On a weekday morning, Route 4 buses leave the Downtown Transfer Center at 7:05, 7:21, 7:35 and 7:51. At New Cut Road and 3rd Street Road, the same morning's southbound buses come through at 7:15, 7:45 and 8:15. Same route, same number on the sign, but buses come half as often.
TARC's redesigned network launched Sunday, August 2, 2026. Its headline promise is buses every 15 minutes all day on Broadway, Bardstown, Preston, 4th Street, Dixie Highway and Market Street. On Route 4's timetable, that comes out to buses about every 15 minutes on weekday daytimes downtown and on 4th Street, with 30-minute gaps early in the morning, in the evening and all day Saturday. Even the weekday 15-minute pattern ends a little past Churchill Downs, and from there south through Beechmont, Iroquois and Southside, Route 4 runs on a 30-minute clock on weekdays and an hourly clock on weekends.
Where the 15-minute trips turn around
TARC's written route description lists Route 4 as two patterns under one number. The full route runs from the Downtown Transfer Center along 7th Street, Broadway, 4th Street, Central Avenue past Churchill Downs, then 3rd Street past Iroquois Manor Shopping Center, Kenwood Drive and New Cut Road past Iroquois Park and Auburndale Village Shopping Center, ending at the Walmart on Outer Loop. TARC lists that full trip at every 30 minutes. The 15-minute pattern covers the same path only as far as 3rd Street.
The weekday timetable shows exactly where the split happens. Some trips are marked to end at 3rd Street and Central Station Boulevard. Every stop past that point gets only the full-route buses. Old Route 4 used to cover Wilder Park, Beechmont, Southside, Auburndale and New Cut Market Center, and old Route 6 covered the Iroquois Park and Auburndale corridor. Both of those southern pieces now fold into the new Route 4. So the south end didn't get a new bus line in August. It got one combined route whose frequent trips stop short of the neighborhood.
The clock at Southside's stops
Here is how the published timetable, effective August 2, 2026, plays out at the stops south of the turnaround.
| Day | Downtown Transfer Center | Southern stops: 3rd @ Woodlawn, New Cut @ 3rd Street Road, New Cut @ Southside | Last southbound trip at New Cut @ 3rd Street Road |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weekday | About every 15 minutes in the daytime | About every 30 minutes until roughly 7 p.m., then hourly from about 8 p.m. | 11:11 p.m. |
| Saturday | Every 30 minutes | Hourly all day | 10:41 p.m. |
| Sunday and holidays | Shorter span, about 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. | Roughly hourly | 9:40 p.m. |
The Saturday row is the one that catches people. Downtown, Saturday buses leave every 30 minutes from 5:05 a.m. to 10:35 p.m. At 3rd and Woodlawn, southbound Saturday buses are listed at 9:33, 10:34 and 11:34 in the morning, one an hour, and the last is at 10:30 p.m. The northbound side is the same. At New Cut and Southside, Saturday buses toward downtown are listed at 5:13, 6:14, 7:18 and 8:18 p.m. Once a northbound bus reaches 3rd and Central Station Boulevard, it's back in a pattern with buses every 30 minutes.
On Sundays, the last listed trips are 9:18 p.m. at New Cut and Southside, 9:29 p.m. at 3rd and Woodlawn, and 9:40 p.m. at New Cut and 3rd Street Road.
What an hourly clock means for Jack's Lantern Trail Saturdays
This month is when the gap matters most. Jack's Lantern Trail runs nightly at Iroquois Park from October 1 through November 1, 2026, with thousands of carved pumpkins and work from 30-plus local artists. Tickets start at $12, and proceeds go to the Parks Alliance of Louisville. According to the Iroquois Amphitheater's event page, doors open at 7 p.m.
On October 5, TARC announced a partnership with the Parks Alliance for Fridays and Saturdays through October. Here's how it works:
- Park for free at New Cut Peddlers Mall.
- Board Route 4 at Murphy's filling station.
- Show the driver your active Jack's Lantern Trail ticket for that day.
- Ride to the Iroquois Park entrance.
The offer runs on the two nights with the most different Route 4 schedules. A Friday runs on the weekday timetable, so southern stops still have buses about every 30 minutes into early evening before going hourly around 8 p.m. A Saturday runs hourly at those stops all day. On a Saturday, missing a bus on New Cut Road can mean a wait of close to an hour. TARC's own release tells visitors to check Transit App or Google Maps for the latest Route 4 trip information before heading out. If you'd rather skip the bus, the trail's site lists free onsite parking.
Three Saturdays are left in October: the 17th, the 24th and Halloween on the 31st. The trail's final night is Sunday, November 1, when Route 4's southern stops are on the Sunday schedule that ends around 9:30 p.m.
Fewer stops on 3rd Street, too
Where you board changed in August along with when. TARC consolidated stops across the network to about one every two to three blocks and said roughly half of its existing stops would be discontinued, which can mean a longer walk. TARC's stop-change sheet lists these former Route 4 stops on 3rd Street as not served after August 1, 2026:
- 3rd @ Iroquois Manor
- 3rd @ Kenwood
- 3rd @ Kenwood Hill
- 3rd @ Kenwood Way
- 3rd @ Lone Oak
3rd @ Woodlawn and 3rd @ Southern Heights are still Route 4 stops. Woodlawn is the stop for Iroquois Library at 601 W. Woodlawn Avenue. The library's listed hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. On a weekday, a library visit fits inside the half-hourly window. A Sunday afternoon visit, from 1 to 5, depends on buses that come about once an hour.
The same math applies to errands farther south. The Kroger at 5533 New Cut Road in Auburndale lists daily hours of 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. On a Saturday, the last southbound trips at New Cut and 3rd Street Road are listed at 9:41 and 10:41 p.m. On the Beechmont end, Beechmont Bakeshop at 1314 Bluegrass Avenue lists hours of 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Those hours fall entirely inside the daytime part of the schedule. Saturday is the one day it's open when the nearby Route 4 stops run hourly.
What TARC has said since launch
Louisville Public Media reported on August 3 that the new network came with revised routes, fewer stops, new route numbers and a 12% overall reduction in service. TARC offered free rides August 2 through 16 and sent ambassadors out to help riders learn the new system.
By late September, Spectrum News reported that TARC said ridership remained strong and on-time performance was near its 80% goal. Spectrum's records request also turned up nearly 100 rider complaints filed between August 2 and August 31, including complaints about lost stops and longer commutes. According to Spectrum, TARC said the new Downtown Transfer Center was handling 1,400 to 1,500 riders a day, compared with a launch projection of about 1,000 daily transfers, and that the agency plans to review the network every six months.
Six months from the August 2 launch is early February 2027. The only Route 4 change posted since launch was a temporary detour from October 1 to October 4. No permanent timetable revision has been posted. Until a review changes something, the August 2 timetable is the one Southside riders are on. For trip-specific changes, TARC's Route 4 page has alert sign-ups by email or text.
At ZHomes Real Estate, we track the details that shape everyday life in South Louisville, from a bus timetable to a weekend at Iroquois Park, and we're glad to talk them through in English or Spanish. If you want to know how Route 4 and the rest of the south end's routines play out on a particular street, reach out to our team.
