Corbin Trolley route schedule released

Corbin’s trolley bus is now operating on a fixed schedule.

Corbin Downtown Director Andy Salmons said Tuesday that the anticipated route schedule calls for the trolley to operate along the 16-stop route between Trademart Shopping Center and the hotels near Exit 25 between 8 a.m. and 8:10 p.m. Monday through Friday.

“We had to time out what the longest transit was from one stop to another,” Salmons said when asked how the schedule was developed. “Five minutes was a really easy window.”

Salmons said while the trolley initially began operating at 11 a.m., the decision was made to start at 8 a.m. in response to feedback both directly and on the Corbin Downtown Facebook page.

“It came down to what we were hearing,” Salmons said. “There was a strong demand from local people to have it running earlier in the morning.”

As a result, something had to give, and Salmons said it meant stopping service at 8:10 p.m.

“I wanted it to go to about 9:30 p.m. but we couldn’t work it out with the staff we have,” Salmons said.

Salmons said there is no specific time period to operate the schedule and the route, but said it will be re-evaluated and changes made where warranted.

“We want to let it be stable for a while and see what the real ridership is,” Salmons said
“We are willing to explore changing up and adding stops because we want to go where the need is,” Salmons added.

Salmons said when the trolley was launched; the question of scheduling was one of the biggest questions he received, especially from the hotel managers as it takes the trolley an hour-and-a-half to make the circuit.

Salmons said the cost for a day pass to ride the trolley would remain $1 for the immediate future.

“There will be a rate increase as the system stabilizes,” Salmons said.

Salmons said he would continue to look for guidance from city officials concerning what they expect from the trolley concerning the service it offers and the measure of success.

“Do they want it to be making money or a public service?” Salmons said. “They need to tell me what success looks like. Is it 20 riders a day? Is it 50? If we are not hitting that metric by a certain point, then we need to look at discontinuing operations or changing the route.”

Salmons said while he can see the benefits the trolley can have to Corbin, he is also realistic about it.

“If it is not working, we need to do something else,” Salmons said.