Knoxville Area Transit

Knoxville Area Transit

route 11
Founded	1967
Headquarters	301 Church Avenue
Locale	Knoxville, TN
Service area	City of Knoxville, Tennessee, United States of America
Service type	transit bus, paratransit
Routes	23
Stops	11,000
Destinations	234
Hubs	2
Stations	1
Lounge	66
Fleet	100
Annual ridership	3.6 million per year
Fuel type	Gasoline, Diesel, Hybrid-Electric(diesel)
Operator	Amalgamated Transit Union local #1164.
Chief executive	Isaac Thorne, Director
Website	katbus.com

Knoxville Area Transit (KAT) is the operator of public transportation in Knoxville, Tennessee. Twenty-five routes operate. Service on KAT routes operate weekdays and Saturdays with routes 11, 12, 20, 22, 23, 31, 33, 34 and 41 and 42 offering Sunday service. All routes, except for routes 13,16, 19, 44 and 90 start at the Knoxville Station in Downtown. The Knoxville Trolley is a free shuttle service which provides service to the university and the downtown area. KAT formerly operated the transit service for the University of Tennessee, known as The T.

History

Knoxville Area Transit bus

Public transportation in Knoxville dates back to 1876 when the first street cars of the Knoxville Street Railway Company were pulled by horses and mules along tracks on Gay Street. Since then, the transit system has undergone considerable changes, beginning in 1890 with the conversion from animal-drawn to electric-powered streetcars. In 1910, the system serviced 11 million passengers each year on 42 miles of track, introducing buses to serve the streetcar system's feeder routes in 1929. By the late 1940s, the system had mainly switched from electric streetcars to all buses, with electric streetcars making their last run in 1947. Later, in 1958, a bus service to the University of Tennessee was added to the system. The bus service continued to get upgrades, with air-conditioned GMC buses added to the Knoxville transit fleet in 1972.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Knoxville transit system went through some internal changes, first moving into a new facility on Magnolia Avenue in 1989 and then changing its name from "K-Trans" to "Knoxville Area Transit (KAT)" in 1995. From the 90s onward, the KAT system continued to upgrade, with a focus on environmental responsibility, beginning its Clean Fuels Program with the introduction of propane-powered vehicles in 2003. The next year, the KAT system was named North American Transit System of the Year by the American Public Transportation Association. In 2010, the transit system again changed facilities, moving its center of operations to the John J. Duncan Jr. Knoxville Station. In 2014, KAT introduced three hybrid vehicles into its regular fleet.

Beginning in March 2020, all fares are free and riders must wear masks upon boarding, in addition to rear door boarding. Fare collections resumed in February 2021; all busses will have driver shields to minimize interaction.

Routes

Regular Knoxville area routes

	Route name	Inner Terminal	Outer Terminal	7-day service
10	Sequoyah Hills Commuter	Knoxville Station (Platform N)	Keowee at Kenesaw
11	Kingston Pike	Knoxville Station (Platform O)	Walmart at Walbrook Drive	•
12	Western Avenue	Knoxville Station (Platform E)	Industrial Parkway	•
13	Beaumont Connector	Health Department at Dameron and Central (Connection to Route 20 Central Avenue)	Middlebrook Pike at 3rd Creek Rd (Connection to Rt 90 Crosstown Connector)
16	Cedar Bluff Connector	Walmart at Walbrook Drive	Windsor Square
17	Sutherland Avenue/ Bearden	Knoxville Station (Platform Q)	Forest Park	*
19	Lakeshore/Lonas Connector	Earth Fare (at Forest Park)	Lonas at Coleman / Sunflower Apts.
20	Central Avenue / Clinton Highway	Knoxville Station (Platform G)	Northwest Crossing	•
21	Lincoln Park	Knoxville Station (Platform B)	Chickamauga at Broadway
22	Broadway	Knoxville Station (Platform H)	Jacksboro at Essary	•
23	Millertown	Knoxville Station (Platform I)	Knoxville Center Mall	•
24	Inskip	Knoxville Station (Platform G)	Knox Road Transfer Point
30	Parkridge	Knoxville Station (Platform B)	Cecil at Crockett
31	Magnolia Avenue	Knoxville Station (Platform F)	Burns Rd. at Asheville Hwy.	•
32	Dandridge Avenue	Knoxville Station (Platform A)	Golden Age Retirement Village
33	MLK Jr Avenue	Knoxville Station (Platform Q)	Knoxville Center Mall	•
34	Burlington	Knoxville Station (Platform D)	Kirk at Catalpa	•
40	South Knoxville	Knoxville Station (Platform R)	Chapman Hwy.
41	Chapman Highway	Knoxville Station (Platform P)	Walmart at John Sevier Highway	•
42	Fort Sanders/UT Hospital	Knoxville Station (Platform M)	UT Hospital	*
44	University Park Apartments	University Park Apartments	UT Transfer Point
45	Vestal	Knoxville Station (Platform S)	Chapman Hwy.
90	Crosstown Connector	Walmart at Walbrook Drive	East Town Mall

Lines with asterisks (*) denote lines that operate daily.

Gameday Shuttles

KAT offers special shuttles for football games, which operate solely on specific dates. All lines terminate at Neyland Stadium. These lines are assigned the special "51" designator.

	Outer Terminus
51A	Civic Coliseum
51C	Farragut High Parking Lot
51D	Old City
51E	Market Square / Krutch Park

Knoxville Trolley Lines

Knoxville Trolley bus

Line		Destinations
Blue Line		Knoxville Station, Civic Coliseum, Waterfront
Green Line		Old City, Gay Street
Orange Line		University of Tennessee, Downtown

The LIFT

KAT offers Paratransit LIFT service for those persons who are unable to use regular fixed-route buses. The LIFT is by reservation only, and you must be certified by KAT to use the service.

Hours

KAT buses operate 6:15 a.m. until 11:15 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 8:15 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. on Sundays. KAT does not operate on the following holidays: New Years Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The Saturday schedule is in effect on Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, the day before Christmas and the day after Thanksgiving.

As of January 2, 2020 the following routes offer 7-day service: 11, 12, 17, 20, 22, 23, 31, 33, 34, 41, and 42.

External links

• Official website