MINOT, N.D. (KXNET) — Bus routes are expanding in an effort to provide more transportation coverage to the Magic City.

Currently, there are six bus routes running on weekdays, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The southwest route would provide service near the new Trinity Hospital, Walmart, and CVS, and the north route will go north of the airport and west of Erik Ramstad Middle School.

Brian Horinka, the transit superintendent says the new routes are especially important because Minot doesn’t have taxis anymore.

“When Ramstad went in up where it went into, there wasn’t a whole lot else up there,” Horinka explained. “There wasn’t a lot of need for public transit in that area so we weren’t able to provide service there. Well now over the years, there’s been additional housing and things put up there to make it more lucrative for a transit system to run in the area. And then of course, when you have a major move like Trinity moving their entire operations into a new location, that’s a very large transit generator. And we need to make sure we provide for them.”

Horinka says bus drivers need to be hired in order for the routes to start running, and the city will provide training if someone needs it.

If the new bus routes don’t start between June 1 and August 1, then they will start next summer.