Before the May 6 Election Day, candidates will respond to readers who submitted questions on the upcoming election for Roanoke City Council. The candidates' replies appear below in alphabetical order. To see a specific candidate's response, click on the name below.

Candidates for mayor: David Bowers | Nelson Harris | Anita Powell | George Sgouros

Candidates for city council: Dale Edmonston | Valerie Garner | Sherman Lea | Anita Price | Court Rosen | Brian Wishneff

Topic: Improving public transit

In Roanoke, the board of directors of Valley Metro is Roanoke City Council. What are your ideas for improving the efficiency of operation and increasing ridership of public transit?

—Barbara Duerk

Candidates for mayor

David Bowers

David Bowers (I): When I served as the president of Valley Metro back in the 1990s, we were able to extend the time for public transit in our city from 5:45 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. This assisted working people who had told us that they could not use the buses to get home after work. I’ve heard recently that there is limited bus service to Roanoke Center out on U.S. 460 East so, specifically, I think we should look at ways to provide public transit to the businesses in that area. Now, in 2008, with the price of gasoline skyrocketing, I believe it will be more and more likely that citizens will choose our Valley Metro bus system. It is important to maintain this system as public transit, and it is important for us to continue to survey our citizens as to their needs for increasing and improving bus service.

Nelson Harris

Nelson Harris (D): City council has already taken some recent steps to increase the public’s use of Valley Metro that have been effective. Ridership on Valley Metro is up 11 percent over the same period last year. Council authorized the Smart Way route which links Roanoke with the New River Valley, primarily Virginia Tech. In the three years that program has operated, ridership is up 96 percent during that time to an average daily ridership of 164. More dramatic has been the response to council’s policy adopted this school year allowing Roanoke school students to ride Valley Metro for free, reducing activity bus costs to the school system. To date, students have used Valley Metro 191,888 times since the start of the school year.

Anita Powell

Anita Powell (I): Provide public transportation to places of employment that work outside your standard business hours. Expanding bus routes during this energy crisis would be good for the community; fewer automobiles on the road keeps the valley green and clean.

George Sgouros

George Sgouros (I): “It’s about time!!!” That someone asks those running for mayor and council about this “quality of life issue that affects, and will affect,” so many of the working, and consuming citizens of Roanoke; this in consideration of rising gas prices, the spread out accessibility & geographic nature of the city and the region, and the increased need and reliance of the citizen on the system). This issue has gone largely ignored by the city council.

Since the 2004 election (when I was an Independent Mayoral Candidate), I have encouraged as a main thrust of my campaign, for city government to focus on concerns of citizen’s everyday issues. The promotion of addressing the issue of public transportation has been primary on my scope. I had the forethought and recognition of the value that a more viable, competent, and functioning city transportation system would come into play if Roanoke wished to grow and prosper economically in its everyday endeavors of worker and consumer job access. In order to attract new jobs, and residents, “our city transportation system must tie the city, and aligning border municipalities of the region together and allow access through use by means other than that of the automobile.”

We as a city, and a country, are standing on a crevasse of inability to function in everyday activities if we do not embrace and build on the public transportation system. When the price of gas grows to a price of, or greater than your hourly wage; and the cost to use of your car outweighs the salary you are making; then how, and why, will you even bother to venture out to work, if you are going to break even, or come up short?

The “writing is on the wall, and the working class majority and general public need to be heard.” Let us not wait for the encroachment of the harbinger of disaster to further disintegrate the value of function, and inefficiency that our public transportation has evolved into. Let us not, in the words of current Mayor Nelson Harris 'Help Keep Roanoke Moving Forward,’ while through his and 'his’ council’s own 'action of inaction,’ detachment, non-awareness, and disinterest in understanding or appreciating the system allow the stagnation, and further deterioration of our bus transportation systems to continue.

The answer to our future in meeting economic and environmental success, lies in prioritizing — now!

Upgrading, improving, developing, expanding, and maintaining — our public bus, rail, air, and vehicular transport systems, to cover greater distances, relieve travel congestion and gridlock, use less gas, cause less pollution, and save money.

In recognition of the value and appreciation of the Valley Metro bus system, I feel we must be properly fund, encourage, adopt, adapt, and improve on their operational competency and capacity, in order to meet the coming demands of the unsure future we face.

Engaging some, or all, of my plan for improvements (listed below), is a first step on the road to meeting these challenges. A step that few, if any of those vying for elective office have even considered or pondered. As mayor, I on the other hand will attempt to tackle the problems head-on by being there, listening to the public, identifying their needs, investigating the problems of the city, formulating visions, and submitting hard-edge facts and proposals to — the people, the council, and the city administration, to combat problems and establish solutions.

The opinions of awareness, and negative perspectives of involvement in the approach to transportation, I hear and see, are from uninformed citizens, council members, and the Roanoke elite, who don’t use public transportation.

I challenge this excuse of inaction, and non-support.

As the only mayoral candidate who has constantly, and on a daily basis used the public bus service, I can expertly relate to, identify, and propose the necessary improvements that the system needs.

The purpose of this New Valley Metro System will be to service you, not have you service the system. No longer can we afford to make, and set our schedules around theirs, or their policy of ineffectiveness. The current inefficiency of the Valley Metro system warrants the slogan – “We’ll try to get to you, with what little we have, when we want, and if we can; and if we don’t go where you want, tough - you’re out of luck!”

I present to the citizens of Roanoke a real plan for design, development, and improvement: A specialized transportation division of city government, in charge of a 20-point program.

