Decline in funding likely to bring reductions in city bus routes

A decline in state funding likely will bring service reductions along Lynchburg’s public bus routes later this year.

 
Lynchburg gains new corporate contact
The company hired to manage Lynchburg’s public bus system has assigned the Hill City a new corporate contact due in part to problems with their operations in Roanoke.

First Transit, an Ohio-based firm, oversees operations for both the Greater Lynchburg Transit Company and the Greater Roanoke Transit Company.

The latter has been embroiled in scandal recently over accusations of bid-rigging. Authorities suspect an assistant gen-eral manager, William “Chip” Holdren, concocted fake bids on a $223,301 decorating contract in order to steer the job to his wife.

No charges have been filed in that investigation. Holdren was suspended from his position last month, as was the bus system’s procurement officer, according to The Roanoke Times.

The general manager of the Roanoke system, who has not been named in the investigation, is also an area vice president with First Transit. For the past two years, his duties have included acting as a corporate liaison and supervisor for the Lynchburg office.

That role will now be filled by Bill Williamson, a regional vice president based in Williamsburg.

Williamson, who sat in on a GLTC board meeting Wednesday, said the change was “partially” due to the situation in Roanoke. Under the circumstances, he noted, it was beneficial for the Roanoke manager to be able to spend more time in that office.

“There’s more than enough things for him to pay attention to in Roanoke,” he said, adding the change would not affect service to Lynchburg.

The Greater Lynchburg Transit Company is preparing for an 11 percent drop in state aid when the new fiscal year takes hold in July. Officials so far have identified two routes for possible changes: 1B, which crisscrosses downtown and midtown; and 7, which includes stops at Lowe’s on Timberlake Road and J. Crew off Enterprise Drive.

Any alteration to existing bus services must go to a public hearing before taking effect. GLTC staff said Wednesday no plans are final yet.

Current proposals call for Route 1B to lose its Saturday service. Its companion route, 1A, would be unaffected.

Route 7, which runs to the southern end of the city, would be downgraded from 30-minute to 60-minute service. Its buses also would stop running half an hour earlier than currently scheduled.

These changes, if approved, would save around $71,000 a year.

GLTC’s board members were updated on the budget situation Wednesday. They asked that City Council be made aware of the impact of possible service cuts when the bus system submits its new budget request.

GLTC is seeking level funding from the city in compliance with a directive from the city manager’s office. Board members approved the $1.1 million request Wednesday with an absence of enthusiasm.

“The city laid down the gauntlet and said no more money. I guess we don’t have (a choice),” said treasurer Lee Beaumont.

In addition to the state cuts anticipated for the new fiscal year, GLTC also saw its current state funding slashed by $115,000, officials said.

The unusual mid-year cut was handed down as part of a statewide decline in transit funding, said GLTC general manager Mike Carroll.

The money will be taken from a surplus of cash accrued by the Lynchburg bus system last year. Local officials had been holding that money in limbo to await clarification from the state on how it could or could not be used.

GLTC’s last service cuts occurred two years ago, when routes 1A and 1B were downgraded from 30-minute to 60-minute service.

The twin routes run along the same path but in opposite directions. If the new changes now proposed go through, only 1A buses will run on Saturdays.

Route 7 currently sees 30-minute service for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening. The extra buses are meant to improve service for those traveling to and from work.

If the proposed changes go through, the additional buses will be eliminated, leaving the route with a uniform, 60-minute schedule.