Great cities require great public transportation, and Louisville is no exception

TARC’s proposed cuts will decrease the frequency of buses on many routes and completely eliminate three routes. Wisely, the routes with the highest usage will remain unaffected, but those still don’t serve tens of thousands of residents.

Consider for a moment students who use TARC to get to school. Currently, if they sneak in a few more minutes of shut-eye, it is okay; they are assured a bus will quickly follow the one that they miss. With the proposed cuts, if students miss a bus for any reason, they are almost assured to be tardy.

The student issues can easily be amended, though they remain problematic. For many others, efficient, convenient, affordable public transportation is essential for work, medical care, groceries, worship and connecting with friends and family.

Louisville faced a similar problem in 1974 when the city’s private bus system was shutting down. Then-Mayor Harvey Sloane pushed a referendum to increase the occupational tax by .02% to fund the newly created TARC, which passed and is still necessary for TARC to stay afloat.

Invest in TARC: TARC busing doesn't need short-term, gimmick-y fixes. It needs time and real investment.

Public transportation is a necessity

This fifty-year-old tax, however, long ago was inadequate to meet our metropolitan area’s demands. It is high time we all face the need for Metro Louisville as well as surrounding Kentucky and Indiana counties, to unite to address the current and future need for excellent public transportation.

All great cities have great public transportation, including buses, street cars, light rail, rapid rail and subways. These cities did not grow and then happen upon their transportation systems. Rather, they had strong systems to move people that helped them grow. We need to debate what will work in our community to decrease congestion and pollution, meet the needs of the poor, the disabled, the youth, the elderly, those with revoked driver's licenses and anyone else who wants to ride in comfort and ditch the car.

It is true that systems in great cities like New York, Washington, Boston, Paris, London, Singapore, Geneva and Tokyo are not perfect, and many also face funding issues . But the point remains: Louisville must have a strong public transit system to become a better, more equitable city. The proposed cuts to TARC are not acceptable.

William Norris is a member of the Sister Thea Bowman Society for Racial Justice and a senior at St. Xavier High School .

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Great cities require great public transportation, and Louisville is no exception