Jaunt CEO briefs Charlottesville City Council

The transit agency Jaunt turns 50 years old this year at a time when a new landscape has formed for public transportation in the region.

Jaunt is a public service corporation with shares held by some but not all of the jurisdictions in which it operates.

“There are five jurisdictions that have voting privileges at the board,” said Jaunt CEO Mike Murphy said. “Charlottesville, Albemarle, Louisa, Nelson, Fluvanna, and Charlottesville and Albemarle essentially have double the voting power of those outlying jurisdictions.

Buckingham and Greene pay for service but do not have a seat on the 14-member board.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a paratransit service must exist for any community with a fixed-route transit system. Jaunt plays that role for Charlottesville Area Transit and is required by federal law to provide a ride for anyone within three-quarters of a mile of a CAT stop.

“[That] means that we actually go to somebody’s door and take them where they need to go within the service area,” Murphy said. “That extends it to three times the size of the city, 30.67 square miles.”

Murphy said about 56 percent of Jaunt rides are on-demand rides for those eligible. That eligibility is confirmed by CAT. Jaunt has provided that service for the city since 1987, but users must schedule at least a day in advance.

Murphy said Jaunt will be experimenting with its own micro-transit pilot, a pilot that will involve new scheduling software that might be able to make paratransit rides more of a real-time event.

“We have secured a million and a half dollars from the state for a new, much more technologically advanced software solution that’s going to allow people to book on their phones, call into the call center, use a laptop or desktop in the future,” Murphy said.

Neither CAT, Jaunt, nor the University Transit Service are members of the regional transit authority, but Murphy has been serving on the now-defunct Regional Transit Partnership.

“it’s important to the Jaunt Board that we continue to maintain an active presence as CARTA develops,” Murphy said. “And I believe that the vision is that each of the transit providers from the area CAT, Jaunt and UTS will be present at all the future CARTA meetings beginning in 2026.”

Murphy formerly served as a deputy city manager for Charlottesville and also served as an interim during a period of turnover. He said Jaunt needs to update its agreement with CAT for the paratransit service.

“The last person to sign that contract is some guy named Mike Murphy,” Murphy said. “So it’s been out of date for a period of time.”

One potential reason behind the creation of both the Regional Transit Partnership and the Charlottesville Albemarle Regional Transit Authority is to consider the possibility of streamlining operations. City Councilor Michael Payne said he would like to see the creation of one entity.

“One of the goals is being able to combine into one agency for funding efficiencies, operational efficiencies,” Payne said. “Is that something that is yet being kind of discussed and planned for or is that kind of waiting until discussions with this new entity CARTA develop?”

Murphy said he appreciates that vision but is focused on running Jaunt.

“I don’t know that there’s a unified vision out there about bringing those organizations together from a service perspective so much as there is about what’s required of greatly enhanced and cooperative regional planning,” Murphy said.

What is the regional vision for transit? Take a look at a 2023 report that recommended the formation of CARTA. Stay tuned for more stories about how the wheels of the bus go round.

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