LAID OFF AND PISSED

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB Fox 41) -- No one likes to get the word he or she is losing a job.

Over the weekend, several bus drivers and transit authority maintenance workers got certified letters telling them they're on the chopping block. Monday, TARC board members and the chairman got an earful.

Erica Levy is a driver who's upset.

"I left a great opportunity to come here -- I did," she said. "I'm not just any crap off the street -- that's walking off the street. I actually gave up a position to come here. I actually really liked this job -- I really did. And I felt so small...that you would mail me a letter like I really didn't matter."

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Like her colleagues, she's hurt because they didn't get the word face-to-face from transit authority bosses. Thirty-nine transportation department workers -- mostly drivers and six maintenance workers -- will be fired or given the option to work part-time.

"You know, it's ugly," TARC Director Barry Barker tells Fox 41. "We don't want to be put in this situation. We're putting 40 to 50 people out of a job."

TARC says it has to be done. Today the board also approved the elimination of four routes, and changed or altered several others. The transit authority increased express fares by a dollar, to $2.50 one way, and increased senior and disability fares by fifty cents on express routes.

The new schedules take effect June 6. The fare increases July 1. The employee layoffs, June 6.