Funding gap could cut GRTC service

Some residents may be out of a ride to work in July if state and local governments don’t fund express bus service in the county.

GRTC currently provides express bus service between Swift Creek Baptist Church/Commonwealth Centre and downtown Richmond. Known as Route 82, the service has been funded by the state for the past six years.

But that grant expires on June 30, and so far no one has offered to pony up the $350,000 needed annually to keep the service running.

“The state will contribute to the operation, but not at the level that it has been before,” said Thelma Drake, director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Transportation.

GRTC will receive a state subsidy of about 17 percent of the $350,000 grant, Drake said.

The county has no plans to provide additional funding for the service.

“From the beginning of the service, the county has maintained its position that, while we supported having the service, we did not have county funds available to pay for it,” said Don Kappel, director of the Chesterfield Department of Public Affairs. “The county has an item on our 2012 legislative program requesting an appropriation of approximately $400,000 [from the state] to continue this important service.”

Matoaca resident Bob Herndon rides Route 82 each day to work and believes the county should reconsider funding it.

“The county finds the money to do what they want to do,” Herndon said. “It’s just a matter of will. It’s not a matter of whether the money is there or not.”

About 150 people take Route 82 each weekday, according to GRTC. The bus service offers five boarding times in the morning, and five return trips in the afternoon. Riders pay a $3 fare each way.

“It’s one of the most successful express routes we have,” said Larry Hagin, GRTC’s director of planning and scheduling.

During the 1970s, Chesterfield County bought half of the shares sold in GRTC. Three of GRTC’s board members are from Chesterfield; the remaining three are from Richmond. (Henrico County chose not to buy into the system in the 1970s, and doesn’t have a member on the board. GRTC provides some bus service in Henrico, at a cost of $5 million per year to that county.)

Richmond pays GRTC $11 million a year for bus service in the city; Chesterfield has paid nothing into the system since its initial investment four decades ago.

“The only reason you see public transit in [Chesterfield] County is through the state grant,” Hagin said. “The county right now does not pay in any way for public transit service.”

GRTC is already studying ways to keep Route 82 running.

“We want to survey and talk to the riders to see how much they’d be willing to pay for public transit above what they are paying now,” Hagin said.

Riders face higher fares and a possible reduction in the number of daily trips.

Hagin expects GRTC should know more about Route 82’s future by March.

In the meantime, Herndon has been asking Route 82 riders to contact county supervisors to express their support for funding the service.

“There are a number of people who ride the bus who work for the department of transportation, who work for VCU, as well as folks who work for attorney’s offices, and students,” Herndon said. “It’s a fairly broad group of folks who ride the bus.

“It’s time for the Chesterfield board to really show what they’re made of,” Herndon continued. “If Chesterfield County wants to continue owning GRTC, then they need to provide funding for the service. They need to start somewhere.”

Herndon is a longtime advocate for public transportation and has spoken to board members on a number of occasions in support of it. He hasn’t decided if he’ll go to the podium again this year during budget discussions.

For riders, Route 82 is an inexpensive, stress-free way to go back and forth to downtown. But Herndon said it’s also an asset for the county.

“It’s taking 150 cars off the road,” Herndon explained. “Those 150 cars are not in the traffic lanes. They’re not on Hull Street. They’re not on [Route] 76. It’s reducing the pollutants in the air, and you’re realizing economic development benefits by those folks riding the buses as well.”

A 2009 study by the American Public Transportation Association reported that for every $1 that’s invested in public transit, about four times that amount is gained in economic returns.

“To me, it comes down to a very common sense thing,” Herndon said. “You own half the system. You ought to support it, period.