PAT increase ok’d, fees to be reviewed

By MELINDA WILLIAMS
melinda@southwesttimes.com

Pulaski Town Council approved a $4,500 increase in its share of the Pulaski Area Transit budget for Fiscal Year 2013, but requested to review fees being charged for the service.

In a 3-2 vote, council agreed to provide a town share of $60,373 for weekday and Saturday service during the 2013 fiscal year, which begins in Oct. 2012. PAT’s fiscal year runs from October to September, while the town’s runs from July to June.

Councilmen Morgan Welker and Greg East cast the votes against Councilman Joseph Goodman’s motion to approve the PAT budget as requested. Vice Mayor David Clark was absent.

Goodman recommended approval of the increase, which will allow PAT to request an additional $45,000 in state and federal funds, but he said he would like council to review PAT passenger fees.

East said he is concerned that as the cost per rider decreases, the town’s share has increased. He would like to see less of the burden for transit operations placed on the taxpayer.

With the increase, new routes to Hiwassee, Draper, Belspring and, possibly, Christiansburg can be added to the service, said Gary Heinline, transit manager.

Welker said he doesn’t think the town citizens should pay for service to those areas.

Heinline said Pulaski County also is being asked to increase its share of the budget from $55,000 to $62,000 for 2013.

Extending service to Christiansburg would not only link the Dublin and Christiansburg campuses of New River Community College, he said, but also would allow residents to link with other transit services to Lynchburg, where Amtrak train service is available.

PAT also is working with Radford’s new transit system to link up at the Fairlawn Kroger, thus extending rider access into Radford.

The 2013 budget also would include a 2 percent increase for PAT staff and drivers. Heinline said the town approved an increase in the 2012 budget, but the PAT board didn’t approve it.

“They finally did approve 2 percent for the drivers, but not for the staff,” he added.

According to Heinline, PAT had a good year.

Ridership, total miles and total fares collected all increased from the 2010 to 2011 fiscal year, according to Heinline. Ridership was up 22 percent, from 62,781 to 81,374. Meanwhile, total miles driven increased 19 percent, from 149,276 to 185,892; and fares collected rose 25 percent, from $44,279 to $59,801.

When PAT first started service, Heinline said, “We said if we had 200 trips per day it would be a success.”

Now, the service is averaging 336 trips per day.

For the first three months of the 2012 fiscal year, which began in October, he says the service is showing a 34 percent growth rate.

“The total days providing public transportation, including Saturdays through the New Freedom Grant, was 276 days for a cost to the town of $176.76,” Heinline states in a budget report provided to council.

Heinline pointed out that any funds not used during a fiscal year are returned to the localities. He noted funds have been returned three years in a row.

PAT charges 75 cents for passengers picked up at bus stops and staying within a mile of the town limits, $2 for those traveling outside a mile of the town limits and $2 for those who use “demand response” service. Children under age three ride free.

With demand service, riders call 24 hours in advance to schedule a ride. They are picked up at their home and delivered to their destination without having to ride a standard bus route. Heinline said 70 percent of those who use the demand service are women with children and others include people going to work in the morning when they have to be at a destination by a specific time.

Welker said he has no problem with the elderly, disabled or injured using the demand service, but those who are able bodied should walk to a bus stop or be charged more.

However, Heinline said it is difficult for a woman with children to keep watch over their children and also have to carry groceries several blocks or more to their home from a bus stop.

He noted that PAT’s costs went down and ridership went up when demand service was added.

Welker said he doesn’t believe demand service is the only thing that accounts for PAT’s growth.

Heinline said PAT is the only transit service in the state that offers demand service and is also the fastest growing service in Virginia.

“The system we have works,” said Heinline.

Goodman said the thought of a woman with children trying to walk the narrow streets of Pulaski to and from a bus stop scares him because someone would have to be walking in the street.

East suggested more cost be passed on to those who are able to walk to a bus stop, but choose to use demand response.

Heinline also pointed out to town council that PAT ran a lot of free trips for about three months as a result of the tornadoes.

“We hoped to be refunded through FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), but that didn’t happen. We came out okay, though,” he said.

A motion by Welker to provide level funding to PAT died for lack of a second.

Heinline told council safe driving records allowed PAT to receive the biggest insurance rate decrease of any company in the state of Virginia this past year.