By KELLY HANNON
Virginia Railway Express riders who use Amtrak trains could pay more to commute, and they'll have a chance to speak out about the increase.
A public hearing will be held tomorrow at Fredericksburg City Hall beginning at 7 p.m. in council chambers.
Comments are also sought on the proposed elimination of Free Ride Certificates. Now, these vouchers are given to passengers whenever a train is more than 30 minutes late.
The VRE operations board approved a $64.4 million budget in December. The board decided to raise the Amtrak "step-up" fee and cancel the Free Ride Certificates. The budget, which runs from July 1, 2007, to June 30, 2008, keeps all other ticket prices the same as this year.
The "step-up" fee would rise from $2 a trip to $10 a trip. The fee is money riders pay in addition to buying a VRE ticket.
Amtrak charges VRE $10 per rider. VRE has been paying the extra $8 for years.
About 190 people a day ride Amtrak trains as VRE customers, and most of them ride the Fredericksburg line. Based on VRE passenger counts, 92 of the Amtrak riders live in Spotsylvania, which doesn't support the VRE or have a station.
Another 30 riders live in Fredericksburg, plus 21 in Stafford, seven in Orange and five in Caroline.
The budget is now before VRE's eight member localities, including Stafford and Fredericksburg.
Questions about VRE's governing structure have become part of budget talks.
A new membership plan for the operations board was proposed last year. Voting would become proportionate to ridership, and so would the cost of belonging to VRE. Today, a lot of the power and expense rests with Northern Virginia localities, even though a growing number of riders live in the outer, southern suburbs.
Elected officials in Stafford and Fredericksburg have some concerns. Subsidies are going up this year for both members. These localities pay for VRE through a local 2 percent gas tax.
In Fredericksburg, the annual subsidy will rise from $111,115 to $314,232. That's a 182 percent increase.
Stafford would pay $2.3 million, up from a subsidy of $917,147 in fiscal 2007. That's a 152 percent rise.
Yet there hasn't been any commitment to a new operations plan yet, said Matt Kelly, Fredericksburg city councilman and a nonvoting member of the VRE operations board.
It may be hard to get everyone to agree--all eight localities must approve any new plan.
"If one locality votes no, it kills it," Kelly said.
Still, Kelly and Paul Milde, a Stafford supervisor and voting member of the VRE operations board, drafted a resolution calling for action on their concerns. They put it before a group that oversees VRE's budget, the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission. The PRTC passed the resolution last week, along with a version that would allow the budget to advance without the organizational change.
Kelly and Milde will discuss the issue at the February VRE operations board meeting.
They want balanced voting that doesn't allow Fairfax and Prince William to prevail even if all other jurisdictions are opposed.
They also want to get financial credit for the Caroline and Spotsylvania rider revenue. Now, the credit is spread throughout the communities. Kelly and Milde argue a greater percentage belongs to Stafford and Fredericksburg, since more of these commuters are using their stations.
They'd also like VRE to have greater autonomy. Now, PRTC and the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission have significant decision-making authority, said Kelly and Milde.
After the census in 2010, the Fredericksburg area may have enough people to develop its own transportation commission. VRE should prepare for that possibility, Kelly said.
Kelly Hannon: 540/374-5436
Email: khannon@freelancestar.com
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