For Immediate Release July 7,2008
KRT Contact: Dennis Dawson 343-3840
KVRTA Ridership up 156,040 trips in past year
Charleston, WV: The Kanawha Valley Regional Transportation Authority (KVRTA) provided 2,423,527 passenger trips during the past twelve months. The increase marks the 5th straight year that the Authority has experienced a ridership increase. “Since July 2003, KVRTA has had positive ridership numbers, this is directly due to the outstanding job our employees perform daily to insure safe, reliable and efficient transit service to the citizens of Kanawha County” said Dennis Dawson, KVRTA General Manager.
Annual Ridership Figures:
July 2003 –June 2004 2,043,587
July 2004 –June 2005 2,200,677
July 2005 –June 2006 2,239,393
July 2006 –June 2007 2,267,487
July 2007 –June 2008 2,423,527
KVRTA serves Kanawha County, operating a network of 21 fixed routes oriented around the commercial center of Charleston. It is estimated that 88 percent of Kanawha County’s residents live within three-quarters of a mile of a KVRTA route. The Authority is funded by a combination of operating revenues, federal funds and by an excess property tax levy “The Bus & Ambulance Levy” that is was last approved by Kanawha County Voters in May of 2006 with 84.47% voting in favor of the levy. “The local levy generates the largest portion of our funding for operating expenditures and also provide the necessary match for capital projects without it KVRTA would not exsist”, added Dawson.
KVRTA is currently exploring other options to better serve its passengers. Several capital projects are in the pipeline, that when implemented, will allow the Authority to operate in a more effeicient manner, such as, Automatic Vehicle Locater/Global Positioning System (AVL/GPS), Computerized Dispatching Software, and the purchase of 8 new buses low floor buses to replace older vehicles.
KVRTA is agressively pursuing new funding sources to allow for some expansion of service levels and to implement additional captial projects. The results of these efforts should be known within the next 60 days. The Authority has been working with the State Department of Transportaion Division of Public Transit, the Department of Transportation Planning Division as well as the West Virginia Department of Environmental Proctection with the support of the West Virginia Congressional Delagation on securing this funding. “If the funding that we have requested is approved, we hope to have a major annoucement before September 1st that will continue KVRTA’s role as a leader in the transit community not only in West Virginia but in the United States.”