Residents press for 11 more bus drivers and 6 idle buses; staff outlines cost and timing

A string of residents at the Community Budget Forum urged the city to invest in Charlottesville Area Transit (CAT) so riders can reliably reach work, medical appointments and school. Pastor Liz Emery, speaking for Impact’s 26 congregations, said many people who rely on buses ‘‘have to wait an hour and a half’’ and urged the city to ‘‘fund 11 more bus drivers and get those 6 buses up and running so that we can help all the people in our community get to work, get to their medical appointments, and have a good life.’’

Public commenters from Impact and the Green Bacon club repeated requests to reduce wait times on high‑use routes (notably routes 5 and 7) from 30 minutes to 15 minutes during peak periods by increasing drivers and deploying buses the speakers said are currently sitting in city lots. Suzanne Bailey (Impact) asked the city to increase budgeted drivers from 59 to 70 and to direct CAT to put six new buses into service; several speakers said the buses are awaiting branding and radios.

Transit operations staff (Garland) responded to the public and council questions: the system has a 40‑vehicle fleet, staff said, and the plan is to make 32 vehicles available for daily service within about eight months by accelerating maintenance and repairs. Garland explained there are radios and Buy America compliance issues that delayed deployment; radios must be programmed and installed before vehicles can be included in the AVL tracking and public app. On driver staffing, staff said training takes about four to five months per new hire.

City Manager Sanders and transit staff provided cost estimates: hiring to reach 70 drivers would cost about $836,000 a year in added personnel expense, and reaching an ‘‘optimal’’ level of 82 drivers would cost about $1.9 million. Staff emphasized that 11 drivers would return service to pre‑pandemic levels but would not be sufficient for expanded service beyond that baseline.

Councilors also asked about collective bargaining and market dynamics; staff said collective bargaining could help stabilize retention but would not guarantee vacancies would be filled because private employers may raise pay in response. The council and staff discussed phasing and optimization rather than immediately funding the full optimal complement, and asked staff to model scenarios tied to different driver counts and capital timing.

The exchange closed with council direction to continue work on an implementation timeline and cost scenarios and with an acknowledgment that some of the buses on hand cannot be deployed until their radios are reprogrammed and installed.