ACCESS gets new ride home

By PHYLLIS J. ZORN

Hays Daily News

ACCESS transportation got a new home this year, after five years of steady work toward making that dream a reality.

Building the new ACCESS van hub was a $1.87 million project. The money came from a $1.5 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration and $375,000 in state money.

The new building, centrally located, boasts a garage with 16 bay doors as well as a drive-through wash and vacuum bay and a tire installation bay.

The building also houses administrative and office space and a conference and training room.

Ron Straight, transportation manager for Developmental Services of Northwest Kansas, said everything about the new facility was planned with utility, durability and future growth in mind.

It is the first rural transportation facility in the state built from the ground up with the particular FTA grant program used by ACCESS, Straight said. KDOT had never before served as administrator for this type of grant.

“It was the first time either had done that,” Straight said.

The location of the ACCESS hub brings the operation of the program into town. It was formerly operated from a location 3 miles east of town.

ACCESS transportation service is also in the process of getting a new computer system that will enable computerized — instead of radio — communication between dispatchers and drivers.

“I really think it will help our system, and that's what I want to see,” Straight said.

Money for the computerized communication project is separate from the building project funding.

The computer system project is ongoing, so its final cost is not yet known, Straight said. However, ACCESS got an 80-percent grant from FTA funds and the remaining 20 percent of the cost, estimated at about $24,000, will be paid from the ACCESS budget.

Three to four months is the target date to have the system off the ground, but the process has been underway for longer than he thought it would take.

“Don't hold your breath until it happens,” Straight said.

Reporter Phyllis Zorn can be reached at (785) 628-1081, ext. 137, or by e-mail at

phylz@dailynews.net.