It’ll be free to hop on the bus this week in Tuscaloosa.
The Tuscaloosa News reports the city's transit authority is offering free rides across the city as it unveils an entirely new bus route.
Executive Director Russell Lawrence says the authority changed some stops on other routes, leading to the decision to waive the $1 for bus fare or 20 cents to transfer citywide.
It's the system's first new route since 2011.
Tuscaloosa officials project the new route and a new paratransit van will cost the transit system an additional $115,000 a year to operate. A $300,000 federal grant is paying for the 30-passenger bus and the paratransit van.
City Councilwoman Sonya McKinstry sought out the new route, saying constituents had been walking to work and shop along a dangerous road.
