The Capital Area Rural Transportation System, which provides on-demand bus service for the City of Georgetown, will end service Aug. 30.
The rural transportation provider will no longer receive federal or state dollars after the city was labeled as part of the Austin urbanized area by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2012.
The city's transportation funds are now directed to Capital Metro, the designated recipient for federal transportation dollars
At the City Council workshop May 14, council members directed staff to include $159,600 in the budget to pay for the next year's service and funding to continue additional studies. The City Council will consider the city's budget for final approval in September.
The motion was approved 5–1 with Councilmen Bill Sattler voting against and Tommy Gonzalez absent for the vote.
Through an interlocal agreement, Capital Metro can provide services or contract services outside its service territory, said Meredith Highsmith, assistant research scientist with the Texas Transportation Institute's Transit Mobility Program.
In response to the urban designation in 2012, city staff was directed by City Council to develop a budget and interlocal agreement with Capital Metro to administer the on-demand response program that could replace CARTS service, Highsmith said.
"Last year at this time we were scrambling to figure out what to do in regards to the urban area designation," Transportation Services Director Ed Polasek told City Council on May 14. "[The Texas Department of Transportation] came through with one additional year of [funding] we could continue with rural service for one additional year—this fiscal year—to give us time to work out a more practical plan to implement transit."
