© 2024 KMUW
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

City Of Wichita Getting New Trolley Buses

Nadya Faulx
/
KMUW/File photo
Wichita Transit has been awarded $2.6 million grant to replace older Q-Line trolley buses.

The city of Wichita will be getting new trolley buses soon.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA)awarded Wichita Transit a $2.6 million grant to replace older Q-Line trolley buses that are at the end of their service life.

The new trolleys will help the city keep up with a growing number of riders and increased service.

A transit sustainability report released last fall showed ridership on the trolley increased from 1,100 riders each month to nearly 11,000 in July and August.

Credit Wichita Transit

Wichita expanded its Q-Line trolley service nearly a year ago by adding new routes and longer hours.

The Q-Line is free. It connects downtown Wichita with the Delano and College Hill neighborhoods.

The Q-Line also offered expanded service during last month’s NCAA basketball tournament activities.

The trolleys operate from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 5 p.m. until 1 a.m. on Fridays and from 8 a.m. to 1 a.m. on Saturdays, with service every 10 minutes. The Q also has two lunch routes on weekdays.

Wichita was one of 139 projects in 52 states and territories that will receive funding from the FTA’s Buses and Bus Facilities Infrastructure Investment Program.

The grants will fund projects to replace, rehabilitate and purchase buses and related equipment, as well as projects to purchase, rehabilitate and construct bus-related facilities, such as buildings for bus storage and maintenance.

--

Follow Deborah Shaar on Twitter @deborahshaar.

 
To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.

 

Deborah joined the news team at KMUW in September 2014 as a news reporter. She spent more than a dozen years working in news at both public and commercial radio and television stations in Ohio, West Virginia and Detroit, Michigan. Before relocating to Wichita in 2013, Deborah taught news and broadcasting classes at Tarrant County College in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area.