In 2018, the city of Kyle began its campaign to become the “Pie Capital of Texas.” Though legally the city was not designated the “Pie Capital of Texas” until April, the city unofficially coined the title, which is how the price point for the Uber Kyle $3.14 program came to be.
The program launched in October 2020 after months of negotiation and planning with Uber. Assistant City Manager Jerry Hendrix said the entire process, from finding the right rideshare company to partner with to the launch of the program, took approximately a year and a half.
The city had no public transportation options for several years and is now exploring the demand residents have for alternate forms of transit.
The city of Kyle previously partnered with the Capital Area Rural Transportation System offering a demand-response type of service that was available to residents of Hays County, Hendrix said. However, the program was only offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the day, and residents had to call ahead to schedule an appointment for their ride.
For the rider, it only cost a couple dollars per ride, Hendrix said, but it was costing the city up to $90 per ride due to lack of ridership.
The city pulled the plug on the program in December 2015 and faced the struggle of providing affordable transportation to a demographic that did not necessarily need it, Hendrix said.
“The primary problem we were trying to solve is how to help people that are transit-challenged or transit-dependent either through some kind of disability or just can’t afford a car,” Hendrix said. “We wanted to help those people, but at the same time we wanted to help everybody in Kyle get a ride.”
Now, over a year into the Kyle Uber $3.14 program, City Council voted Sept. 21 to expand the program from eight to 10 rides per person a month and added extra locations that riders can go to outside city limits.
For the first few months, the program saw ride numbers in the high 100s and the mid-200s. In the last six months, however, the program has consistently seen rides in the high 200s, and even over 400 rides in October.
In its first year, the program saw a total of 3,369 rides, according to city documents. Residents and visitors of Kyle can download the city of Kyle app and the Uber app to receive vouchers for this program.
After riders pay the initial $3.14, the city subsidizes up to $10 more. However, the rider is financially responsible for the cost of rides over $13.14. Through the expansion, riders can travel outside of Kyle city limits with one round trip per month to the Austin Veterans Administration at 7901 Metropolis Drive for $3.14.
Riders also have two one-way trips per month to the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport for 31.4% of the cost of the ride.Hendrix said a drawback is that the program is dependent upon driver availability.
As the program becomes more popular, the city is working with Uber to provide incentives for drivers to spend more time in Kyle.
“From a driver standpoint, they’re getting paid the same amount of money,” Hendrix said. “We’re subsidizing those rides to make transportation in and around Kyle more affordable, and that’s what we were aiming for.”
