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Loudoun bus fares to go up
The Board of Supervisors decided July 15 to raise fares on the county's commuter bus system to offset rising fuel costs and fund an expansion of the increasingly busy system.
"I don't think we can get enough buses quick enough," Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge) said Tuesday.
The change will increase fares by $1 for "long haul" trips between Loudoun and Washington, D.C., and Loudoun and Arlington County. The ride from Loudoun to the West Falls Church Metro station will go up by 25 cents. These changes will go into effect Sept. 1.
According to county transit officials, ridership on the 35-bus fleet is up 18 percent over the first half of 2007.
"Every month is a record; every day is a record," said Loudoun's Transit and Commuter Services Chief Nancy Gourley.
What's also alarming, she said, is that the system is not seeing its normal leveling off during the summer months. For example, she said, 2,006 people used the system July 9, about 25 percent higher than this time in 2007.
County officials last raised bus fares in March 2006. Since then, fuel costs have doubled and the contract the county has with its bus operator has increased by 16 percent.
Besides offsetting these costs, the fare hike would fund a new shuttle service between Ashburn and the Dulles North Transit Center park and ride lot. The shuttle would have two stops along Ashburn Farm Parkway: Parkhurst Plaza and Crossroads United Methodist Church. The shuttle also would stop at Claiborne Parkway and Belgreen Drive before taking the Dulles Greenway to the park and ride lot.
Also on Tuesday, supervisors agreed to buy three additional buses, which will go into service next spring.
Contact the reporter at jjacks@timespapers.com
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