At the May 19 Christiansburg Town Council meeting, the 2009-2010 budget was approved. But will residents see expanded bus service, and if so, what will this look like?
When council held its First Reading on the proposed budget, Councilmen Wade and Vanhoosier both expressed reservations. When the budget was adopted, Wade voted against it. During council's single budget work session and during a second presentation by Blacksburg Transit, Councilman Mike Barber repeatedly returned to the cost of a ride. Could Christiansburg charge those Virginia Tech students who ride BT routes pre-paid?
Why worry? Council has been given information and had it explained several times now. Fares contribute minimally in managing overall operating costs. The entire bus system, including the six proposed options for Christiansburg, are based on an estimated "Revenue Hourly" rate which includes numerous variables. Overall, even when one item costs more or another is less, it averages out to this hourly operating rate. For every $100 it costs to provide this public service, Christiansburg would only have to pay $23.
Why bother? Those students or VT faculty and staff may ride the BT to the mall, which is in Christiansburg. While visiting, they may dine out -- contributing 6% to the town's current meals tax. Those pre-paid riders may want to donate their time at one of the numerous non-profits located in Downtown Christiansburg (the county's low-rent district). Do you want to discourage anyone from volunteer work because they can't get there? It could help with booking hotel rooms, too, if visitors are provided a seamless, car-less way of traveling between the two downtown hubs within Montgomery County. Heck, many of those pre-paid riders may actually live in Christiansburg and attend or work at the university.
Look northward, up I-81 to downtown Staunton, VA; and you'll see a similar sized community with a comparable budget (once you remove funds for public education). They offer a free trolley service as a "go green" initiative reducing traffic while stimulating the local economy. It's a public service, not a profit generating business.
Look over in the Roanoke Valley, and you'll see a new free trolley system gaining in ridership and stimulating the downtown economy. It may even serve to attract more investment in real estate improvements. It's a public service, which is contributing indirectly to growth from multiple tax revenue sources.
A Christiansburg budget related Roanoke Times article stated "With weeks of debate among councilmen over, Blacksburg Transit officials said they will order buses this month and prepare for an October launch for the new service."
The new, improved Christiansburg bus service would retire the under-utilized Two Town Trolley. Specific routes, when they operate, and how much it will cost to ride remains something for council to decide and will be critical to the long-term success of this start up service. They could try to tweak the proposed options and routes, up to the point what they want changes the "Revenue Hourly" operating model, and therefore the proposed costs.
Council may want to look at whether they can modify the proposed options to connect the Mall Circulator and Downtown Loop so the local high school, new aquatic center and Parks & Rec facility are not excluded or disconnected -- instead of worrying if it costs two bits or four bits to ride.
Whether a new, start up business or even something as grand as the town's new aquatic center -- programs such as this should be expected to take three to five years to become established. Successful implementation is mostly assured by the expertise of BT, but council could stall it, or even make it break down before it really gets any traction.
So although "full funding" was included in the town's budget, and a thorough citizen survey indicated strong support -- residents are not free to expect elected officials are able and willing to establish public transportation in Christiansburg.
Historically, once something is in the approved budget, the matter doesn't have to come back up before council to expend funds.
But Councilman Wade stated after the vote, "Just because the money's in there doesn't mean we'll spend it."