Operating Budget 2025-2026

TRANSIT DEPARTMENT

NARRATIVE

Blacksburg Transit (BT) provides safe, courteous, reliable, accessible, and affordable public transportation services to the Town of Blacksburg, Virginia Tech, and the Town of Christiansburg.

FY 2024-2025 ACCOMPLISHMENTS • Revamped BT’s route network and adjusted all routes to utilize the new Transit Center constructed on Virginia Tech’s campus. • Increased transit service to exceed pre-COVID levels of service in coordination with the transition to the Transit Center. These increases in service have resulted in a 25-30% increase in systemwide ridership. • Added a dedicated Campus Shuttle route as part of the route revamp, experiencing immediate success becoming one of the most productive routes within the first three months, serving approximately 15-20% of the systemwide ridership. • Received and placed into service 18 new battery electric buses, making 57% of the heavy duty fleet battery electric. FY 2025-2026 OBJECTIVES • Continue working toward the implementation of service improvements outlined in BT’s Strategic Plan. • Continue oversight of the construction for the expansion and renovation of BT’s Maintenance facility. • Increase staffing in Maintenance to support increases in services in addition to continued staff development to expand knowledge related to battery electric buses. • Implement a new demand-response scheduling software to improve scheduling efficiencies, with the potential for future capabilities of passenger scheduling through a portal or online.

2022/2023 Actual 3,520,078

2023/2024 Actual 3,739,457

2024/2025 Adopted 4,000,000

2024/2025 Projected 4,750,000

2025/2026 Proposed 5,000,000

BLACKSBURG TRANSIT

Passenger Trips – Annual

Miles between Service Interruptions due to major mechanical problems

2,348

1,416

2,500

1,200

2,000

On-Time Performance

88%

87%

90%

89%

90%

Customer Information System Interactions Advertising Revenue Earned

6,121,082

1,482,180

1,750,000 $120,000

1,665,000 $120,000

1,950,000 $120,000

$0

$82,460

Bus Operations Operating Expense per Revenue Hour Passenger Trips per Revenue Hour BT Access Operations Operating Expense per Revenue Hour Passenger Trips per Revenue Hour

$117.83

$128.54

$123.03

$116.42

$118.69

37.90

37.53

35.05

39.40

37.06

$115.43

$133.20

$111.22

$110.32

$103.22

1.73

1.71

1.63

1.62

1.63

135