Green Mountain Transit plans to start charging fares this summer on its bus routes in Chittenden County for the first time since the outset of the pandemic, a move the agency says is necessary to make up for a drop in federal, state and local funding.
The decision to bring back fares is not yet final, Jon Moore, Green Mountain Transit’s general manager, said Friday: Fare revenue is included in the agency’s draft operating budget for the 2024 fiscal year, but the board of commissioners has not yet approved it.
If the plan moves forward, Moore said fares would go into effect July 1 at the same price point as before the pandemic. The agency does not currently plan to bring back fares on its rural services; Moore noted those routes accounted for only a small fraction of pre-pandemic revenue compared to the Burlington-area routes.
Green Mountain Transit was able to waive fares on its routes for the current fiscal year, which runs through June, only after state lawmakers approved a $1.2 million add-on to the state transportation budget last spring. But the agency doesn’t have a similar infusion of cash available for the next fiscal year, Moore said, nor will it be able to count on the same level of federal Covid-19 relief funds it’s had in the past.
“Long story short,” he said, “we couldn’t balance the budget without resuming fares.”
Green Mountain Transit has struggled for years with a lack of stable funding. The agency receives revenue from only a portion of the municipalities it serves, and isn’t guaranteed support from large companies whose employees ride the bus.
Moore also noted that the agency does not currently have enough bus drivers, which, in addition to putting a strain on the workers themselves, also means the agency has had to fund “unsustainably high” overtime costs.
To ease revenue shortfalls, Green Mountain Transit has asked the state to consider subsidizing the agency on a permanent basis. But despite backing from the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission, some legislators have opposed the idea, arguing it would be unjust to charge state taxpayers for a regional transit system.
Moore acknowledged Friday that bringing back fares could cause the agency to lose some riders. Advocates of fare-free transit say it has the potential to attract “choice” riders — people who have the means to drive themselves somewhere but choose to take the bus for convenience or cost-saving reasons.
But other factors have impacted the agency’s ridership, Moore noted, such as the rise of remote working during the pandemic. Across the system, data shows Green Mountain Transit ridership hasn’t rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.
“Our costs have increased much faster than our revenues. I think that’s the underlying issue,” Moore said Friday. “And if we want to provide a high-quality, functioning transit system, we need to find a more sustainable funding model.”
The agency’s FY24 budget also calls for making permanent a handful of service reductions the transit agency has had in place throughout the pandemic. Those include, according to documents posted to Green Mountain Transit’s website:
- On the No. 1 Williston, No. 2 Essex Junction, No. 6 Shelburne and No. 7 North Avenue routes, reduced service after 7 p.m.: 60 minutes between buses (up from 30 minutes previously) Monday to Friday, and 75-minute gaps on Saturday
- On the No. 11 Airport route, service every 45 minutes (up from 30 minutes previously) between 6 a.m. and 7:30 p.m., and every 75 minutes (up from every 45 minutes) from 7:30 p.m. to 10:45 p.m.
- Combining the No. 4 Essex Center and No. 10 Williston/Essex routes, with 75 minutes between buses
- Eliminating two evening trips on the No. 9 Winooski route
- Eliminating the Barre LINK Express service
Moore said the agency needs to make service reductions in its upcoming budget, and believes it will be easier on riders to cut trips that haven’t been running for multiple years.
He also noted these service changes could still be adjusted based on public input. The agency plans to host a public hearing on its proposed budget on Jan. 10 at 4:30 p.m.
