Will a $9 million deficit end PRTC bus service in Prince William?

Transit bus services in Prince William County are on the chopping block.

The Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission (PRTC) currently operates commuter and local bus service for residents in Prince William, Stafford, Manassas, and Manassas Park.

According to PRTC documents, the commuter buses service 7,400 passengers a day, their cross-county services 1,900 a day and their local bus routes service 3,700 residents a day.

The commuter services cover 13 routes and the local services cover six routes.

Many residents rely on PRTC’s services for commuting into Washington D.C. and surrounding areas. It is also a main mode of transport for residents on the local routes.

But right now, PRTC is in financial trouble and is facing a sizable financial shortfall.

It’s $9 million a year, to be exact, according to PRTC’s Interim Executive Director Eric Marx.

“In addition to the fact that we weren’t getting any local supplement – we’ve lost $1.3 million in annual federal funds…the fuel prices have fallen…the result is we’re facing a $7 million shortfall, starting early sometime in fiscal [year] 2017. And it goes up to $9 million [annually] thereafter,” said Marx.

What are PRTC’s funding sources?

PRTC has several funding sources that make up their operational budget, including state and federal funds.

Prince William County’s board of supervisors is also expected to put forward funds for the services, as a majority of the users are county residents, stated PRTC documents.

Another major funding source is the 2.1% motor fuels tax that the county provides to PRTC.

The problem with such a large amount of PRTC’s funding coming from the motor fuels tax is that it varies widely from year to year, based on gas prices. So, the higher the gas prices for drivers, the more PRTC has from the tax revenue to use for their operational budget.

PRTC documents stated that there is a $21 million annual cost for bus and rail services (PRTC also has a hand in Virginia Railway Express operations), but the motor fuels tax revenue alone only raised $12 million – a 25% decrease from last year.

In the past, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors supplemented part of PRTC’s budget with money from the General Fund, which is funded with county tax dollars. The board stopped providing that money  in 2008 when the recession hit.

“The reality is that Prince William County did put money from the General fund [into PRTC] for years and years, but when the recession came along, they cut it out. We had a fuel tax reserve built up at that point…and we were in pretty decent shape at that point. Now we are not,” Marx stated.

What are the solutions?

With a $9 million annual shortfall looming, PRTC needed to come up with potential solutions.

According to Marx, there are three scenarios.

PRTC documents stated that the first scenario would involve cutting services for commuter and local services by 35% across the board. This means there would be fewer buses across the board for commuter, cross-county and local services.

The second scenario would eliminate all local bus services from PRTC’s lineup. And the third scenario would involve cutting all local bus services, as well as cutting any remaining bus services in half.

Marx stated that only the third scenario would allow PRTC to account for the $9 million shortfall in their budget.

Additionally, Marx stated that there was no way to cut expenditures further, or find some savings within their current operational budget.

“We’ve even gone through trims to make sure that we continue to be as efficient as we can be, and make sure that we’re doing the best we can with the resources we’ve got,” said Marx.

Who will it impact?

If the PRTC implements any of the three scenarios, it could negatively impact several Prince William residents.

Commuters would have to turn to alternative methods to get to work, including taking their cars on the road – furthering the congestion issue in the area.

And for those that rely on local bus service as their sole means for transportation, it could have a huge impact.

“If we turn to significant cuts…what would it do? If you take out the local component [of service] – it changes the game,” said Marx.

PRTC cutting their services could also impact residents in some ways they wouldn’t expect – like the bus service’s connection to the Virginia Railway Express (VRE), according to VRE Director of Public Affairs Bryan Jungwirth.

“If transit services are curtailed in this region, it could have a dramatic effect on roadway demand and congestion. The buses are used as a feeder-service as well [for the VRE] on both ends, for many of our riders, so it’s a concern if PRTC were to curtail service – there’d be concern for VRE as well,” Jungwirth said.

What can the local government and community do?

During a presentation given by Marx at the Prince William Chamber of Commerce, he called out the board of supervisors and stated that they are a crucial piece of correcting PRTC’s shortfall.

“Here’s the $7 million question – why not just add more bus service? There’s so much need, why don’t we put it out there? The answer is – it doesn’t turn a profit, it’s a public good…the user fees just don’t cover the full cost and they can’t…It’s completely a local policy decision as to how much [bus] service is going to be provided. There’s nobody out there saying, ‘you have to provide X amount of service.’ There’s no federal requirement, there’s no state requirement. It’s purely a local decision as to how much they want to put out there, and what needs they want to serve,” said Marx.

Additionally, Marx pointed to the county’s affluence on a national level, and asserted that the county has a choice to provide funding for their resident’s transportation needs.

“Question whether the 12^th or 9^th (depending on the source) wealthiest US county truly can’t afford a respectable community transit system,” said Marx.