Carson City looks at improving public transportation

Carson City is looking into ways to bolster its public transportation.

The city’s Jump Around Carson bus service is funded in part through a $400,000 annual transfer from the general fund to provide matching money for grants.

“I don’t think the fund is stable, we can’t just keep subsidizing it,” said Supervisor Lori Bagwell.

Bagwell spoke during a review of the transit, Regional Transportation Commission, and street maintenance funds at the RTC meeting Wednesday.

In fiscal year 2020, the $1.93 million transit fund tentative budget includes a reserve of $37,835.

“Is that sufficient cash flow?” said Bagwell.

Lucia Maloney, transportation manager, said the department is making a supplemental request during the budget process and is considering ways to make the service more self sufficient.

“We are looking at streamlining routes and services, smaller bus sizes,” as well as beefing up its advertising revenue and boosting tickets sales, said Maloney. “We’re not at risk of cutting service.”

The RTC also looked at the $14.02 million RTC and $5.84 million streets maintenance funds and voted to recommend all three 2020 budgets to the Board of Supervisors.

The city is holding a public workshop April 29 to discuss long-term planning for the bus route and to take public comment, in particular from human service providers and individuals who use those services. The event is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. in the Carson City Community Center’s Sierra Room.

The RTC also voted to take $80,000 allocated to the Silver Sage Drive reconstruction project, which came in under budget, and with $26,324 in grant funds, to add $106,324 to the Fairview Drive project for sidewalk and accessibility improvements.