MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Above: Harland Brown, an operations supervisor with Blacksburg Transit, adjusts a foldable child's seat in the front row of a new 20-passenger bus. Below: The new bus on the BT's "Go Anywhere!" route is decorated with a wrap featuring scenes of Christiansburg and also features overhead baggage storage and leather hand straps.

MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Above: Harland Brown, an operations supervisor with Blacksburg Transit, adjusts a foldable child's seat in the front row of a new 20-passenger bus. Below: The new bus on the BT's "Go Anywhere!" route is decorated with a wrap featuring scenes of Christiansburg and also features overhead baggage storage and leather hand straps.

| Sharla Bardin

sharla.bardin@roanoke.com, 381-1669

CHRISTIANSBURG -- The field trip isn't scheduled until next week, but the excitement is already present.

Children from the My Second Home day care are eager about traveling on a new bus service to take them to the Christiansburg library, said Sabrina Davidson-Ratcliffe, owner of the day care.

"They are really excited. Some of them have never rode on a bus," Davidson-Ratcliffe said. "I think it's going to be a lot of fun for them."

Five children and two adults from the day care on Tower Road will be taking advantage of one of the new routes that Blacksburg Transit is starting in the community Monday. It marks the first major expansion for BT, which is a department of the town of Blacksburg, said Transit Director Rebecca Martin.

The service also reflects a two-year planning process to make it a reality in Christiansburg. The effort has included plotting the new routes, hiring personnel and publicizing the expanded service.

The marketing has included community presentations from transit staff, such as with civic and social services organizations, as well as mailings about the routes, advertisements and distributing the new route schedules.

"It's really exciting to see it all come together," Martin said.

Riders can use the Christiansburg routes for free through Dec. 31, a move that the Christiansburg and Blacksburg town councils have supported as a way to help entice people to ride.

That free tryout did catch the interest of Davidson-Ratcliffe. Her day care group will be using the new "Go Anywhere!" service that operates on a call-ahead basis and will take riders from their neighborhood to any location in Christiansburg.

Davidson-Ratcliffe said using the bus service will help the group save on gas and from having to take separate vehicles.

"This way they can all be together," she said. "I think it will be a lot of fun."

She estimates the day care will use the service "at least three times a month if not more" once the free period ends.

The other routes offered are the "Shopper Express" that services the New River Valley Mall, Walmart and other shops in the area and "The Explorer" that travels downtown to destinations such as the courthouse, post office, library, government offices and businesses.

"I hope it makes commuting and shopping or just getting from one place to another ... more convenient and more affordable for people," said Christiansburg Town Manager Lance Terpenny.

A service survey

Terpenny said for several years he has talked with Martin about the possibility of BT expanding into Christiansburg beyond the existing two-town trolley service.

"With two-town trolley between Blacksburg and Christiansburg, the citizens were probably going to expect or at least anticipate more opportunities for mass transit," he said.

Terpenny said he also thinks the rise in gas prices two years ago got people thinking about ways they could save money on commutes.

BT and town officials then decided to find out Christiansburg residents' interest in services and their travel patterns by sending out a survey in 2008. There were 3,777 people who responded to the survey.

According to the survey, 60 percent of respondents indicated interest in the transit system, with 27 percent saying they were "very likely" to use the new Christiansburg routes if they began this year and 33 percent saying they were "somewhat likely."

The new routes that have been developed for Christiansburg are based on resident input from the survey.

"It's really a good partnership between the town of Blacksburg and the town of Christiansburg to make this happen," Blacksburg Town Manager Marc Verniel said earlier this month.

Martin said transit expansion before now has involved adding routes and adjusting routes in Blacksburg, while the new Christiansburg routes represent the transit department's "first major expansion" in its 26 years of operation.

Making it happen

The undertaking has involved bringing in new personnel and buses for the service, plotting the routes and a mock service demonstration in August to help employees prepare for the service.

The funding for the expanded service has involved a combination of federal and local money.

In May, the Christiansburg Town Council approved its budget, which included local operating and capital funding of $200,500 to support the service. With federal and state matching funds, Christiansburg's total operating budget for transit is $401,000.

New employees also are coming on board for the work. The new positions involve two full-time positions, which are a mechanic and financial analyst, and 10 new part-time positions that include bus operators, a scheduler and receptionist.

Only the financial analyst position remains open now, and Martin said the hope is to fill it soon.

There are also four buses for the new expanded service.

Another part of the expansion is helping residents better understand the service.

About 50 community and transit staff volunteers will work Monday to help offer information about the routes at more than 15 Christiansburg bus stops during the day, as well as riding on the buses to better explain the service.

The next step with the expanded service is for ongoing evaluation of the ridership on the routes and to survey riders to gauge whether the routes are meeting their needs, Martin said.

Terpenny said he thinks the service in Christiansburg will be a success based on what town officials have already seen with the interest in the 2008 survey.

"I think it's probably going to expand even more. I think it's going to be very popular," he said.