SporTran lays out which bus routes are being eliminated, changed in Bossier City

SHREVEPORT/BOSSIER CITY, La. (KSLA) — People who ride the bus in Bossier City will learn about the public transit service’s proposed new schedule Tuesday.

A public meeting will be held at 3 p.m. in the Bossier City Council chambers, 620 Benton Road in Bossier City. The session has been called to discuss the finalization of SporTran’s new service plan for Bossier City.

Bossier City Council members voted Jan. 10 to reduce funding to SporTran by $400,000 due to budget constraints.

District 3 Councilman Don Williams provided the following statement to KSLA regarding the budget cut:

“We made budget cuts because we had to take some items out of our budget and that had to be one of them.”

SporTran CEO Dinero Washington said the public transit agency is making do with the new changes. “I understand they have a budget crisis. We’re working with them, We have a great relationship with Bossier.”

By the same token, he said, “we’re concerned because it does affect the people who have to get to work.

“We were notified of these changes in January. So we ran our January budget as normal,” Washington explained. “That means that that cut into the $500,000 quite heavily. So we’re working with about $415,000 to operate in Bossier for the rest of the year.”

Beginning Feb. 5, SporTran no longer will offer service in Bossier City from 9 am -2 pm on weekdays. Night and weekend service also will be cut. Routes 105 and 107 will be eliminated as well.

“We will operate that schedule from 5:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.; and then again from 2 p.m. to a little after 5 p.m. will be the service Monday-Friday in Bossier,” Washington explained.

He encouraged people to reach out to their council member to let them know how the changes affect them.

SporTran’s website details the schedule changes and eliminations.

Services that will be eliminated include:

🚌 Route 5 — midday

🚏 Route 16 — midday

🚌 Route 20 — Shreveport/Bossier City circulator (Monday-Friday)

🚏 Route 20 — midday

🚌 Route 105 — which previously provided night and weekend service only

🚏 Route 107 — which previously provided night and weekend service only

🚌 OnDemand/paratransit — midday, nights and weekends

The chart below shows the new schedule. Washington said the changes actually will go into effect Feb. 5.

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