Charlottesville, VA – My name is Leah and I grew up in Fairfax, Virginia, but recently moved to Charlottesville so I could attend the University of Virginia. Moving to Charlottesville was the first time when using public transportation wasn’t just something I could do – it was something I needed to do.
At UVA, the bus system (UTS and CAT) is very important to me for short-distance travel: it lets me explore Charlottesville. Since first-year students are not allowed to have cars and owning a car is super expensive (some of my friends have paid over $800 per year for parking on campus, not to mention fuel and maintenance costs), being able to use the bus system is a huge help for getting groceries, visiting friends, and going on fun outings. It’s even come in handy during medical emergencies.
But, as many UVA students will tell you, the bus system could still be better. Many students have trouble relying on the buses because they can be very late, or so overcrowded that drivers do not stop at every stop on the route. With more funding and more buses on the road, overcrowding would decrease and the reliability of the bus system would make it easier for students to depend on. More funding means more students would trust the bus system and need to spend less money on using their cars at school, helping them save thousands of dollars.
In my first two months of college my grandfather passed away and I relied on the Amtrak train that runs through Charlottesville in order to get back to Fairfax on quick notice without having to inconvenience my grieving family to help me get back. If Amtrak, or other public transit options, hadn’t existed, I would have either had to miss my Grandfather’s funeral or one of my parents would have had to drive nearly six hours on short notice while being overwhelmed with service preparations and the logistical issues that arise when family emergencies occur. Amtrak made an incredibly difficult moment of my life so much easier.
I also started using the Virginia Breeze bus service because it stopped at Dulles Airport (roughly 30 minutes from my house in Fairfax) and went straight to a parking lot outside of my UVA dorm. The Virginia Breeze enabled me to have a cheap and reliable way to get home on short notice, during holiday breaks, and whenever I needed a weekend away from school (or to watch the Superbowl with my father when our team was playing in it!).
Having these far distance travel options at UVA was super important to me because it meant I could stay connected to my friends and family from Fairfax. But these long-distance travel options need to continue to be funded and need to see real investments in improving them in the future. We need to have more funding for bus systems so that their reliability can be improved and we need to support systems that have better transit connections to airports and other transportation centers. At the end of the year when I was trying to get to my sister’s college graduation in Pittsburgh I had to go to Charlottesville’s Airport (CHO) and because no bus lines go out to the airport I was forced to use an Uber. While this was a small annoyance for me, many of my out-of-state friends have to deal with this much more frequently as they try to figure out transportation home for breaks or emergencies.
I have used public transportation more in the past year than I ever have before, which has just underscored its importance to me. Even though there are good systems in place to get students where they need to go, improvements still need to be made on both local, state, and federal levels. Having a frequent and reliable bus system on campus and around Charlottesville is so important because it allows me to be independent without needing to spend thousands of dollars on using a car. If Congress passed more funding towards transit, I wouldn’t ever need a car at UVA and could continue to rely on the public transportation methods I used this year to get where I need to go.