University of Virginia Library

The Busing Question

Deciding Between Expansion And Restriction

By BOB MAHONEY

Kevin Adams is a man with
a mission. As director of the
transit system here at the
University, Mr. Adams has in
the past 12 months overseen
the evolution of the system
from the planning stage to a
working bus service
accommodating 3300 passengers
a day. "The potential for the
bus system, however, is only
now beginning to be realized,"
said Mr. Adams in the course
of two conversations in his
Brandon Avenue office.

Community Service

Working out of the
Department of Parking and
Transit, Mr. Adams has been
laboring for the past several
months on what may fittingly
be called 'phase two' of the
system. In his cramped,
sparsely furnished second-floor
office, he explored the
possibilities that lay ahead –
both in terms of a commuter
service and as a broader service
to the community.

"Right now the bus route
reaches only a fraction of the
student body," Mr. Adams
said, "and when we include the
faculty and staff who take
advantage of the service, the
percentage of students in our
ridership grows smaller.
Presently, 40 per cent of our
ridership is made up of hospital
employees.

"If expansion to the Rugby
Road-Grady Avenue is
approved," he continued, "the
system would be made
available to hundreds more
students. From there we could
expand to provide buses to
transport students to games
and other events where one bus
could take the place of 30 or
40 cars."

While the full impact of
expanding the service to Rugby
Road area is difficult to
pinpoint, projections arrived at
by Mr. Adams based on a
survey taken by the Parking
and Transit Department reveal
one unmistakable fact: opening
another route to serve the
proposed area in the fall of
1973 could not be handled by
the present level of operations
geared towards 3300 passengers.

Five Buses

Presently the bus system
uses five buses, including one
held in reserve, and employs 23
drivers, three road supervisors,
two maintenance men and a
mechanic. All but two of the
drivers are students who work
part-time and drive anywhere
between 10 and 15 hours a
week. One driver credited the
system for the flexibility it
gives him in arranging a work
schedule- the buses are
continually

Currently earning $2.06 an
hour, the student drivers report
to one of the three road
supervisors in the Building and
Grounds parking lot. Acting as
the next link in the chain of
command, these supervisors
can discipline the drivers for
road infractions such as not
wearing the proper uniform or
failing to check bus passes
thoroughly. Three of the 'blue
slips' given for violations of the
rules earn a driver a day off, a
polite but effective way of
docking his pay.

While the bus system rents
facilities from the Yellow
Transit Co. and buys 2500
gallons of gasoline a month
from the firm to keep the
buses running, Mr. Adams
hopes to have a private garage
constructed sometime in the
future. Maintenance, which
involves cleaning each bus
nightly, would be much easier
if the garage was available 24
hours a day rather than only a
few hours each night which is
the present case. Expanding
the service to two or three
times its present level would
seem to necessitate a separate
garage for University buses
only.

Speculation has abounded
lately on whether the bus
system would be successful if
extended to the Rugby Road
area. The potential ridership
has been well documented:
about 18 per cent of the
student body lives in the
vicinity. Any questions about
the success of a venture into
the area of the fraternities have
been dismissed by the survey's

results, according to Mr.
Adams.

"A response I couldn't
believe at first" was the way
Mr. Adams summarized the 89
per cent positive reaction to a
bus being introduced to the
proposed area. Though he was
estimating a 50 per cent
affirmative response, Mr.
Adams feels that he can handle
the increased demand which
would mean roughly an
increase from 3,300 to 10,000
passengers a day. What
astounds him all the more is
that the 7,000 passenger
increment is tabulated after
adjustments are made for those
who already use the system on
the Grounds. In addition, more
than 4 of 5 faculty members
and staff employees who
answered the survey expressed
a desire to use the system.

"What this means in terms
of equipment and manpower is

that eight or nine buses would
be needed, and not just for one
or two peak hours, with several
buses remaining idle for the
rest of the day. The survey
shows that from 9 a.m. to 3
p.m. would be the heaviest
hours as students make one
and possibly two in-bound
trips a day. Likewise the
afternoon hours would be used
shuttling students back and
forth from their fraternities for
lunch and then home for good
when classes end. And then at
4 p.m. University employees
finishing the day would
demand the service in one
rush."

While his most pressing
problem is to sell the
Administration on the idea of a
Rugby Road-Grady Avenue
route, Mr. Adams must be able
to answer the question of how
it will be done. The
logistics-answering the question
"how?"- are still be worked
out.

Obviously, no one bus
could get through the area
without turning away
passengers – two fraternity
houses could conceivably fill a
bus in a matter of minutes.
Coping with the demand by
running a tandem of buses
through the area or having
several buses leap frog through
the area still has to be decided
on. The buses will most likely
have a color code on the front
which will be adjusted at Scott
Stadium depending on whether
they will make the U-Hall run
or the Rugby Road run.

'Never Be Early'

"Either way, said Mr.
Adams, "one cardinal rule in
the transportation business is
never to be early. A bus which
arrives two minutes ahead of
time doesn't help the person
who was relying on the
schedule. As far as he's
concerned, when the bus
finally comes, it's 10 to 12
minutes late."

What would be the effects
of expanding the system?
Perhaps the most important
difference Mr. Adams
anticipates is a reduction in the
traffic around the University.
He explained that "with a bus
on Rugby Road, many
students who drive in would no
longer have to. I estimate that
well over 600 in-bound car
trips can be avoided, which
would go a long way towards
reducing the traffic and
parking problem at the
University, not to mention a
reduction in pollution."

Free Passes

While discussing the future,
the inevitable question about a
'free' bus system was raised.
Mr. Adams briefly went into
thy necessary conditions which
would have to be met for free
bus passes to be issued.

"Until we can offer the
service to a sizable majority of
the student body, few people
would want to subsidize a bus
line which only reached a
portion of the University
community. How could we
justify charging a small fee or
tacking on a rise in the tuition
if many students were deprived
of using the system until they
got to the Grounds?" The bus
as a substitute for the car
would only be partially
effective.

The bus system, then, is
entering its second major test.
Is it to remain primarily an
on-Grounds transit service
transporting students between
classes and shuttling students
to the parking lots on the
perimeter of the Grounds? Or
will it be allowed to grow and
replace cars as a means of
getting to and from the
Grounds?

Mr. Adams can be sure of
only one thing. "The idea of a
bus system that works has
caught on and many people are
apparently willing to include
the system in their plans."
Between now and June he
must convince the
Administration to authorize
the expansion and let the idea
become reality.