Brittany Kelley
KYLE — Kyle City Council voted to reduce the city’s Uber 3.14 program offerings and scale back city events at its special meeting Saturday, June 27.
Beginning with the history of the Public Transportation Program, senior planner Kaela Sharp noted that the Uber Kyle $3.14 Voucher Program was established in October 2020, with the intention to replace an underutilized bus service and expand transportation options in the area. An expansion to include airport and Veterans Affairs (VA) vouchers occurred in October 2021, followed by Maruti Transportation (MT) Connect for wheelchair accessible rides in 2022.
The program runs by issuing three voucher types monthly, which are downloaded by users from the City of Kyle mobile app and linked to the Uber account. The first is Uber Kyle — valid on rides within the city’s boundaries and some areas of the extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) — which has 2,000 sets of vouchers, each valid for 10 rides per month. When a ride that meets the criteria is requested, a base cost of $3.14 is charged; Kyle then covers the next $10, leaving the residents to pay any remainder cost above $13.14.
Other vouchers are as follows:
Uber VA
• 400 sets of vouchers, each set for two rides per month
• Valid on rides to and from the Austin VA clinic
• Base cost is $3.14
• City covers the remainder, up to $60
Uber Kyle Airport
• 1,000 sets of vouchers, each set valid for two rides per month
• Valid on rides to and from the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
• Cost-share is 50% of the total cost; though, previously, it was 31.4% for the resident and 68.6% to the city, until September 2025
• City’s maximum contribution is $50
MT Connect
• Same boundaries as those in the aforementioned vouchers
• Cost to rider is $3.14
• The city pays a monthly fixed rate of $14,500, plus $25 per ride
Although the program was in budget the initial two years, since fiscal year 2022-23, it has consistently gone over budget, in amounts ranging from $99,000 to $430,000 per year. Staff estimates that by the end of the current fiscal year, it will be over $324,868.
Sharp stated that staff is looking into a resident verification process, along with grant opportunities and other wheelchair accessible options. Despite this, recommendations to modify the locations served, to raise the base price to $7, reduce service hours or eliminate the airport vouchers, which would save approximately $200,000 annually, were presented.
Council member Claudia Zapata requested that staff provide information on unique riders, the times the services and specific vouchers are used and where, as this would aid the council in determining what direction to move forward with for public transportation.
Sharing concerns with the price increases was council member Lauralee Harris, who stated that older adults may use the service to receive a $6 lunch at KASZ, but that by potentially raising the prices to $7, they could be priced out.
“I share council member Harris’ concern that $7 might price people out of the ability to use it, especially our most income-restricted residents. I know there’s a lot of fixed-income seniors that use this program, a lot of disabled people that use this program [and] a lot of youth that don’t have significant income that use this program to get back and forth to work,” said council member Marc McKinney. “In my mind, I wish there was a way we could have some sort of income-based tiered structure, but implementing that would cost us more than what we would end up saving in the long run. I have a hard time agreeing to go all the way to $7.”
McKinney also stated that he feels as though those who can afford to fly can afford to find transportation to get to the airport, so he was in favor of eliminating these vouchers.
“Five for the ride” was what council member Michael Tobias suggested.
All three noted that cutting the hours is concerning, whether that be for older adults, preventing drunk-driving or students using it for extracurricular activities.
“I think we just need to do a better job [of] how we monitor these accounts because it does seem kind of fishy that you have all these vouchers that are going out and we could have somebody that’s applying for multiple accounts just to get those vouchers,” said Tobias.
Mayor Yvonne Flores-Cale agreed with an idea that Zapata brought forward about setting a limit each month, such as $50,000, and stopping the services once the city pays this amount.
Near the end of the discussion, council member Courtney Goza shared that she discovered that the VA covers and reimburses ride shares for veterans anyway, so the city does not need to pay for these vouchers.
“I don’t want to touch the VA program because I think it just provides such essential services and, if anything, I’m trying to find ways to beef it up,” said Zapata.
The following motions were approved unanimously by council:
• Updating the service area to only Kyle city limits
• Changing the base cost to $5
• Eliminating the airport vouchers
Council voted 6-1, with McKinney dissenting, on reducing the hours to 6 a.m. to midnight.
Moving onto the public events portion of the presentation, assistant city manager Jesse Elizondo noted that there are 43 events and series hosted annually, with programming designed for all ages. These serve 35,000 participants and more than 850 vendors, with a current annual operation budget of $795,500.
