The cities of Buda and Kyle are taking a hard look at public transportation.

The city of Kyle ended bus services Dec. 31 because low ridership numbers could not justify the costs associated with it, city officials said.

“I don’t think the demand is there,” Kyle Mayor Todd Webster said. “Even if there was we don’t have the resources to provide it.”

But at its Feb. 2 meeting, Kyle City Council voted 6-1 to direct staff to find a viable replacement for the Capital Area Rural Transit System, or CARTS, which provided a bus residents could request 24 hours in advance to take them to specific destinations within the Capital Metro service area. Webster voted against the measure.

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City Council also stipulated in its motion that the transportation service could not exceed $50,000 in annual city operating expenditures.

Council Member Diane Hervol, who requested the item be placed on the agenda, said she has heard from several of Kyle’s senior residents interested in some form of public transportation service to travel to and from doctor’s appointments.

“I want us to consider either reaching out to some of these different [resident] groups and/or trying to create some sort of transportation system that will meet that need,” Hervol said. “We are attracting more and more seniors here.”

The city of Kyle provided $75,000 in funding to CARTS bus services in fiscal years 2013-14 and 2014-15. Those funds were matched annually with about $45,000 in federal funding, a city spokesperson said. But only 46 people rode the bus in FY 2014-15. Of those 46, only four rode the bus on a weekly basis, city data show.

Kyle had been paying for demand-response service operated by CARTS—through a contract with regional transit provider Capital Metro—since FY 2013-14, after the city exceeded an eligibility threshold of 10,000 inhabitants in the 2010 U.S. census. Demand-response service involves public transportation users who request a trip to specific destinations as opposed to receiving service on a fixed route.

Webster said the service was not only underutilized but also abused. A city analysis of CARTS ridership found that several of the most frequent bus riders lived outside the city limits, city officials said.

Residents from senior apartment complex The Overlook at Plum Creek, a city address from which CARTS service was used 60 times in FY 2014-15, commented before council about the need for public transportation in Kyle.

City spokesperson Kim Hilsenbeck said the city is setting up a meeting with The Overlook’s property management team to discuss transportation.

“Nothing has been officially decided, but the city and the property management team are working to find solutions and to assist residents who have transportation needs,” Hilsenbeck said.

However, when reached by phone, Property Manager Veronica Neiman said there are no plans to offer transportation services. Attempts to reach DMA Companies, which runs the complex along with several others in the Austin area, were unsuccessful.

Madonna Hayes, an Overlook resident, said to City Council that the public transportation issue affects more people than the residents at the complex.

“This is not just a senior issue,” Hayes said. “It is all ages of Kyle that need transportation.”

Buda

Meanwhile, the city of Buda is considering adding bus services. Like Kyle, when Buda’s population exceeded 10,000 it could no longer receive full Federal Transportation Authority funding for its demand-response service.

Capital Metro is in the midst of expanding its reach into the suburbs of the Austin area. Buda is among five cities in the metropolitan area to request Capital Metro conduct a transit development plan.

A draft of the plan was finalized in January and shared with Community Impact Newspaper ahead of its presentation to Buda City Council.

It calls for establishing a Park & Ride bus stop in Buda, likely near Cabela’s, said Michelle Meaux, regional coordination planner for Capital Metro. The Park & Ride stop will be implemented within either the established CARTS interurban coach yellow route—a separate service from demand-response that includes stops in San Marcos and Austin—or a commuter-focused express bus from Buda to Austin.

An express bus, included in Phase 1B in the plan, would cost $195,075 to operate annually. FTA funds would cover $36,140 of that expense, leaving an annual expenditure of $158,935 for the city of Buda. Two Capital Metro buses would operate in Buda from 6-8:30 a.m. and 4:30-7 p.m.

“This is not just a senior issue. It is all ages of Kyle that need transportation.”

—Madonna Hayes, Kyle resident

A ballpark estimate of implementing Phase 1A, which would include CARTS bus service, was not available by press time and would be negotiated as part of Capital Metro’s regional agreement with CARTS, Meaux said.

Andrew Ittigson, transportation planner with engineering consultant AECOM, said bus fare would be consistent with Capital Metro pricing in Austin—$1.25-$1.75 for a single ride.

Phase 2 of the plan would re-establish demand-response service in the city. Operating five hours a day, the service would provide connections to shopping, workplaces and medical destinations in Buda.

Next steps

Buda Planning Director Chance Sparks said he has received the final plan and will present it to council as early as its first meeting in March. If City Council decides to move forward with Capital Metro bus services, Meaux said the earliest mass transit could be implemented in the city would be FY 2016-17.

Mayor Todd Ruge said the city has had ongoing conversations about how to approach citizens’ public transportation needs for the past few years.

“We have been trying to figure out how we can accommodate people that were using CARTS before,” Ruge said.

The city of Buda has operated a senior van since losing demand-response service. Sparks said residents use the service, but it is limited in that it cannot provide Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant transportation.

Ruge said the city could also look into alternatives the city of Kyle has explored, such as taxicab businesses.

In December, Kyle City Council approved its first franchise agreement with a taxi company, Kyle Taxi Service, paving the way for the company to operate in the city limits. Ittigson said there is a demand in Buda for bus services.

“There are a number of seniors and folks that don’t have access to the automobile or any kind of rideshare,” he said. “There is a place for transit, and that will continue to grow and change over time as Lone Star Rail comes here and other types of regional connections happen as well.”

Meaux said because Buda is one of Austin’s fastest-growing suburbs it will face urban transportation challenges, and a transit development plan could help address concerns. Capital Metro is also working on transit-development plans with the cities of Georgetown, Hutto, Pflugerville and Round Rock.

“Looking at the changes in our population and where everybody’s moving, the possibility that ridership is moving out more and more to suburbs where there is no service is something we really need to take a look at,” she said.