The bus will be free this week in one west Alabama city.

The Tuscaloosa News reports the city’s transit authority is offering free rides across the city as it unveils an entirely new bus route.Executive Director Russell Lawrence says the authority changed some stops on other routes, leading to the decision to waive the $1 for bus fare or 20 cents to transfer citywide.

It is the system’s first new route since 2011.

Tuscaloosa officials project the new route and a paratransit van will cost the transit system an additional $115,000 a year to operate.

A $300,000 federal grant is paying for the 30-passenger bus and the paratransit van.

City Councilwoman Sonya McKinstry sought the new route, saying constituents were walking to work and shop along a dangerous road.
(Associated Press, copyright 2018)

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