CARTA reviews draft prioritization study, weighs roles in future transit decisions

The planning world is obscure and there are steep learning curves for those who want to understand why we have the infrastructure we have.

A primary purpose of this newsletter is to shed more light on various processes such as the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission’s efforts over the years to coordinate upgrades to regional transit services. That included creation of a Regional Transit Vision Plan in 2022.

A more recent milestone has been the creation of the Charlottesville Albemarle Transit Authority, a body that has commissioned a study to determine how to prioritize the search for additional funds to pay for service expansions.

The firm RK&K took on the work which I’ve previously covered. Here are some resources:

• Regional Transit Service Prioritization and Implementation Feasibility Study — August 24, 2026 presentation
• Further work underway to review transit plans to inform CARTA’s next moves, Information Charlottesville, April 26, 2026
• Buckingham commuter bus operated by Jaunt tops initial prioritization list, Information Charlottesville, June 3, 2026
• Regional Transit Authority wants feedback on future transportation funding strategy, Information Charlottesville, July 23, 2026

The four elected officials on CARTA got an update at a special meeting on August 24, 2026.

“Our goal is to develop an implementation strategy that, you know, talks about cost for those services and some potential funding scenarios as well,” said Jen DeBruhl, a former director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation who now works for RK&K.

The information presented anticipates seeking funds for expanded service in 2030, though DeBruhl said there’s not a lot of time to make that happen. There are also important facts to keep in mind about how two of the area’s transit agencies are connected. In addition to serving rural counties, Jaunt serves as the paratransit provider for the urban area otherwise served by Charlottesville Area Transit.

“Anywhere we’re extending CAT’s fixed route service, to serve new areas, those complementary ADA paratransit services are required, too,” DeBruhl said. “It is a federal requirement.”

DeBruhl took the CARTA Board through various scenarios for specific route expansions and frequency upgrades. One of them is a more practical version that takes into account that 2030 is coming up soon which has a cost estimate of an additional $12 million a year. The other is more aspirational with a cost of an additional $25 million a year.

One of the projects on the draft prioritization list would build off of an item in CAT’s Transit Strategic Plan that would split the current Route 2 into two routes. That has not yet been implemented due to a lack of enough drivers but CAT Director Garland Williams said the change is currently scheduled for February 2027.

CARTA plays no role in managing either CAT, Jaunt, or the University Transit System.

DeBruhl said a survey was conducted over the summer for the prioritization study but there were not many results.

“There’s a little bit of survey fatigue because both CAT and Jaunt have done onboard rider surveys this year,” DeBruhl said. “There was a lot of survey and public input on the vision plan, which is the basis for this.”

The Albemarle Board of Supervisors were presented with the information on September 16 with City Council to follow in the future. A final draft will be presented to CARTA this fall. A goal is to ask for money from the General Assembly for additional transit service.

Albemarle Supervisor Mike Pruitt has been skeptical of the prioritization study and said CARTA should be moving toward taking a stronger role in shaping the future of regional transit and being more involved with implementation of existing transit strategic plans.

“I picture a universe where maybe CARTA for reasons that have been articulated in a previous meeting doesn’t necessarily own every asset,” Pruitt said. “But I do think it needs to be the institution that’s making all the decisions.”

Those decisions are currently made at the staff level. For instance, there is no transit service to the Charlottesville Regional Airport. Williams said the idea had been studied of extending one of the routes there.

“In the original scenarios we had, it did go to the airport, but we backed off of that because there were some concerns about the airport’s funding model about how they make their money based off of parking,” Williams said.

City Councilor Natalie Oschrin posed the question of whether Albemarle and Charlottesville might want to change that given that elected officials appoint the members of the airport’s governing bodies.

“That’s a policy decision we have to determine if we have the political will to make,” Oschrin said. “And so when do we get a chance to have that more in-depth conversation and make that decision if we so choose? Is that a CAT-only thing? Is that a CARTA thing?”

Mike Murphy, the CEO of Jaunt, said county residents can book his agency’s services for a ride to the airport at certain times. He also said Jaunt is moving ahead with expansion of routes such as enhanced service from Stanardsville to Charlottesville that will begin at the start of 2027.

“It is intended to bring in a Connect-style commuter route from Stanardsville and Ruckersville down the 29 corridor and also capture things beyond Airport Road in Albemarle County like UVA North Fork and some of the new rooftops in Albemarle County, perhaps,” Murphy said, adding the service might also serve the two AstraZeneca factories at Rivanna Futures when they come online in 2030.

As the meeting wrapped up, DeBruhl said many of the questions being asked were outside of the scope of the study which was intended to build off of what’s in the Regional Transit Vision Plan.

“When it gets to implementation, I think we’ve given you a foundation, but you’re really going to have to take a much deeper and harder look with the input from your transit providers and from the local governments under the CARTA umbrella when you get to that point in time,” Debruhl said.

Stay tuned for an additional story from when the Albemarle Board of Supervisors had their briefing.

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