Beginning Monday, June 2, two white mini vans with “Flex Ride” emblazoned on their sides will most likely be seen traveling the roads within the city limits of Henderson.
And if you look closely, you’ll see the driving force behind the Uber-style transportation: KARTS. The words “Flex Ride” are in red and are superimposed on the initials for Kerr Area Rural Transportation Service.
KARTS Executive Director Randy Cantor said the mini vans are ready for use and will take riders wherever they need to go within the city limits of Henderson.
The Flex Ride is considered a “premium service,” and riders will pay a flat fee of $6 each time they board the vehicle. The service will operate Monday – Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
And although they are certainly part of the KARTS fleet, there are notable differences that customers need to be aware of. The more familiar KARTS buses require a reservation in advance, but Flex Ride is available for same-day trips. Flex Ride travels only within the city limits of Henderson, and riders can choose to download an app to their phone, book a trip on the website or call in a request.
Unlike transportation on a KARTS bus, the Flex Ride microtransit service provides same-day service. “Use the app and get an immediate response, or close to immediate,” Cantor said.
The goal is to be able to provide the service within a 30-minute time frame, he added.
Flex Ride is for someone who needs to get back and forth to work, or someone who forgot about a doctor’s appointment or someone who needs to get to the doctor in a hurry.
“This is for an individual who decides at the last moment they want to go and do something… that’s where we’re flexible,” Cantor said.
Thanks to state and federal funding for a three-year study, there’s no cost to KARTS to try out the program. Henderson was among 11 areas across the state to be selected to participate.
For now, Flex Ride will operate Monday-Friday, but Cantor said Saturday service could be an option in the future.
“For us to have a bus on the road, we have to have someone in this building” to provide any support needed.
Saturday service for KARTS buses was halted as part of an effort to get a handle on expenses, Cantor said, but there’s a possibility it could return. He noted that ridership has returned to what it had been before the pandemic.
Neither the City of Henderson nor Vance County provided any financial support for KARTS and its Around Town shuttle, which was shut down at the end of June last year.
This microtransit service is a way to offer customers a way to get around town, and Cantor said the on-demand service will provide flexibility for riders and drivers.
“We’re bringing our options for the city of Henderson into the 21st century,” Cantor said.
The Around Town shuttle was economical at $1 a fare, but it wasn’t economically viable.
“Nobody wanted to fix the shuttle,” he said. “I wanted to offer another service…it’s not $1, but it’s also not causing the system to go bankrupt.”
As part of the study, the KARTS buses all got upgrades to the tablets that drivers use, as well as a brand new scheduling software program that can tell where the KARTS vehicles are at any given time during the day.
The same rules apply to the Flex Ride vans as for the KARTS buses, including the rule that children 13 and under ride for free with a paying adult.
There’s an option on the app and on the website to pay fares with a credit or debit card, although cash remains an option.
Cantor said he’d love to see a cashless system, mainly to reduce drivers’ responsibilities and the amount of paperwork that is involved with receipts and reconciling payments at the end of the day.
Cantor has plans for Flex Ride if things go well in Henderson. “If it works and it works well, we plan to expand it,” he said. Other towns in the KARTS service area like Oxford, Louisburg and Franklinton could eventually see a similar service, too. “We want to keep it growing so if it works well here, we can expand it elsewhere.”
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