The Flint Hills Area Transportation Agency (ATA Bus) will be adding two new city-wide fixed routes to its daily commute throughout Manhattan.
ATA Bus Director Anne Smith told the Riley County commission on Monday that the new routes will go into effect starting April 23.
“We’re really looking forward to being able to provide this expansion of services to Manhattan,” Smith said.
The new routes will be in addition to the smaller fixed routes that are already in place. Smith stressed that the new routes will not compromise the quality of service.
“This is an expansion of services,” Smith said. “If a person has a disability, or other mobility impairment, they will not lose access to service.”
In addition to the new routes, Smith announced that ATA Bus transported a record number of rides during the month of February.
ATA Bus gave 10,767 rides given during 23 days of service in the month of February. That averaged out to be just over 468 rides per day. Both figures were record-highs in the 36 years the service has been offered.
Lastly, individuals who took part in Fake Patty’s Day festivities this year also took advantage of the services offered by ATA Bus.
“We transported 1,173 rides,” Smith said. “That’s up almost 37 percent from last year.”
Smith added that no major incidents were reported during the Fake Patty’s Day weekend.
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County treasurer’s offices throughout the entire state will not be conducting any motor vehicle or driver’s license transactions during the first week of May, as the state will be converting all records to coincide with its new operating system.
Riley County Treasurer Eileen King made the announcement during Monday’s Riley County commission meeting.
“If your tag renews in May, and you have your renewal notice, you might want to come in early and do it on the old system,” King said. “You will be waiting a little bit because we won’t be doing any transactions from May 1-6.”
The county office will still be open during those dates but will only by handling tax payments. Web renewals will be shut down beginning April 27. Mail-in renewals with be dealt with starting May 7. King expects her office will be back to working at full capacity by May 8.
“We do anticipate problems,” King said. “My pledge to the county is that our office is going to be prepared as possible. Our office has been practicing (in the sandbox) for over a year. There’s a lot of things that I feel we have down pretty well.”
Questions should be directed to the Treasurer’s office, which can be reached by phone at (785) 537-6320, Monday through Friday, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