As mayor I would first begin by eliminating the above board overseeing Valley Metro and place operation, control, and oversight, under the auspices of a newly formed Division of Transportation Services and Development, which would be manned by a competent, experienced, and expert management team and work force from various fields of transportation.

A twenty point progressive and responsive program:
1) Extend daily bus service hours to at least 1 a.m. from Campbell Court downtown to accommodate business employees changing shifts at midnight, and for those employees working, and consumers shopping at the malls – which are open to 9 and 10 pm. This current service to 8:15 p.m. has been detrimental to the economic well-being, and growth of the city.
2) Re-Implement Sunday bus service .
3) Airport Bus Service from the main terminal to downtown Campbell Court, with routes past hotels, and accepting connecting transfers to and along all other bus routes.
4) Limited holiday service for all holidays (contrary to belief, a large number of workers are required to work on all holidays, and should not have their means to get to their job compromised by lack of service).
5) Create bus service up to the top of Mill Mountain for tourists and Roanoke citizens alike.
6) Eliminate evening dinner time - gap of service. This ill-conceived procedure comes at a prime time of workers traveling home each evening between 6:30 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. (a 45-minute wait for the next bus). Why should riders be forced to endure this delay? Service should be consistent and constant!
7) Extend current 5 minute bus Transfer policy to a friendly time period of three to four hours to allow for riders to come and return downtown, shop, and visit without the added expense.
8) In-route transfer system between all buses.
9) Shorter waiting times for service – bus service will run at 30 minute intervals during the day, and
15 minute intervals during peak hour service.
10) Adoption of an increased efficiency/continuous figure 8 pattern of buses on the move.
11) Addition of five new and long overdue key/city perimeter connecting bus routes will tie the entire
bus system together, and service major worker, residence, company, and consumer areas: Bus service along the entire length of Peters Creek Road into Williamson Road and Hollins University; service along the entire length of Virginia 419; bus service along U.S. 460 to Bonsack; bus service along U.S. 221 to the other side of Virginia 419; bus service along U.S. 220 to Clearbrook.
12) Formation of a regional cooperative partnership between adjacent municipalities of Salem, Roanoke County, Vinton, Bedford, and Blacksburg to create and expand and maintain a regional cross border bus and local light rail transportation system.
13) Redesign for clearly marked, named, and numbered bus stops, and signs.
14) Revamp all bus stops, with attention to adding new Bus shelters, concrete waiting/access slabs, and benches for equal & all citizen neighborhoods.
15) Free late night bus service from downtown to your home after midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
16) Increase the bus fleet with smaller, greener conscious, gas efficient hybrid vans.
17) Upgrade the Valley Metro bus terminal.
18) Re-development and return deployment of a local light rail train with Roanoke as its hub.
19) Bring Amtrak to Roanoke.
20) Design, expand, develop, market, and promote the regional airport into a national airport.

Candidates for council

Dale Edmonston

Dale Edmonston (I): Hire a diverse group to serve as consultants who have mass transportation experience.

Valerie Garner

Valerie Garner (I): Low cost transit service provides mobility to those without access to an automobile, unable to operate an automobile, or can’t afford the gasoline at these current levels. Efficient operation occurs when reliable schedules provide access to as many destinations as possible. As a council member I would ask for reliability and ridership statistics. These statistics can then be used to evaluate any routes not providing regularity of service and other routes where ridership has decreased. Where ridership is very low consideration of rerouting could then be examined. The bike and ride service should continue to be encouraged with the addition of bike racks where needed.

Sherman Lea

Sherman Lea (D): During this recent campaign I have had an opportunity to talk to a number of citizens who voiced a concern about public transportation in terms of buses not running late enough in the evening hours for those who are employed in jobs that end around 9 p.m. or later. This also affects a number of students who attend night classes at the Higher Education Building. As a member of the board of directors, I feel we need to consider extending the times in the evenings that our public transit operates.

I would also like for us to consider working with the Roanoke City Public Schools in developing transportation options for at least some of our middle and high school students. I have seen similar programs in urban areas where schools and city transportation departments worked together.

Also, I would like for us to consider increasing the Smart Way bus trips to areas surrounding the valley such as Franklin County, Bedford County and even Lynchburg. I feel with the current gas crisis, these are viable options that at least should be discussed.

Anita Price

Anita Price (D): I do not have an answer at this time until I study the matter fully.

Court Rosen

Court Rosen (D): I view public transportation as a quality of life issue. One of the things that we can all agree upon is that Roanoke’s quality of life is one of its key selling points. As we take actions to move our city forward, we must do everything we can to protect and enhance the quality of life for all Roanoke citizens.

Public transportation touches on quality of life in many different ways. First, the use of public transportation reduces congestion on our roads thus reducing all road-users’ commuting times. Second, it cuts down on carbon dioxide emissions that threaten our earth through global warming. And third, public transportation enables people who may not own a vehicle the opportunity to work outside of their immediate neighborhood. As the cost of gas rises and environmental protection becomes more prevalent, we would all benefit from a more efficient and user-friendly public transportation system.

As a member of city council, I will work to increase the usage of our public transportation by extending routes and working with larger employers to offer incentives to employees who use publicly available buses. Also, council should investigate opportunities to partner and coordinate with other localities to share the expense of public transportation.

Brian Wishneff

Brian Wishneff (I): I would like to see the City have all of its buses converted to non-gasoline engines. Ideally, we would go to all electric buses. I would also like to see smaller, more attractive buses that might appeal to users of all ages and incomes. I would also like to see us explore Valley Metro operating some sort of light-rail system on existing rail line between downtown Roanoke and the New River Valley, Fincastle and Smith Mountain Lake.