Kyle City Council votes to continue CARTS service

Kyle was grouped into Austin's urban area in April 2012, when the results of the 2010 Census were finalized. CARTS is funded through federal rural transportation funds, and because Kyle is now considered part of an urbanized area, the city must now match any funds provided by the federal government for the service.

According to CARTS records, 51 Kyle residents accessed the service between Sept. 1, 2012 and Aug. 31, 2013.

Council members Chad Benninghoff and Ray Bryant voted against funding the service altogether.

"We're looking at a very small, small percentage of the very large volume of people who live here in Kyle and I'm looking at what we get as a city for what we're going to spend each month, and that's a crazy amount of money to spend," Benninghoff said.

Benninghoff referenced the $100,000 set aside in the 2013–14 budget for maintenance of all the city's roads and called into question whether providing the service outweighed the need for road maintenance.

"I'd like to see certain options in the future that are very cost effective and I just don't see these options as very cost effective," Benninghoff said.

Mayor Lucy Johnson said she was not happy about having to fund the service on a month-to-month basis, but for now, CARTS is a "service of last resort" for many of the city's residents.

"Kyle is many things, but we are certainly not an urban area capable of providing our own mass transit on a city level," Johnson said. "Without [CARTS] there will be no public transportation option whatsoever for those people who need the service most."

The move will require the city to amend its 2013–14 budget, which was approved on Sept. 4.