CARTS keeps moving: Borough funding leveraged to keep vans on the road
Editor's note: This is the second in a series of stories looking at some of the people in the news in 2009.
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With the motor of his brand new ride revving, Shandy Knight waited to pick up his boy, Kyle Heffner. Heffner needed a ride to the recreation center in Kenai, where he would be able to shoot hoops for a couple of hours. He's got an ill three-pointer and a smooth free-throw stroke.
"It's Kyle, dude," Knight said as Heffner exited the Kenai apartment. "It's my homey."
Knight, 25, and Heffner, 24, aren't high school buddies or lifelong friends. Actually, Knight is more Heffner's chauffeur than anything else.
Knight is a Central Area Rural Transit System, Inc. driver and Heffner is a regular rider. Heffner likes to talk with Knight about Brett Favre, the Minnesota Vikings, the Green Bay Packers and all football teams. He likes to talk about all sports, really.
"Brett Favre is my hero," Heffner said in a low, rushed voice, his dark eyes growing big and his brows raised.
Heffner was Knight's second pickup at the beginning of a long and passenger-packed shift one December afternoon.
CARTS is a nonprofit company that runs a fee-based public transportation system serving everyone in the central Kenai Peninsula area.
As one of the Kenai Peninsula Borough's non-departmental entities, CARTS faced cuts this budget cycle before the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly ultimately allotted the nonprofit its requested funding.
The transportation system uses the $50,000 from the borough to help cover daily operations, CARTS Executive Director Jennifer Beckmann said. CARTS operates seven vans, a plow to get drivers into treacherous driveways and contracts out to cab companies to ensure that its riders get from their homes to their destinations or vice versa.
Beckmann said CARTS requires about $950,000 per year to operate and the borough's $50,000 allotment is quite valuable.
"Even though it is a small amount, it is very important," Beckmann said. "It leverages other money."
For instance, one grantor will match what the borough donates. Other grantors will match 10 percent.
"I can turn that $50,000 into $100,000," Beckmann said.
Federal and state grant money helps pay for vehicles like the brand new van Knight steered that December day. Without the funding from the borough, Beckmann said CARTS would probably have to cut its service hours and possibly eliminate weekend trips, thus severely impacting the 100 to 200 people a day who rely on the service.
"Oh, it's crowded in here today," Roy Smith said as he boarded the van in front of Three Bears in Kenai.
The van was packed with a young mother and her two sleeping children and a Safeway worker who had just finished her shift -- from pushing carts to riding CARTS. Knight calls the Safeway worker "Little Miss Sunshine" because she always smiles and always wears a canary yellow T-shirt under her uniform.
Smith recently had his driver's license revoked and because of that he also lost his job. He's dependent on CARTS and other forms of transportation services to get him around while he works on re-obtaining his license.
Despite CARTS's oft undependable scheduling, Smith said he's appreciative of the service.
"The scheduling leaves more to be desired. They're driving drivers crazy," Smith said. "But the vans are all really new and the drivers are always courteous."
An afternoon with Knight shows how drivers can easily get behind. It starts off slow, with an easy trip to Fred Meyer. But then he needs to get to Kenai to pick up Heffner. After dropping Heffner off, Knight needs to get three more passengers from Kenai to Nikiski.
"It can get hectic," Knight said. Especially when he sees he is running low on fuel. While waiting for the gas to pump, Knight thumbed through his schedule trying to plan out the best strategy. Nearly $100 on gas and about 10 minutes later, he was ready to continue.
Beckmann said the goal is efficiency, but that can often get complicated when the service prides itself on picking people up or dropping them off at their homes instead of at designated stations.
"What we try to do is put as many people on the van as possible, but they have to be in the same area. We try not to keep people on the vehicle any longer than they have to be," Beckmann said.
After dropping off Smith and the Safeway employee at their separate Nikiski homes, Knight had to pick up Mickela Couch from her job in Nikiski. Couch, 22, handed Knight her punch card as she stepped into the van. The distance of the trip determines how many punches a person is charged. Punch cards can be purchased from CARTS.
Asked why she uses the CARTS system, Couch had a simple response.
"It's cheaper," she said. She carted a caged dog that yipped at one of the sleeping children. Couch does not have a license because she cannot read. She said that because she cannot read, she cannot pass the written driver test.
About 45 minutes later, Knight made all his dropoffs and waited outside a small office building for his next passenger to finish her workday. Though the day was hectic, Knight was pretty much running on time.
He looked at his pickup sheet and noticed a considerable gap in passengers around mealtime. Maybe an extended dinner would be in order?
But then his cell phone rang. It was dispatch telling Knight he had a new pickup waiting in Soldotna. Dinner would have to wait.
Andrew Waite can be reached at andrew.waite@peninsulaclarion.com.