Carroll Duckworth, director of transportation services for Community Action of Southern Kentucky, will oversee GO bg Transit.

Duckworth to lead transportation services

{child_byline}By DON SERGENT

dsergent@bgdailynews.com

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GO bg Transit, Bowling Green’s main public transportation service, is under new management. But don’t expect major changes in the service right away.

Carroll Duckworth, whose background includes years as a newspaper circulation manager and a stint as a contractor for Federal Express, started Aug. 1 as director of transportation services for Community Action of Southern Kentucky.

He replaced Donna Tooley, who is retiring after 17 years of directing Community Action’s transportation services.

“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to provide services that are needed in the city,” Duckworth said. “I do want to look at where our routes are and if they’re meeting the needs of the general public. But that can’t be done overnight. We need to do some studying before we make those decisions.”

Community Action operates GO bg Transit under a contract with the city of Bowling Green, which is receiving $1.2 million in Federal Transit Administration dollars this year to operate a public transit system and matches that grant with $430,000 out of the city’s general fund and $60,000 in state funding.

That funding and revenue from fares allow GO bg Transit to operate six routes that cover most of downtown Bowling Green as well as the Greenwood Mall, Lovers Lane and Western Kentucky University areas.

Duckworth is coming into the position at a time of change for the transit service. GO bg Transit averaged 108,000 passenger trips per year over the past three years and had 7,535 passengers last month, but ridership dipped by about 20 percent last year after Community Action implemented a new route structure recommended by national consulting firm WSP Parsons Brinkerhoff.

“They did a study and recommended that the routes be changed,” Duckworth said. “Ridership slipped, so they reverted back to the old routes and ridership has increased.”

Looking for further ridership increases, Duckworth and interim Community Action Executive Director Don Butler are looking for ways to promote what they see as a transportation bargain.

With fares of $2 for adults and $1 for seniors and discounts for multiple-ride packages, GO bg Transit generated $73,000 in revenue last year. Butler believes Duckworth can help both ridership and revenue increase.

Butler said a partnership with Bowling Green’s American Legion Post 23 is boosting ridership and helping military veterans get to the Veterans Administration Clinic in Bowling Green and to Post 23 on Dishman Lane for rides to the VA Hospital in Nashville.

“The American Legion reimburses the agency for those tickets,” Butler said. “It has been well-received.”

Butler pointed out that Community Action started providing public transportation in 1994 with a single van. Federal funding started in 2003, according to city of Bowling Green Grants Coordinator Nick Cook. Now that it is running six routes and covering much of the city, GO bg Transit just needs some promotion, Butler said.

“I’m excited about Carroll joining the staff,” said Butler, who served on the Community Action staff from 1985 through 2005 and was brought out of retirement in April to replace former chief executive Melissa Weaver. “He has a lot of creative ideas about how to market our transit service.”

Duckworth has already started studying what other cities are doing, and he said to expect more communication about GO bg Transit.

“We want to try to benchmark what we’re doing in comparison to what other public transit systems are doing,” he said. “We have to constantly look at what the public demand is and how we can best serve the public.

“It’s important to always communicate. Part of our job is to educate the general public. A lot of people may not even know that a public transit system exists in Bowling Green. We need to market ourselves.”

– More information about GO bg Transit can be found online at www.casoky.org/transportation or by calling 270-782-3162.

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– Follow business reporter Don Sergent on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.

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