City Council Debates GEORGE’s Fate

By GEORGE BROMLEY
Falls Church Times Staff

June 9, 2010

The Falls Church City Council continued to wrestle with the fate of the GEORGE bus system at its Monday evening work session.  In the short term the Council is likely to raise the fare, effective July 1, but the greater question is whether the bus will continue to run beyond September 2010.

Any GEORGE service past September will require the Council either approve an additional appropriation from the general fund or find an alternate funding source such as the Northern Virginia Transit Commission (NVTC) Trust Fund.   The Commission has not completed its projections for FY 2011, however NVTC staff have indicated they believe it is questionable there will be sufficient funding available to cover both the Metro subsidy and GEORGE in FY2011.

The Council has three firm options and possibly a fourth concerning GEORGE’s future.

1.  Maintain current service.  The two existing routes would remain as-is, with no reduction in schedule.  Assuming a state subsidy rate for the operating cost of up 40%, the net cost to the City would be approximately $100,000.

2.  Discontinue Route 26W and reduce the hours of Route 26E.  This option would eliminate the route with the lower ridership and would reduce the operating hours of the other by removing the first and last trip in both morning and evening.  With the state subsidy, the net cost to the City for this schedule would be approximately $30,000 for the rest of FY 2011.

3.  Terminate the service.  The two buses currently maintained by Falls Church would be turned over to Arlington, making all four the responsibility of the County.  This option would be cost free.  By transferring responsibility to Arlington, which already holds title, the City would no longer be liable to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).  Arlington is expanding its routes and has agreed to operate the buses as part of their fleet through at least January 2013.

At Monday’s work session City Manager Wyatt Shields suggested an additional option would be to implement the second alternative on July 1, rather than in September, but Mayor Robin Gardner was adamantly opposed. 

“That means telling people on the west side of the City that service we promised them through September will end in July.  I think that’s unfair.  We’re trying to nickel and dime our way to keep it going, perpetuating a dream we don’t have the funding for.  I think we should raise the fares and discontinue in September.”

Other members seemed more willing to keep GEORGE on life support beyond September.  Councilman Nader Baroukh stated he would like the system to continue if at all possible, but recognized the risks of relying on NVTC funding.  Councilman Dan Sze also seemed inclined to continue the service at the least possible cost, likening GEORGE to “a raggedy teddy bear we just can’t bear to throw out.” 

Though stating he favored reducing the service in an orderly way, Councilman Dan Maller noted that the Council did not have sufficient data available to make a final decision.  He cautioned that “the money we think is in the NVTC trust fund is not going to be there, we need to review this pretty carefully.”  Mr. Shields acknowledged that the city had drawn its NVTC trust funds down to the point where there was no margin for error. 

No consensus was reached, so GEORGE’s ultimate fate may be left to the new Council, which convenes next month.  To raise the fare for FY 2011 a public hearing must be held before July 1.  If approved, the fare, currently $1.00, would increase up to $1.50 for SmartTripusers and to $1.70 for cash customers, with an option to reduce the rate to $1.50 SmartTrip/$1.50 cash.  Offering the same rate for all customers would be consistent with Arlington County’s proposed fare structure, which will take effect on June 12th.