Low ridership was once again a topic of discussion at this week’s Murray – Calloway County Transit Authority meeting. MCTA Executive Director Bjarne Hansen says the number of riders is a constant concern, but he says it doesn’t need to be. He says,
“Month by month there are different numbers. They kinda go up and kinda go down depending on ridership. Last month, of course, was a down month. But in that respect I still think we’re… comparing last year to this year, we’re still looking at record ridership.”
Hansen says he thinks they will see an increase in riders again when students return to school next month. MCTA's operating funds come mostly from grants, the city of Murray and Murray State University. Murray State Staff Regent Dr. Jack Rose, at the board's last quarterly meeting, asked university officials to re-evaulate it's subsidy for the transit authority citing what he called low ridership. Hansen says he's still looking at ways to become more efficient.
