City agrees to help fund new transportation system

The Fort Scott City Commission on Tuesday approved one step in helping to bring a taxi service to Fort Scott.

During its regular meeting, City Manager Dave Martin informed commissioners the city's current taxicab ordinance has been in place since 2001, but the city has not had a taxi service for several years. Commissioners later in the meeting approved amending the city's taxicab ordinance, which concerns licensing and operator's fees for taxicabs.

The city is providing $5,000 to the Bourbon County Senior Citizens organization to provide a new transportation system starting this summer.

"This has been an issue for quite some time," Martin said. "We're losing the company we had. It's going away July 1."

During a meeting last month to address transportation services and community concerns, members of the community, the General Transportation Committee, Bourbon County Senior Citizen Board and Pitt Taxi discussed a service system to replace the General Public Transportation service which ends June 30. The service has been provided by SEK-CAP (Southeast Kansas Community Action Program) since 2014.

Martin said Tuesday there is a commitment for Pitt Taxi to offer service in Fort Scott. Since GPT will no longer operate effective July 1, Pitt Taxi of Pittsburg showed interest in starting a service in Fort Scott. Pitt Taxi has provided service in Pittsburg since 2012.

"This is to fill the needs rising after July," Martin said.

The $5,000 from the city of Fort Scott will help start the taxi service and go toward covering labor and rent for Pitt Taxi. Martin asked the commission to amend the current ordinance to match fees in Pittsburg.

"It mirrors the Pittsburg ordinance and reduces fees," he said. "We want to be competitive."

Commissioners approved a motion to amend the city's current ordinance to reduce the permit fees for taxis from $75 to $35 per year and the operator's fee from $50 to $5 per year.

The ordinance states that "each license shall be issued by the city clerk after application has first been approved by the City Manager or his designee. No license shall be assigned or transferred."

Martin said taxi rides will be provided from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Advance reservations will not be required. The current system requires reservations be made at least 24 hours in advance.

Some concerns raised at last month's meeting concerned cost of the taxi service and customer affordability. The cost per ride is $7 one-way or $10 roundtrip with a 15-minute wait time, according to Kevin Marvin, co-owner of Pitt Taxi.

The current rate for the GPT is $3 per ride, or $30 for a pass for 12 rides.

SEK-CAP serves 12 counties in the region and provides about 100,000 rides per year. In Fort Scott, the transportation service provides about 350 rides per month and has been offered for more than 10 years.

The committee is working to address cost concerns and provide a transit system to accommodate those people who need it most, specifically people on low or fixed incomes.

"It will be more expensive," Martin said. "We're working on helping to supplement that."

Lora Strong, co-owner of Pitt Taxi, said last month it will cost about $3,700 per month to run the service in Fort Scott.

The service, which would most likely begin in the last week or two of the GPT fiscal year, will be comparable to the Pittsburg service and will be based out of the Bourbon County Senior Citizens facility, according to a previous Tribune report.

SEK-CAP Executive Director Steve Lohr told the Tribune that as an option, SEK-CAP would continue to provide rides for at least a month and possibly two months, at no cost to help transition from the service the agency has provided.

Other business

* The commissioners also approved the low bid of $17,502 from CDL Electric Co., Inc., of Fort Scott for installation of a storm siren at Lake Fort Scott.

Information Technology Director Dustin McClure said he received two quotes, one from KTK Electric, LLC of Fort Scott in the amount of $18,120 and the CDL bid. Funding for the storm siren will come from three sources; $5,000 from Bourbon County, $5,000 from the city of Fort Scott, and the John Scott Memorial Fund established after Scott, who lived in the lake area, died in 2015.