By Moses Leos III
On Tuesday night, the Kyle City Council voted 4-2 to keep a transportation service running that was close to being shut down.
Capital Area Rural Transportation Services (CARTS) will continue to run in Kyle on a month-to-month basis following the vote. Dissenting votes Tuesday came from Ray Bryant and Chad Benninghoff.
Benninghoff said he was against it, saying he felt the city was paying too much money for a small ridership.
The city believes it will spend approximately $8,000 per month beginning in November. The city received help via matching federal funds coming from the Urbanized Area Formula Program, or 5307, funds provided by the Federal Transit Administration. Kyle will pay its share from the city’s General Fund Reserves.
Prior to Tuesday, Kyle was running out of time to keep services going.
When the 2010 U.S. Census data came out, Kyle and Buda had grown up, so to speak. Now in the Austin metropolitan area, the two burgeoning cities can no longer claim rural status. As a result, paratransit service, provided by the CARTS, could no longer fund service to the area.
With an iconic paint scheme, and curb-to-curb service, CARTS paratransit buses are how many Hays
| With an eye-popping paint scheme, a Paratransit bus from the Capital Area Rural Transportation Service (CARTS) turns right onto Burleson Street in Kyle. Due to Kyle and Buda falling into the Austin Metropolitan Area, CARTS can no longer fund paratransit service to Kyle or Buda. Photo by Moses Leos III. |
county residents get around to places, such as to grocery stories and doctors’ offices.
Under a previous deadline of Oct. 31, those familiar buses would have been a thing of the past unless Kyle ponied up for the service. Some funding would come from federal transportation dollars.
But for the 51 Kyle residents currently serviced, the city would have to pay CARTS $54,000 for the year, or $1,058.82 a person. That figure was not allotted in the city’s recently passed budget. The $54,000 will match federal funds.
CARTS is a Rural Transit District formed through an interlocal agreement by nine county governments, which includes Bastrop, Burnet, Blanco, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays and Lee Counties, and non-urbanized areas of Travis and Williamson counties.
Its largest focus lies in Kyle. David Marsh, general manager of CARTS, said service was extended in Buda in 2000, despite not being part of the district. While there is some ridership in Buda, CARTS does not have as regular of a contracted schedule as in Kyle.
Since the 2010 Census data became available, CARTS and Kyle have been working on extending service, with no clear resolution. The city knew of the deadline, but were slow in responding to it.
CARTS paratransit service was scheduled to end in Kyle and Buda on Aug. 31 but the deadline was extended until Oct. 31. Marsh said the agency used unexpired funds to pay for the extension.
However, in a letter to Kyle City Manager Lanny Lambert obtained by the Hays Free Press, CARTS said it was not able to extend service to the area any longer.
Marsh said only Medicaid recipients would have curb-to-curb service, as contracted by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (THHSC). Patrons would have access to doctors’ appointments and to pick up prescriptions – the same service as paratransit.
Had the deadline passed, those interested in riding a CARTS vehicle would have had to obtain a referral from the THHSC, and then set up an appointment through that agency. Previously, individuals could call CARTS to set up a pick-up time.
For the past several years, 69-year-old Tommie White, a 29-year resident of Kyle, depends on Paratransit buses.
No longer able to drive, White uses the service for doctor’s appointments, prescriptions and grocery shopping.
White enjoys the service, as it gives her freedom. It also lessens the stress on her family to take her where she needs to go.
“I depend on [CARTS] for a lot of things,” White said. “To go grocery shopping, or to Wal-Mart, and to the doctor’s office.”
While the city has found a short term solution, what can they do in the long run?
There was no clear-cut answer from either Kyle or CARTS.
CARTS had planned to possibly extend its regional interurban services to Seton Medical Center Hays. The service makes stops along IH-35, including San Marcos, Austin Georgetown and Round Rock.
However, it was only a plan. No stops have yet been added and no decisions have been finalized.
In Kyle, Lambert said the city has not received a proposal from Capital Metro. Buda did. review a proposal to run buses only to Southpark Meadows and back. The city axed the service due to budgetary constraints..
Jerry Hendrix, director of communications and community development in Kyle, said Kyle had been working with San Marcos for future transit ideas, believing it would fall into the San Marcos metropolitan area.
Kyle officials talked with CARTS on possibly using the Carts Around Town (CAT) paratransit system in San Marcos. Other plans were discussed, but Lambert said none panned out.
The reasoning stems from Kyle falling into the Austin metro area, thus having been bracketed into the Capital Metro transit system.
But, with the month-to-month agreement in Kyle, local residents who use the system can breathe a small sigh of relief – at least for a while. Kyle and CARTS will continue to hammer out a long term solution.
Kyle hopes to pay for service for only three months. The city hopes by that time, the council, staff and CARTS can work out a long-term deal ready for adoption.
