Trolley service cut coming

Starting Monday, get ready to wait a little longer to catch a ride on the Culpeper trolleys.

Virginia Regional Transit, the Purcellville-based nonprofit company that provides the local transit service, announced last week it was cutting 14 hours per week from its Culpeper routes.

The reason? Dwindling state transportation dollars.

What that means for local transit riders is that only one of the town’s two trolleys will run Monday-Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. During that time, instead of making a half-hour loop, the one trolley will cover both sides of town on an hour-loop.

In other words: Did the trolley just pass your stop? Get ready to wait another hour before it returns.

In addition, one trolley will be eliminated altogether from the Saturday service. Starting Nov. 8, the Saturday trolley will run 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on a one-hour loop rather than the usual 30-minute loop.

Mark McGregor, CEO of Virginia Regional Transit, attributed the cut in trolley hours to cuts in government funding.

The Culpeper trolley service, like 16 other transit systems statewide, is funded with a combination of federal, state and local dollars. It costs $59 an hour to run the trolleys, McGregor said.

However, the state share, supported with transportation funds from the gas tax, “keeps decreasing,” McGregor said. That means a greater share is required from the locality.

In this case, the town of Culpeper and Culpeper Human Services share the local contribution. But when VRT requested a 32 percent local match this year, it got less than what it asked for, McGregor said, coming in $12,765 short.

“That means we have to find a way to raise the money elsewhere or reduce the service,” he said.

However, town and CHS officials said they were never contacted about the shortfall.

Town and CHS response
Town Councilman Chip Coleman, director of Culpeper Human Services, said he was almost positive his board would approve half of the required funding to get the trolley back on its normal schedule.

Coleman, who serves on the Town Council Finance Committee, said he planned to make presentations to the CHS board and Town Council on the issue.

McGregor realized that the cut in service presented a hardship for trolley users.

“It’s a direct result of the downturn in the economy, but the oxymoron of the situation is, during hard times … people need (public transit) most.”

McGregor doesn’t think it’s fair that the shortage in state transportation funds shifted the burden to the locality, but unfortunately that’s the reality.

“Because it’s like, by doing it this way there is no one to blame,” he said. “No one has to accept responsibility.”

Five years ago, the local share for the transit service was 25 percent. In that time, costs have gone up as well. Five years ago, it only cost $42 an hour to run the service.

“My real concern is it will probably be more severe next year,” McGregor said of transit donations from the state and local levels. “We don’t have any choice,” he said of cutting the 14 hours in Culpeper, “and yet every bus we put in Culpeper fills up.”

In September, 5,129 people rode the two trolleys.

Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or