HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Some new changes are underway for the Huntsville Public Transit Station with plans to introduce a new transfer station in May. FOX54 spoke with the Transit Manager and he shared everything in the works.
Huntsville Transit Manager John Autry believes the new transfer station will provide for the growth of the transit system over the course of the next 10 to 15 years. "This location is on Pratt Avenue, right on the corner of Church Street and Pratt Avenue. You'll see more bays to accommodate more buses and more bus routes and also larger bays to accommodate larger buses as we grow in the future. The passenger waiting room, we're tripling the size of that for customer convenience. We're adding buses and routes and even planning to add Sunday service this summer. "
Huntsville resident Bernard Wherry said he has been riding the bus for about 20 years, and just has one concern. "The problem, the route that everybody wants back. It was original route number five. It went past Kroger on South Parkway, and it went very far down. And it went all the way down to the Walmart on South Parkway. Which a lot of people loved to ride, and people had jobs there. Then, they cut it off, and everybody has been wanting it back ever since."
Autry explained that four years ago, they discontinued this service in far South Huntsville which went all the way down to the South Huntsville Wal-Mart. This year, the good news is a new route is expected. "We're pleased that this year we're bringing back service to South Huntsville. Only this time, it's a new route 56 and it runs both directions. So, people who are trying to get from A to B, and they're starting out in South Huntsville, they don't have to get a tour of Huntsville to get where they're going."
Furthermore, as far as the bus routes, Huntsville Public Transit is working to have a service that runs on one hour frequency. "So, someone at a bus stop would [typically] see a bus once an hour at that stop. We want to take all of the routes and get them to a 30-minute frequency."
Huntsville Public Transit is also currently recruiting for full time and part time bus operators.