By Andy Sevilla
An attempt by Kyle city leaders in 2009 to create a municipal small-scale transit system never materialized. That proposal resulted in the loss of more than $100,000 on an unsuccessful local mass-transit project.
The city purchased four trolleys in 2009 at a cost of $25,000 each, from the city’s general fund, with the intent to provide unique transportation services between major commercial areas in Kyle, including service to Seton Hospital, HEB, the historic downtown and to motels, according to city documents.
After the transit project failed mechanically, city leaders declined to invest more money on the six-figure project as the economy had slumped and austerity measures were taking hold locally, Assistant City Manager James Earp said.
“It’s just one of those things where you think it was a good idea – I though it was a good idea,” Earp said. “It just needed support in a different way than it received in order to be successful.”
On April 1 Kyle council members cut their losses and approved the auctioning of the trolleys to the highest bidder.
The online auction hosting the trolleys closed on April 23, and the city sold the four vehicles at a combined price of $12,030 to two high bidders, each taking two of the electric buses, according to an internal email by city staffers.
Kyle took a loss of over $114,000 in the sale of the trolleys.
“I’m glad we were able to recoup some of our funds,” said Mayor Lucy Johnson, who in 2009, as a council member, voted against acquiring the electric vehicles.
Johnson said that at the time she wasn’t optimistic that a local trolley program would be successful. “There just isn’t enough day-time population in Kyle.” But, she said after the majority on council supported the project, city staff did their best to make it work.
A recent cost itemization for the trolleys shows the city spent $126,262 on the electric buses, their transport to Kyle, paint and bodywork, and for charging stations. That cost doesn’t include travel, food and lodging for then-City Manager Tom Mattis and Earp who traveled to Mobile, Alabama to inspect the trolleys before purchase.
The trolleys, which were to set in motion the city’s first in-house mass-transit service, were used only for about two months to shuttle the public between businesses and shopping centers along Kyle Parkway, and to city-sponsored events, Earp said.
The electric vehicles however, plagued with continuous mechanical and electrical problems, were taken off service by city management and have for years been stored in the Public Works Department’s yard. The trolleys failed to maintain continuous electric charge to cover normal operating range, Johnson said.
“Just like any asset that you buy, you’re never going to recover what you pay for it,” Earp said, adding that had the city invested more money on the project ensuring they were functional the trolley system could have been successful and not for sale.
When purchased the trolleys were useable and operable, according to April 21, 2009 city council minutes. The four trolleys were working when they were taken out of service in Mobile, Alabama, and they were maintained every 120 days, the minutes state.
The four electric vehicles were in good cosmetic and good mechanical condition, each with approximately 50,000 miles used. Each trolley accommodated up to 28 total passengers per unit, with 18 persons seated and ten standing, the minutes state about the features of the trolleys.
When the city purchased the trolleys on April 1, 2009, the vehicles had been in service for about seven years, the minutes state, adding that the electric buses were purchased new in 2001 at a cost of over $1.2 million.
The $12,000 the city made on the sale of the trolleys will be deposited back into the city’s general fund and made available during next fiscal year’s budget.
