service on KAT routes operate weekdays and Saturdays with routes 11, 12, 20, 22, 23, 31, 33, 34 and 41 offering Sunday service. All routes, except for routes 16, 19, 44 and 90 start at the Knoxville Station in Downtown. The Knoxville Trolley is a free shuttle service which provides service to the university and the downtown area.^[1] KAT formerly operated the transit service for the University of Tennessee, known as The T.^[2]

History

Public transportation in Knoxville dates back to 1876 when the first street cars of the Knoxville Street Railway Company were pulled by horses and mules along tracks on Gay Street. Since then, the transit system has undergone considerable changes, beginning in 1890 with the conversion from animal-drawn to electric-powered streetcars. In 1910, the system serviced 11 million passengers each year on 42 miles of track, introducing buses to serve the streetcar system's feeder routes in 1929. By the late 1940s, the system had mainly switched from electric streetcars to all buses, with electric streetcars making their last run in 1947. Later, in 1958, a bus service to the University of Tennessee was added to the system. The bus service continued to get upgrades, with air-conditioned GMC buses added to the Knoxville transit fleet in 1972.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Knoxville transit system went through some internal changes, first moving into a new facility on Magnolia Avenue in 1989 and then changing its name from "K-Trans" to "Knoxville Area Transit (KAT)" in 1995. From the 90s onward, the KAT system continued to upgrade, with a focus on environmental responsibility, beginning its Clean Fuels Program with the introduction of propane-powered vehicles in 2003. The next year, the KAT system was named North American Transit System of the Year by the American Public Transportation Association. In 2010, the transit system again changed facilities, moving its center of operations to the John J. Duncan, Jr. Knoxville Station. In 2014, KAT introduced three hybrid vehicles into its regular fleet.^[3]

Routes

Fleet

KAT is planning on getting all electric buses soon. They have received funding for five fully electric buses that they plan using on the Sutherland Avenue route.

Hours

KAT buses operate normally 6 days a week from about 5:30 a.m. till 9:15 p.m. with some routes ending at 11:15 p.m. KAT does not operate on the following holidays: New Years Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Saturday Schedule is in effect on Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Day before Christmas and Day after Thanksgiving.

As of August 21, 2017, the following routes offer 7-day service: 11, 12, 20, 22, 23, 31, 33, 34, 41.

References