Cuts trickle down to local bus service

State subsidy to VanGO slashed

Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008

Last Wednesday, former transportation chief Lisa Quill told the county that her office recommends shutting down the service for two hours a day, at lunch and dinner, in order to make up $284,000 of the missing revenue.

Quill retired Nov. 5 and said that another $68,000 would be saved by not filling the management position she left vacant until the next fiscal year, which starts July 2009.

This is the second time this year VanGO officials have had to make cuts to the system. Early last month, the county introduced four new unpaid holidays, reduced the number of buses running custom scheduled trips for disabled riders and pumped $129,000 of the county's contingency fund into the system to cover the $825,000 hole caused by skyrocketing fuel prices.

"This is very devastating, because it's in addition to the previous cuts," remarked commissioners' Vice President Edith J. Patterson (D).

"You don't have to make a decision today," Quill said, but warned that the longer a decision is delayed, the deeper the cuts would have to be to fix the budget hole.

The cuts came from MTA's decision to not fund the bus system's Business Loop C, which the county opened last month.

"[MTA] gave us no indication at that time that the funding would not be forthcoming," Quill said.

The cuts also came despite County Administrator Paul W. Comfort's plea to spare VanGO at the commissioners' meeting with state transportation officials last month. Comfort warned state officials that "any additional cuts from the state will probably result in dramatic cuts in service."

Deputy Transportation Secretary Beverley K. Swaim-Staley had stated that the state would try not to cut local transit funding.

Referring to more dramatic cut options, Quill said last Wednesday that the county could eliminate the new loop, but that the whiplash change might confuse riders who have just gotten accustomed to it. She said the county could also save money by limiting Saturday service or eliminating underperforming routes, such as the one to Nanjemoy.

Commissioner Gary V. Hodge (D) warned that the state might not be done cutting local transit, saying, "The circumstances, if anything, are [direr] now than they were six weeks ago."

Hodge said that "instead of cutting transit, we should be expanding transit," but concluded that the lunch and dinner break schedule "could be the option that does minimal harm."

"I would like the option to comb over the options we have very carefully," said Commissioner Reuben B. Collins II (D). "We recognize that this is a very important service, and we'd like to see it expand."

Hodge agreed, saying he would like one to two weeks to review the proposed cuts.

"I think the severity of this does warrant further consideration," Patterson agreed. "I think we need collective ideas about how to meet these continuous cuts."

However, the commissioners did not have the luxury of time.

Quill and County Attorney Roger Fink told the commissioners that, in order to achieve the savings in the proposed cuts, they would have to announce a public hearing, hold the hearing and implement the cuts by January.

The commissioners voted to announce a public hearing listing options for cuts and then figure out which ones to implement in the next few weeks.

jfriess@somdnews.com