You Might Be Surprised By Extent Of Bus Service in Fayette County
Public transportion is alive and well in Fayette County.
It’s just under-utilized.
That was the biggest story to come out of Monday’s La Grange City Council meeting.
Lyle Nelson, the Chief of Staff of Capital Area Rural Transit (CARTS) gave a presentation on the services provided by the CARTS buses, and it was clear from their questions that many on the city council were not aware of the scope of its services.
Nelson explained CARTS bus service is available all over Fayette County with no age or income requirements. Rides are scheduled Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. with 24 hour advance notice required.
People can get picked up at their homes.
One way trips are $2 locally, $4 inside the county and $6 for trips outside the county (including all the way to Austin, including places like the airport).
“You mean to tell me I can get a bus ride to the Austin airport for $6?” one surprised council member said.
“Yes,” Nelson said.
Senior citizens and children under 12 actually ride for half price, he added.
Nelson explained that residents can call and coordinate a bus ride from their home to a store and then coordinate a pickup from that store at whatever time they’d like.
CARTS service also is available in Schulenburg, Flatonia, Carmine, Round Top, Fayetteville, Ellinger, Plum, West Point and Winchester.
La Grange city manager Shawn Raborn pointed out that there are still some old CARTS signs around La Grange from when the service tried a stopbased system, but now CARTS is strictly a reservation-based system for pick-ups and dropoffs.
You can call the CARTS Ride-line to make a reservation at 1-512-478-7433.
The city council approved donating $6,000 to CARTS last year.
“It’s underutilized because we haven’t educated the community well enough about it,” Raborn said.
On other action at the meeting:
Railroad Depot News
Bill Karisch addressed the council to see if additional lighting could be added to the La Grange Railroad Depot area as well as additional police patrols.
Karisch is a member of the Friends of the Depot organization which operates the historic train property and museum in downtown La Grange. The facility turns 125 years old this year. Karisch said there have been some issues with vandalism/ trespassing recently.
Raborn said the Friends of the Depot could apply for a security grant through the city to help meet some of their goals.
In other rail depot news, the council voted to submit an application to the Texas Historical Commissions for a Texas Historic Landmark marker at the depot.