KCTS Wins National Transit Award

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Administration presented Kimball County Transit Service with the 2021 Connecting Rural Communities Award during the recent national transit conference.

KCTS administrator Christy Warner told the Observer that “the FTA Region 7 director called me personally to say how important KCTS has been in showing how regional public transportation can happen in small rural areas. While awards are not what I’m after, I know this would not have happened without the support of past and current county commissioners.

“I believe KCTS truly highlights the untold need for public transportation in highly rural areas.”

The FTA had this to say about KCTS in its awards announcement:

“KCTS got creative during the pandemic in assessing and serving the needs of rural residents in a tri-state area that includes parts of Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming.

“KCTS went above and beyond its typical services to deliver groceries and pharmacy items to residents, including 200 school lunches a day to quarantined students in underserved communities. In addition, KCTS transported people to COVID-19 testing sites and provided free rides to vaccination sites. They made their buses available to be used as clinics, with nurses administering vaccines onboard.

“And beyond pandemic-related services, KCTS recently introduced new dispatching and scheduling software that has increased efficiencies in service and improved safety for riders and bus operators.”

KCTS was in select company, one of six transit agencies nationwide to win the award.

The FTA said the winners helped connect their communities and deliver critical services over the past year. The FTA named agencies in Massachusetts, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska and Texas as award recipients for their “exemplary work” during the pandemic to provide transportation to essential workers and improve the quality of life in their communities.

FTA Administrator Nuria Fernandez announced the awards as part of the National Conference on Rural, Public and Intercity Bus Transportation. 

"From converting buses into vaccination clinics, to delivering meals to senior citizens and students, to bringing healthy groceries to food deserts and reaching underserved people, these six transit agencies and their workers went above and beyond," Fernandez said. "Our agency is proud to support transit agencies around the country who are playing such essential roles in the communities they serve."

Also honored were TransIT Services in Frederick County, Maryland; Franklin Regional Transit Authority in Greenfield, Mass .; Streamline in Bozeman, Mont .; Southwest Area Regional Transit District in southwest Texas; and Bolivar County Council on Aging in Cleveland, Miss.

Daria Anderson-Faden contributed to this report.