Will Amherst Cut Bus Lines for Residents?

The News & Advance
Published: July 21, 2008

One measure of good places to live is the level of public transportation to which residents have access. Is it available and is it available to locations that people need to get to and from?

Public transportation is not a luxury. It is a service that heightens the quality of life for those who have no other transportation. And in these times of rapidly rising fuel prices, it is a service for those who see the importance of riding the buses for transportation rather than using the family car.

In Amherst County, the only public transportation available is two routes between Lynchburg and Madison Heights provided by the Greater Lynchburg Transit Company. Amherst, in fact, is the only county surrounding Lynchburg that has any public bus transportation.

But the transit company is saying it needs a larger subsidy from the county to maintain the bus lines. Rising fuel costs, obviously, are the culprit.

The two routes, which travel from downtown Lynchburg to shopping centers in Madison Heights and to the Central Virginia Training Center, could see reductions as early as September. GLTC officials say the routes have a combined total of about 20,000 passengers per year.

Amherst has appropriated $32,078 for bus service in the current fiscal year — the same amount it has budgeted for the two preceding fiscal years. Transit firm officials had asked for a raise of nearly $22,000 offset rising costs for the new fiscal year.

In his request to the county, GLTC General Manager Make Carroll made a good case. “Unfortunately, diesel prices are not at FY07 levels anymore,” he said. “That presents us with a challenge in terms of how we can continue providing service.”

The transit company is drafting several options for change and will hold public hearings in the near future for feedback, Carroll said.

The proposed reductions in service did not come as a surprise to county officials, who were told in the spring that they were a possibility if the county did not increase its subsidy for the bus service.

County Administrator Rodney Taylor pointed out that the county has remained committed to continuing public transportation in the southern end of the county. “I think, through their budget, the supervisors have shown their commitment to continuing that service,” he said, noting the county did increase its financial support for the bus lines three years ago.

But fuel prices have more than doubled since then, along with an increase in other maintenance and salaries for personnel.

It may be difficult to assess just how valuable public transportation is to the population of the southern end of the county. But the Board of Supervisors could begin by asking employees at the Central Virginia Training Center who live in Lynchburg what the bus line means to them. The supervisors could also ask those residents of Madison Heights who depend on the bus lines for their shopping trips to either the Amelon Center or Walmart.

Public transportation is a valuable asset to any locality, especially to one whose residents have become dependent upon it. That seems to be the situation in Madison Heights, where the supervisors could save that valuable asset for probably a portion of the $22,000 asked by the transit company.

Residents of Madison Heights who use the bus lines will know by September whether their public transportation will continue — or whether they will have to make other arrangements to get to work and to their shopping centers.