Williamsburg Area Transit Authority Board of Directors did not make a decision at their Wednesday meeting regarding which services would be changed or deleted to accommodate a funding shortfall, citing a lack of information to make an informed vote.
WATA Executive Director Kevan Danker proposed two service changes, one that keeps the trolley in service, to accommodate the funding shortfall and one service change following James City County’s urging WATA to comply with the county’s lunch break requirements.
The county’s employees take a 30-minute unpaid lunch break; WATA was previously offering a one-hour paid lunch break. Changing the lunch time would extend employees’ work hours so Danker proposed summer extended hours be cut so fixed-route buses would run until 9 p.m. year-round. Fixed-route buses currently run until 8 p.m. regularly and until 10 p.m. in the summer.
“There are customers who will not like one hour less in the summer, and I totally understand why,” Danker said, but explained the change is one he thinks is necessary to save funds for WATA, and it will give all riders an additional hour to ride at night, year-round.
He also proposed increasing the trolley’s run time from a 40-minute loop to a 30-minute loop, advertising the trolley route and hours, deleting stops the trolley makes that are also made by a fixed-route bus.
“Part of what makes the trolley good in other places is quickness,” Danker said, explaining having a tighter schedule may cause more people to ride the trolley once the schedule is made more public.
Data would be collected on trolley ridership starting in the summer and running through the end of the year; the data would then be used to determine whether the trolley should be put on a Friday-Sunday schedule starting in January 2014.
“I think if we do our job right, we may see the trolley numbers go up,” said board Chair Danny McDaniel, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation director of security, safety and transportation.
The proposed service changes could save money if the board decides to cut the extended summer hours, but costs could be increased if the summer hours are kept and the unpaid lunch break change is made. Driver work shifts would increase from eight paid hours to eight and a half paid hours, resulting in overtime. Danker suggested the break drivers be cut from five to one since regular drivers would be taking less break time and would need less relief.
“My gut reaction is I think I like what you’re proposing with the trolley, but I don’t think I like scaling back the summer hours,” said Doug Powell, board member and James City County assistant county administrator.
For the summer extended hours, WATA pays drivers for three hours of work but the drivers only provide service for two hours. Danker pushed the board to make a decision Wednesday, explaining most extended service drivers are school bus drivers by day and want to know soon if they need to look for work elsewhere.
Danker said the 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. service is not as widely used as other times and “the number of passengers we help would be so insignificant.”
He told the board the WATA budget plan submitted to localities included the summer extended hours, but the hours were not programmed into WATA’s adopted fiscal year 2014 budget due to reduced funding from the localities.
When McDaniel asked for clarification, Danker told him, “I’m not sure the localities had that level of intel.”
Board member Jodi Miller, Williamsburg’s assistant city manager, replied, “I’m not sure the board had that level of intel.”
None of the board members present were aware they had adopted a budget that didn’t include the extended summer hours.
The board decided not to make any service decisions Wednesday but will meet again at 10 a.m. Monday in the Quarterpath Recreation Center to further discuss the possible service changes and possibly make a decision. Other items included on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting, including discussion of a new HUB location following the end-of-the-year close of the Williamsburg Outlet Mall, will be discussed Monday.
