Public Hearing and Request for Comments

FREDericksburg Regional Transit to Eliminate the S3 Route in Spotsylvania

and Augment Service on the S2 Route Effective February 28, 2011

FREDericksburg Regional Transit (FRED) and Spotsylvania County are seeking comment on proposed changes to FRED service in the County. FRED will be eliminating service on one route and augmenting service on another route as described below.

Comments on the proposed changes should be made in writing and may be addressed to: Arnold Levine, Manager, Policy, Planning & Compliance, FREDericksburg Regional Transit, 1400 Jefferson Davis Highway, Fredericksburg, VA 22401; or by email to . A copy of any comments should be sent to the County’s Department of Planning at 9019 Old Battlefield Boulevard, Suite 320, Spotsylvania, VA 22553, Attn: Ms Wanda Parrish, or by email to . Comments will be accepted until February 14, 2011.

The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 25, 2011, in the Board of Supervisors Meeting Room in the R. E. Holbert Memorial Building, 9104 Courthouse Road, Spotsylvania, VA 22553 to consider the transit service adjustments described below.

Questions may be directed to Arnold Levine at 540.372.1222 x209 or to the email address cited above.

Background

At its session on November 9, 2010, the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors decided to cease FRED service on the S3 route and to shift the resources used on that route to augment service on the more heavily used S2 route.

FRED began service on the S3 in February 2008 with special funding under the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) program. Under that program, three years of funding are available from Federal and State sources to test, among other things, concepts of transit service. CMAQ funding for the S3 route expires in February 2011.

The S3, whose routing and service characteristics were jointly developed by FRED and County planning staff, operates from the VDOT commuter parking lot off Route 3 at Salem Church, along Route 3 to Harrison Crossing Shopping Center, along Harrison Road, Gordon Road, and Smith Station Road to the Spotsylvania YMCA, and back. The S3 operates weekdays with one bus between 8:30 am and 8:30 pm on a two-hour headway (i.e., it returns to the same stop going in the same direction every two hours). The S3 connects with the S1 route at the VDOT lot, permitting passengers to reach other parts of the County including Spotsylvania Towne Centre, where passengers can make additional connections to points on the FRED system.

Ridership levels on the S3 have been low when compared to other routes and have declined significantly over the last year. From February 2008 through January 2009, 4,108 trips were taken on the S3; that increased to 4,609 trips for the next year; and is projected to decline to about 3,700 trips for the current February to January period. When looking at performance measures such as operating expense per trip, passengers per revenue hour and passengers per revenue mile, the S3 has been one of the poorest performing routes in the FRED system.

Augmentation and Renaming of the S2 Route

At the same time the Board decided to terminate FRED service on the S3 route, it decided to reallocate the resources used on that route to the S2 route.

The S2 operates one bus weekdays from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm alternately between Lee’s Hill Center and points east of Jefferson Davis Highway and Lee’s Hill Center and points west of Jefferson Davis Highway. Like the S3, it operates on a two-hour headway. Between 23,000 and 25,000 trips are made on the S2 annually. The S2 connects with the S1, the F2 and F3 routes at Lee’s Hill Center, permitting transfers to other parts of the County and to the City of Fredericksburg.

Beginning February 28, 2011, FRED proposes to add a second bus to the S2 route to permit reducing headways to one hour. As part of this augmentation of service, the S2 will become two separate, renamed routes.

The west-of-Jefferson Davis Highway portion of the S2 will become the S4. It will continue to operate over its current routing from Lee’s Hill Center to Southpoint II Shopping Center, to and along Courthouse Road to Spotsylvania Courthouse, and back. The S4 will provide hourly service weekdays from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. Passengers will be able to transfer on the hour at Lee’s Hill Center to the S1, F2, F3, and renamed S5 (see below).

The east-of-Jefferson Davis Highway portion of the S2 will become the S5. It will continue to operate over its current routing (with one exception noted below) from Lee’s Hill Center to Southpoint I Shopping Center, to Cosner’s Corner Shopping Center, to the Spotsylvania Regional Medical Center, to Lee’s Hill and Germanna Community College. The S5 will provide hourly service weekdays from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. Passengers will be able to transfer on the hour at Lee’s Hill Center to the S1, F2, F3, and renamed S4 (see above). FRED proposes to add one stop to the renamed S5 at the medical services building near the intersection of US Route 17 (Mills Drive) and Cosner Drive.

Draft schedules for the renamed S4 and S5 can be viewed and downloaded from FRED’s website, rideFRED.com. From the homepage, click on “NEWS” and follow the link in the relevant article. The draft schedules will also be available at FRED Central, on FRED buses and at Spotsylvania County government offices.