Albemarle briefed on first of at least two third-party reports on existing transit service 

In the last segment, we heard a briefing the Albemarle Supervisors held on the possibility of creating a Regional Transit Authority. If that happened, part of the reason would be for Albemarle to have more control over the increasing amount the county spends each year on transit. 

Albemarle has budgeted about $4.8 million for transit in the current fiscal year. Before the budget was adopted in May, Supervisors had a work session on the topic and one of the next steps was for a consultant to be hired to review of what the county is getting for its investment. (Albemarle Supervisors hear from transit providers at budget work session, April 10, 2023)

“Our transit is continuing to increase in complexity for the array of service we’re providing,” said Andy Bowman, Albemarle’s interim assistant chief financial officer for policy and partnerships. “The multiple providers, the change in the state and federal landscape for funding, the complexity of [American Rescue Plan Act] funding that has come into the system, and also the impact of transit coming through the pandemic and what does that look like.” 

Albemarle hired the Texas A&M Transportation Institute to provide a third-party look at the existing set-up where Albemarle pays Charlottesville Area Transit for fixed-route service and pays Jaunt for paratransit and some fixed route service. 

Bowman said the report is a starting point. 

“One of the things I appreciate in the report is that there’s not very prescriptive recommendations that say ‘the county must do this,’” Bowman said. “It’s really highlighting that these are the questions and conversations should look to have in the future as we consider what our transit network looks like.” 

Michael Walk is the program lead at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. 

“We were tasked to determine [if] the levels of service being offered in the county are reasonable given the county’s population, given the county’s make-up, et cetera,” Walk said. 

In all, the study has 22 findings and recommendations and they’re all in section six of the report. (view the report)

Many of the recommendations were highly technical, particularly related to services to satisfy Americans with Disabilities Act transit requirements. There was also an observation about fixed route services offered by Jaunt.

“The commuter bus routes, the CONNECT routes, there’s the 29 North and the Crozet CONNECT routes,” Walk said. “Both of those routes, albeit they do have ridership at this point, they have a relatively low productivity compared to industry standards. What we mean by that is how many passengers are on the bus per hour that the bus is in operation. Right now the 29 North bus is at about 4.3 passengers per hour and Crozet is at 1.94 according to the data that we saw.”

The industry standard is at least 5 passengers per hour and Walk suggested work be done to increase productivity which could include more marketing or changing the service to attract more riders. 

Walk said the study also reviewed the fleet size of both CAT and Jaunt. 

“Overall the size of the fleet of CAT, how many vehicles they have, is a reasonable one given what an industry target is of a 20 percent spare ratio, particularly if CAT is returning to its pre COVID service levels sometime in the future which I believe the plans are heading in that direction,” Walk said. 

Jaunt has a 56 percent spare ratio which is quite large, but Walk said that could be a benefit for Jaunt in the near-term with lower capital costs for replacement vehicles.

Supervisor Ned Gallaway wanted to know if the Texas A&M Transportation Institute had any advice about how to proceed in a situation where one public organization is contracting services from another, such as is the case where Albemarle pays Charlottesville for fixed route service.

“We are a government entity contracting with a department of another government entity whereas when I contract with vendors, I can pretty much say ‘I’m paying you for this, you give me that’ and if I want to question you about it, then I can do so” Gallaway said. 

Gallaway said at times, Charlottesville has been less forthcoming about providing information to Albemarle because of the politics between the two communities. He did not put that blame on CAT Director Garland Williams. 

“So that’s a tricky situation to navigate both for them, the City Council, us, the county Board of Supervisors, and a department head who is doing his best to run his transit service,” Gallaway said. 

Walk said the situation is not unique but he did not have a response from the podium. Supervisor Diantha McKeel asked Walk if a formal transportation authority would resolve some of the intergovernmental tension.

“Creating a single government entity that then oversees all of the operation certainly takes out some of the inherent conflict,” Walk said.

“That’s what I was thinking but you just said it better than I did,” McKeel said. 

McKeel said it has been easier to get data from CAT since Garland Williams took over as director, but she’d like to see fresh data to see how ridership has changed post pandemic. 

Supervisor Ann Mallek said she was struck by how much ridership has dropped on the Crozet CONNECT. 

“Because I was flabbergasted considering when the Crozet CONNECT opened they were doing 20 people a bus and had to get a bigger bus,” Mallek said.

Mallek said the installation of a planned and funded  Park and Ride at exit 107 may help. That project’s advertisement for construction bids is anticipated for October 2024 according to the Virginia Department of Transportation’s website. She also said people will return when the cost of gasoline exceeds $4 a gallon. 

There will be an additional report from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute in the near future.

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