BUDA — At its regular meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 20, Buda City Council voted not to award a rideshare contract to either of the two companies that submitted proposals.

According to agenda documents, at the Buda City Council budget workshop in May 2022, council set aside $100,000 for a rideshare request for proposals (RFP) in the FY23 budget, which was later rolled into the FY24 budget.

During a presentation by Assistant City Manager Wendy Smith, it was explained that two proposals were received, one from TRIPP Consulting, LLC and another from WHC ATX, LLC dba ZTrip. Both proposals were considered by the city’s Mobility Committee in October 2023 and January 2024. The committee recommended rejection of the proposals.

The proposals each had different rate models, but included options for unassisted riders and riders who require assistance. The TRIPP proposal, which would be based on a per trip cost, boasted positive outcomes, such as traffic reduction, parking preservation and reduced impact to roadways. Based on estimated ridership, the cost of year one of the TRIPP program would cost $286,905.52.

ZTrip, which previously operated as Yellow Cab in Austin, emphasized a new fleet, driver training and safety, while also recommending a dedicated wheelchair accessible vehicle. The cost of this proposal was based on an hourly per vehicle rate. The cost estimate for two dedicated vehicles, operating for 8 hours per day on weekdays, amounted to $178,880.

“So, there are three of us on the committee. It’s myself, Mrs. Horne-Williams and Mrs. Cummings. And the vote was kind of split; I wanted to try it and see. The initial costs, the set-up and that sort of stuff, seems heavy, but we have allocated $100,000 for this twice now and I’m kind of shocked at how much it’s being used in Kyle,” said Mayor Lee Urbanovsky. “Is there a need that is there and I don’t see it, or are we trying to create a need?”

“I spoke with Robert Rizo yesterday — he’s on Kyle City Council — and he explained a lot of the details about their particular program to me and about how much what they are having to spend on the program has skyrocketed,” said council member Terry Cummings. “My concern about a program similar to that would be: we just don’t have the same amount of restaurants, stores, activities or going to the movies. My fear would be that we would have a lot of people that we would be spending money to send them to Kyle to go to the restaurants, to go to the movies and that we would be responsible for some of those funds.”

Cummings continued, “I explained to him the program that we already have, with the vans, and I feel that we are meeting the needs of elderly people [and] people who are disabled to get to their core things … I feel comfortable in, at this time, limiting what we offer in terms of transportation services to that particular service.”

Council member Matt Smith echoed Cummings’ sentiments, “I tend to agree. I take more Ubers and Lyfts these days. Does that mean that I just got a discount on the city because I’m taking Uber and Lyft all around town and I’m able-bodied. I have a car, I just choose not to use it,” he said. “What’s the need? What are we trying to solve for? I believe that we were trying to solve for folks that had a hard time getting around, that had limited transportation options.”

The motion to reject all rideshare RFPs passed unanimously.

To watch the full meeting, visit bit.ly/49uWoxp.