Fairfax County proposes bus route cuts

Fairfax County has proposed cutting bus service for FY 2010 to close a $650M budget gap. The cuts include completely eliminating fifteen routes, decreasing bus frequency on nine routes, cutting off weekend service on one route, and other cuts.

Metrorail/VRE feeder routes:

• 303,304,305 - Metrorail feeder service for Island Creek, Saratoga, and Newington Forest, respectively
• 307 - Lorton VRE feeder bus
• 402,403 - Weekday Rush Hour service for the town of Vienna to the local Metro stations (Vienna and Dunn Loring)
• 556 - Weekday service between Reston Town Center and the West Falls Church Metro see below
• 952 - Reverse commute route for West Falls Church Metro and the Herndon Park and Ride.

These routes are Metrorail or VRE feeder services, and eliminating them may adversely affect both congestion along the region’s highways, as well as Metrorail’s ability to attract customers during rush hour, when higher peak fares contribute more to the costs of running the system.

Highway express routes:

• 380 - Franconia/Springfield to Pentagon express bus
• 595,597 - Weekday rush hour service between Reston East Park and Ride and the Pentagon/Crystal City

One of the routes (the 380) duplicates Metrorail service between two points. Two other routes largely duplicate service that’s provided by a combination of bus and rail. It’s not clear whether eliminating this route will merely shift people between the bus and rail or whether they will start driving.

Local routes:

• 306 - Midday service from GMU to Pentagon
• 556 - Reston local route (continues as 505 to the Metro) - thanks Tom for the correction.
• 922 - Herndon local route (update: This route feeds the Herndon-Monroe Park and Ride, which has a frequent bus (every 6 minutes during peak) to the Metro)
• 929 - Herndon/Centerville local route (update: similar to the 922, this one also serves the park and ride which has frequent service to Metro)

The rest of the routes (306, 556, 922, 929) are local connector bus routes that more likely than not primarily serve the transit-dependent. I do not have data to support this assertion, but based it on my knowledge of the area (it’s highly car-oriented) and the bus route description (it doesn’t serve rail and appears to travel local streets only). The routes serve Metro stations through a park and ride and frequent bus shuttle connection. It’s probably not fair to call this service for “transit dependent” riders.

Public hearings to discuss the service cuts will take place on March 30 at 7pm, March 31 at 3 pm and on April 1 at 3 pm. All hearings will be at the Fairfax County Government Center in Fairfax. To speak at the hearing, register here prior to 10 am on the day of the hearing or call 703-324-3151 prior to noon. You can also submit comments in writing here or by calling 703-324-9400.

Fairfax will approve the final budget on April 27, 2009.