GLTC bus routes facing Monday cuts

On Monday, service reductions will be made along city bus routes 7 and 1B due to state budget cuts.

The Greater Lynchburg Transit Company expects to see an almost 16 percent drop in state aid this year, forcing cutbacks in service.

A revised bus schedule was settled on early in the budget process. Route 1B — a popular line that snakes around downtown and continues to the hospital — will lose all Saturday service.

Route 7 — which travels to the southern end of the city past employment spots such as the J.Crew distribution and call center — will lose a special peak-hour service designed to handle the morning and evening rush.

The change means that route 7 customers will only see a bus come by every 60 minutes throughout the day. Prior to this, service was offered every 30 minutes in the morning and evening to accommodate the extra workplace traffic experienced then.The change also means that all route 7 service will end half an hour earlier. The new end time will be 7:45 p.m.

GLTC calculates this will save roughly 1,700 hours of bus service over the next year. Lynchburg as a whole will still see 59,000 hours of fixed route service.

GLTC has a $7.2 million operating budget for the current fiscal year. The document anticipates $1.8 million in federal aid, $1.1 million in city support and $1 million in state funding (down from $1.2 million the year before).

It also expects $870,000 in passenger fares and $53,136 from Amherst County, which pays for bus service to the Madison Heights area.

The budget, approved by GLTC’s board of directors last month, also calls for $2 million from Liberty University, although the document notes that number could change pending final contract negotiations.

LU pays for bus service within and around its campus.