Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Council listens to transit pitch again
Town leaders came to no conclusions during a work session about expanded bus service.
MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times
Today's public budget hearing could decide whether Christiansburg will received expanded Blacksburg Transit service.
A public hearing and council vote is set tonight on the 2009-10 budget. Council members are being asked to decide whether to keep the $163,000 funding to expand transit routes in Christiansburg, and Blacksburg Transit officials stressed that the bus system is an essential service for residents.
"We've got to realize that public transportation is not a luxury for a lot of people, it's a need," Dan Brugh, executive director of the local Metropolitan Planning Organization, told council members during a special work session.
Council members listened and discussed at Monday's meeting but came to no consensus.
At the May 5 council meeting, a month after Blacksburg Transit presented the results of its surveys of Christiansburg residents, council members balked at the idea of funding the expansion in the town's $36 million budget because of the recession.
According to the survey conducted late last year, 60 percent of respondents said they would use the buses if the transit system expanded its routes farther into Christiansburg. Currently, the bus service provides 11 routes in Blacksburg compared with one in Christiansburg that loops from the New River Valley Mall to the Montgomery County Government Center.
When addressing one of council's major concerns -- the cost of fare -- BT Director Rebecca Martin said having riders pay more to make the system self-supporting isn't a feasible option. She urged council members to keep in mind that transit is a service, much like police, rescue and fire, and the price of fare should be affordable to reflect that.
Martin also told the council that transit is an opportunity for economic development within the town. Meetings have been held with area businesses, she said, which can set the tone for future endeavors.
"We've started the groundwork for partnership," Martin said.
She said the BT made $100,000 in bus ads last year from Blacksburg businesses, and she wants to have similar success in Christiansburg.
The timetable for action calls for town council to approve the proposal at tonight's meeting, which would give Blacksburg Transit time to order buses later this month. Advertising and marketing would begin early fall, with the service to launch in October.
