The Williamsburg Area Transit Authority received approval Wednesday to move forward with planning a three-year test route to the Jamestown area.
WATA received a federal grant in 2009 to extend service to Jamestown on a three-year trial. The grant funds expire in September, so WATA Executive Director Kevan Danker in May asked the Board of Directors to consider testing new routes and route extensions to serve about 16 areas.
The board in June provided input on which of several possible routes would be preferred. Danker whittled down six possible routes to three, which the board considered Wednesday. The board voted unanimously to use the grant for its intended purpose: to provide bus service in the Jamestown area.
The Jamestown route has not yet been planned, but is expected to include stops to serve Jamestown High School, neighborhoods along Jamestown and John Tyler roads, Jamestown Settlement, Greensprings Vacation Resort, Avalon: A Center for Women and Children.
“This route is expected to provide greater access to jobs, healthcare and have the greatest ridership potential as it adds many origins [new riders], providing them access to the entire service area,” Danker wrote in a memo to the board.
The route is planned to provide 14-hour service five days a week, but the days have not yet been decided. Three new bus drivers will be needed for the route, and the board voted Wednesday to allow Danker’s staff to begin advertising the position.
Because the federal grant was awarded to provide service to Jamestown, Danker projected the process to change the grant to cover an alternate route would be too lengthy and would cause the authority lose its funding.
Had there been additional time to change the grant, Danker presented two route options for consideration:
- Expanding the Gray Line, which serves the Grove area, to connect with Newport News or the area around Riverside Doctors’ Hospital and the James City County Government Center; or
- Creating a part-time route to serve the Lee Hall and Yorkton areas, including Lackey Free Clinic and the Yorktown Victory Center.
Danker told the board a Tuesday night meeting in Grove focused on transportation sparked many great suggestions about how to improve service. The community wants later bus service, connections to Lackey, employers and recreational activities.
Lackey Free Clinic Executive Director Carol Sale asked the board during its public comment period Wednesday to provide service to the clinic. She said patients walk 3.2 miles — sometimes in flip-flops or other shoes not designed for walking long distances — to the clinic from the closest bus stop in Lee Hall. One patient footed the distance in bed slippers due to swelling preventing her from wearing other shoes, Sale said.
Advocating for the Jamestown route, Williamsburg Community Chapel Associate Pastor Rich Sylvester said the chapel works with community organizations to provide a range of services to the community. About 2,500 congregants attend the church Sunday, and a number of residents attend marriage and budget counseling and job transition groups during the week.
Sylvester said a woman once rode an electric scooter with a police escort down John Tyler Highway to get to the chapel because the nearest bus stop is more than 1 mile away.
With a low chance of changing the grant to cover a new route before its September expiration date, the board decided to move forward with planning the Jamestown route. The directors did attempt to find a way to serve Lackey Free Clinic without adding another route, but were not able to firm up a plan Wednesday.
Acting James City County Administrator Doug Powell said he did not think the pilot Jamestown route was a perfect plan, and he has concerns about whether the route can be sustained with local funding after the three-year grant is exhausted. Despite his misgivings, Powell said he was not ready to turn down the grant.
WATA also received a federal grant to serve the James City County Government Complex, but the board might decide to seek a change in the funding allocation to pilot another new route. Danker said the authority will likely not receive another federal grant to test new or extended services until 2022 or later.
Danker will go before the board in August to formally request a change in WATA’s budget to include the new Jamestown route, and to create three new driver positions to cover the route.