The behind the scenes of these events have varying timeliness, according to the presentation — with smaller gatherings taking three to six months to plan, while large and destination experiences are from eight months to a year — and budget, ranging from $8,000 for Center Street Trick-or-Treat to $25,000 for City Fest. However, some events, like Kyle Fair, do have a stream of revenue. For example, although there was a direct cost of $310,000 for the Kyle Fair, it generated $22,000.
After reviewing the many events, council was asked to determine the future of them moving forward.
Goza stated that she was in favor of reducing the number of Market Days. She has also gotten feedback from visitors that the music is so loud that it is difficult to communicate with others or for vendors to do business. This could be remedied by removing the large band stage, said Goza, for something more acoustic, which Harris agreed.
“If we go from eight to four, I think it’ll be better attended because they’re more sparse, and then, also the vendors will get more out of them because there’s more people there,” said Elizondo.
With the recent decision to remove the Hispanic Heritage Market Day, Zapata requested staff look into having an international market day to celebrate various cultures, perhaps aligned with Hays CISD’s designated heritage days throughout the year.
The Pride event was also cancelled: “I will firmly say that Pride is exceptionally important,” said Zapata. “I remember the first time I was called a dyke; I was 11 years old and that does not leave you — ever. So, if it costs $3,500 a month for the city to put on an event that would help a child feel welcomed and loved and appreciated and not feel so alone, it is more than worth it.”
Harris agreed with Zapata, but opted to advocate for six dates, instead of four. A spring and fall event, said Tobias, would be better, as this would allow more vendors to sign up, with a bigger turnout.
“I think keeping it simple is the way it should be. Not to say that I don’t support the cultural aspect of what we were trying to merge, but I don’t think a market day is necessarily the right venue for those things,” said McKinney.
Although Flores-Cale stated that she supports the representation and the educational aspect, she agreed with McKinney about keeping the market days simple. Organizations that provide support and services can be at any event, not just specific themes, she said.
“Regardless of what my personal opinion is and that is, I do support the [LGBTQIA+] community … I represent a city of 60,000 people and I have to take everybody into consideration,” said the mayor. “I cannot sit up here and make votes based on what I want because I have 60,000 people I have to think about and as much as I do support the community in other ways, I also have to think about other people.”
Flores-Cale made a motion to hold market days twice a year in the spring and fall, with a second from Tobias. The item passed 5-2, with Harris and Zapata dissenting. Elizondo clarified that this included removing the large stage and, instead, looking for a smaller musical aspect and finding new ways to incorporate cultural events.
Regarding other events, council voted 7-0 to:
• July 4th: reduce to just fireworks
• Kyle Fair: reduce to a day-an- a-half event, with a 6 p.m. start time on Friday
• Center Street Trick-or-Treat: restructure
• City Fest: eliminate and have further conversations of how to provide residents with a State of the City address at a later date
• 25 Days of Christmas: reduce the number of events and number of parks with lights
• Santa’s Arrival: remove and merge with Santa Rides
• Santa Rides: restructure and combine with Santa’s Arrival for tree lighting
• Jams on the Green: reducing to four times a year and move the event to Saturday instead of Thursday
• Movie in the Parks: reducing from 11 to four events a year
• Texas Recreation and Park Society Unplug: eliminate the event
Originally, staff shared that Grinch on the Green is a growing, successful event, so no changes were recommended, but Goza stated that with the other Christmas event and the load it puts on employees, she recommended removing it.
Zapata considered an option for reducing the five-hour event, as she feels as though the Grinch having a full day to himself is “very Grinch-like.” Though, staff shared that this was to ensure as many community members were able to meet him as much as possible, since last year, some were turned away, due to time constraints.
“I think it is a super unique event,” said Harris. “I think that it has become a part of Kyle; it’s looked forward to and people from all around come for that. I love the lighting [and] turning La Verde green just makes sense. It’s beautiful. I would suggest leaving it how it is.”
Both McKinney and Tobias agreed, stating that it’s a “Kyle original” and well-attended and well-received.
Ultimately, council chose to continue with the event, but shorten it from five hours to three hours. It passed 5-1, with Goza dissenting. Zapata was not in the room for the vote.
The following events were unchanged: National First Responders Day, Easter Eggstravaganza, Founders’ Day Parade, Veterans Day Parade, Memorial Day, 9/11 Ceremony, Flag Day and Storytime in the Park.
To listen to the discussions, visit bit.ly/4oVmna0.
