Bus ridership at Liberty University has grown at a “remarkable” rate, prompting LU to pursue a new off-campus service for next school year.
The additional routes would target housing developments with high concentrations of Liberty students and employees whose neighborhoods aren’t served by the public bus system.
All local money for the project would come from Liberty, although it’s hoped the bulk of the cost will be paid by a state grant. On Wednesday, the board of the Greater Lynchburg Transit Company, which provides all LU bus service, approved an application that sought $316,102 in state aid.
That grant, which would require at least $16,637 in matching local dollars, is competitive and may not be awarded.
Liberty partnered with GLTC at the start of last year to offer an on-campus bus service aimed at cutting down university traffic. The new routes, which are paid for by LU, soon doubled the city’s total bus ridership.
Since August, when the school’s fall term started, those numbers have increased. Between then and the end of January, LU saw a little more than 980,000 people board buses – twice all other GLTC routes combined.
Without the Liberty routes, GLTC ridership over those six months would have been down compared to the same period last year, according to figures kept by the public bus system.
LU started its service in January 2007 with six GLTC buses in use. Officials now plan to up that next year to around a dozen buses in peak hours. The extra vehicles will come from eight older buses recently replaced by the purchase of eight new hybrid buses, which went online last month.
LU is currently considering a “few pockets” of Lynchburg for commuter routes, according to the school’s director of financial services, Richard Martin. He declined to say where they were, though.
If the new service is started, it would be open to all members of the public, not just LU affiliates. Both GLTC and LU officials noted the mutual benefit to the city and school if the proposals go through.
The grant application, which passed the bus system’s board unanimously, will be sent to the Department of Rail and Public Transportation, which will make a final recommendation to the Commonwealth Transportation Board. If the request is approved, the money will be available at the start of the new fiscal year on July 1.