LOUISVILLE, Ky. — At a Louisville Metro Council committee meeting Tuesday night, leaders of the Transit Authority of River City (TARC) said they've made major efforts to improve the company's paratransit service, TARC3, amid driver shortages and increased demand inching closer to pre-pandemic levels.
But several Councilmembers weren't immediately convinced, wanting more data to sufficiently reveal whether performance is getting any better for customers.
For months, riders have shared their frustrations with hours-long wait times, and sometimes no driver showing up at all for a pickup. TARC has attributed issues to gaps in staffing, and most recently, absences to Omicron.
In this latest update to the Metro Council's Government Oversight and Audit Committee, TARC executive director Carrie Butler shared the service's most up to date numbers. She also compared TARC's current status to other transportation services around the country.
"What some other agencies have done is cut service, [but] we have been very diligent in our efforts to try to hire as many drivers as we can," Butler said.
Butler says they've made adjustments, like bringing on a full-time recruiter to find and hire new drivers, eliminating 'training' wages, adding referral and sign-on bonuses, and bringing on new leadership to TARC's main contractor -- MV Transportation. Butler said MV has a new, local general manager as of late 2021.
Butler said out of 5,957 trips on the first week of February, only 73 resulted in missed trips -- equating to just 1.2 percent.
"[It could be] a customer cancellation, or if there's not a driver available to do the work," Butler said.
But Metro Councilmembers like District 19's Anthony Piagentini were concerned by the numbers shown on a timeline of customer complaints over the last several months, displayed in TARC's presentation.
"We're trending pretty high in the last six months of this fiscal year," Councilman Piagentini said.
Other councilmembers, like District 16's Scott Reed, wanted specifics on trips that may not be hitting their promises of when someone is told they'll be picked up.
"What is the average trip time a paratransit rider can expect currently: What was it before COVID, and what will it be in the future?" Councilman Reed asked.
Butler said she didn't have that data at that moment, but said she'd get those numbers to Councilmembers soon.
Meanwhile another key stat: TARC noting more than $1 million in penalties charged to their contractor, MV Transportation, in the last year for 'lack of performance'. The fines peaked last fall.
Metro Councilmembers made it clear they'd like another update in the future, but didn't specify a date.
►Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.