The Blacksburg Transit facilities on Commerce Street were the scene Thursday morning of an award celebration commemorating Blacksburg Transit’s being named the 2019 Outstanding Transit System by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA).
The association’s most prestigious award was presented to Blacksburg Transit in the small urban category, which includes systems with an annual ridership of four million passengers or less. The category includes all bus systems in North America and not just in the United States and rail transportation systems.
BT won the award as the system that most excels in overall performance as an organization and as a benefit to the community. In naming Blacksburg Transit as this year’s winner, APTA said the award “represents the best of the best of the public transportation industry, [a system] whose accomplishments have greatly advanced public transportation.”
In some brief remarks of welcome to begin the ceremony, Blacksburg Mayor Leslie Hager-Smith recounted that Blacksburg Transit began in 1983 with only six buses. Today, the system has 71 vehicles and averages 43 passengers per hour. Later in the ceremony, Dr. Raymond D. Smoot, Jr., who represents the Salem District on the Virginia Commonwealth Transportation Board, said that he rode one of those six buses on that first day BT was operational. The route pretty much amounted to a ride up and down Main Street.
Paul P. Skoutelas, APTA’s President and CEO, was on hand to tout the award as “something Blacksburg should be proud of. Congratulations to all of you,” he said, noting this means BT is the “best in North America.”
What stood out in considering BT for the award, Skoutelas said, was the ridership growth of 22 percent over the last three years when ridership numbers have been in decline all across the nation. Ths system, he said, has absorbed that impressive growth without its efficiency and effectiveness suffering.
The APTA said a further consideration was that BT has consistently been at the forefront of incorporating environmental friendly concepts and practices into its system. As an example, he noted BT’s pending order of five all-electric buses.
Virginia District 12 Delegate Chris Hurst cited statistics that show BT to be fourth in the state in ridership numbers. The system Hurst said has already shown a seven percent increase in ridership through the first eight months of 2019. He noted that BT faces a rather unusual situation because the Blacksburg population changes so frequently during the year because of the presence of Virginia Tech’s 30,000+ students, who come and go with the school calendar. Nevertheless, Hurst said, BT has managed to maintain its efficiency as evidenced by the fact that its passenger per revenue hour is three times the national average.
Sen. John Edwards of Virginia’s 21st District cited BT’s economic importance to the area with $10 million put into the system resulting in a $28 million impact. “This system is important to people’s lives,” he said.
Dr. Smoot called the award “well-deserved recognition.” He recalled that the success of the system in the early days was far from a foregone conclusion despite the presence of VT’s student population of some 20,000 back then. Federal funding was not forthcoming despite those numbers. It required the participation of the local government, and Blacksburg stepped forward to be the entity to receive the funding.
Jennifer Mitchell, Director of the state’s Department of Rail and Public Transportation, emphasized how big an accomplishment this award was for Blacksburg Transit. She called it “very competitive,” noting there are 41 transit services in Virginia alone.
Mayor Hager-Smith returned to the lectern to read a proclamation declaring Oct. 27 through Nov. 2 as Blacksburg Transit Week in Blacksburg.
As the final act in the celebration, a new 60-foot bus capable of carrying 107 passengers was unveiled. It had just arrived and is the first bus in the system to sport the logo denoting BT’s status as APTA’s Outstanding Transit System. .
