GRTC Sic Transit?

Rising fuel prices have spurred public transportation ridership and, ironically, worsened the operating picture at the GRTC Transit System, which must pay more for diesel fuel and must buy more of it.

Earlier this year, the GRTC proposed to reduce its revenue shortfall by making modest service cutbacks. The announcement triggered heartfelt protests from users of the affected routes, who correctly noted that no cutback is modest if it affects your route.

While the agency is still evaluating these route options, the real story here is the prospect that this cycle of cuts will turn out to be a tame dress rehearsal for much bigger cutbacks next year.

To its credit, the GRTC has used the futures market to hedge its fuel costs, locking in a price of $2.62 a gallon for diesel fuel until next April. With diesel market prices now above $4 a gallon and, unlike gasoline, still rising, the impact of higher fuel prices will be really nasty next year.  

If the agency has to pay $4 a gallon for its fuel next spring, its fuel bill with rise to $10 million from $6 million, CEO John M. Lewis Jr. says, and it will face a $4 million funding gap.   The city was asked by GRTC for $2 million this year, and could fund only $1.6 million of that amount, leading to the proposed service reductions.

"I can only imagine what will happen when we need $4 million," Lewis says. "I don't anticipate the city being able to keep up with the need … and then we get into major service cuts."

That's not Lewis' only problem. He is looking for $60 million to replace GRTC's aging vehicle fleet and so far has lined up only $28 million "in hand or promised." Without more funding, he says, "it could get ugly fast."

In normal times, the GRTC develops an annual budget and seeks funding support from its primary owner, the City of Richmond, and from federal, state and other local sources. Then, it tries to live within its means. The agency has a solid track record of doing so but Lewis notes that times are no longer normal and, more to the point, will no longer be normal.

"We have to start thinking of things differently," he says. "The way we fund public transit just isn't sustainable." Neither is the go-it-alone mentality of Richmond and neighboring Chesterfield and Henrico Counties.

The GRTC is one of the few public transit systems its size in the country that lives hand-to-mouth each year, Lewis says, without a funding stream dedicated to transportation and supported by a combination of taxes, tolls, rider fares and public and private subsidies.

"When I don't know what my budget will be next year," Lewis says, "you really can't create the best solutions." Infrastructure upgrades and related planning require funding cycles of 24 to 36 months and longer, he explains. 

Not surprisingly, Lewis strongly supports creation of a Richmond Regional Transportation Authority, which was proposed in last winter's assessment of the area's outlook, "Putting The Future Together," by urban consultant Jim Crupi .

The report recommended the agency be funded by a 1-cent regional sales tax. The proposal was tepidly pursued at the last regular session of the state legislature, which must authorize such an authority.

Much has changed since then. Beyond rising energy prices, regional transportation funding mechanisms in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads were ruled unconstitutional, forcing a special session of the legislature that was not able to agree on a new funding approach. The problem won't go away, of course, and the weak economy is driving down state tax receipts and will lead to staffing and service cutbacks.

In this environment, the idea of Richmond pushing for a new sales tax conjures visions of Don Quixote tilting at windmills. Yet the need to create better funding mechanisms has never been stronger. And everyone is looking for win-win solutions to the financial and environmental consequences of the nation's extended love affair with big cars.

"I really believe this is our opportunity to solve this from a regional perspective," Lewis says, "and if this occurs, it has to happen this fall." 

That's not a lot of time. In a process that he likens to a political campaign, Lewis says Richmond needs to effectively team with Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads to build a strong and politically effective alliance of the state's three most populous areas.  

And as in politics, he says, selling a Richmond RTA needs to be a very public process that effectively provides the public with a compelling vision for the benefits of expanded public transportation in Central Virginia. The vision goes well beyond new buses and expanded routes. It includes mass-transit links with the airport, downtown trolley buses (perhaps leading to a light rail system) and eventually a high-speed rail connection to Washington. 

Lewis says the public must be involved, citing as a recent model the public participation in Richmond's new proposed Downtown Master Plan. A strong regional vision for transportation does exist, he notes, but perhaps has not been effectively presented to the very public that is, in fact, the vision's ultimate funding source and customer.

When the GRTC publicized its list of proposed service cutbacks in late spring, it created a major buzz within Richmond's extensive network of community-group blogs. And when some bloggers protested the cutbacks, Lewis responded personally with his own posts, coming back repeatedly to answer questions. The bloggers were not only pleased at this participation but surprised as well.

As the head of a transit company dependent on public ridership and support, listening to the public is common sense for Lewis, who also says he gets lots of great ideas from the public this way. That was a common refrain during the Master Plan process as well. 

Richmond leaders should take note, involve the public as a partner, and do it soon.

About the author -- Phil Moeller, a recovering newspaper journalist, is a communications consultant and writer in Richmond.

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