November 21, 2024
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Yorkville boosts contribution to Kendall Area Transit to more than $30K next year

Every local $1 spent gets $3 in federal funding

By Joey Weslo
The Kendall Area Transit, which offers for-pay rides, with a special emphasis on the community's elderly and disabled citizens, is expanding services after multiple towns, including Yorkville, agreed to increase funding.

The Kendall Area Transit, which offers for-pay rides, with a special emphasis on the community's elderly and disabled citizens, is expanding services after multiple towns, including Yorkville, agreed to increase funding. (Provided by The City of Yorkville)

To prevent community members being turned away because of lack of bus capacity, Kendall Area Transit, which provides public transportation with an emphasis on senior citizens and those with disabilities, is expanding services across the county.

The dial-a-ride transit services are subsidized by a mixture of federal, state and local funds. To help cover the expansion costs, Yorkville City Council approved increasing their annual payments to the program. The city had previously been paying $23,000 annually since 2010, without adjusting for inflationary costs and equipment upgrades.

City officials agreed to increase their contribution to $31,000 next year, $40,000 the year after, and to $48,000 the year after that. Other towns across the county are increasing their contributions as well. For every $1 of local funding for the program, the federal government matches with $3 of its own.

After the council unanimously approved the rate increases, Yorkville Mayor John Purcell thanked the program for the good services it provides to the community.

“It’s been a great program, it really has,” Purcell said.

The transit program offers pay-for-ride services from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday. They are aiming to expand to Saturday services within the next couple years. The annual operating costs for one transit vehicle is about $80,000.

According to the transit program, currently only having 3 to 4 full-time bus drivers results in as many as 130 people turned away on average each month because of lack of capacity. With the extra funding, the transit program intends to hire more drivers and add additional busses to their fleet.

The transit program presented figures showing as more baby boomers reach retirement age, they continue to expect to see increased demand throughout the county across the upcoming years.