MORGANTOWN — Mountain Line General Manager David Bruffy said the transit authority condensed an 18-month planning process into a city-mandated six-month window in preparation for Monday’s move out of the Garrett Street bus depot.
Bruffy updated Morgantown City Council on the move during Tuesday’s (July 31) committee of the whole meeting.
As previously reported, Mountain Line was asked to move out of the depot late last year ahead of a $4 million riverfront overhaul by the city. Starting Monday, Mountain Line’s operations, which provide about 1 million rides annually, will be centered out of its Westover hub.
Bruffy said shifting the activity to Westover necessitated changes to 18 routes and will likely cost the transit authority about $600,000, which is being taken from maintenance and capital improvement line items.
He said Mountain Line will offer a two-week trial pass for riders in order to help them adjust to the changes. He said extra staff will be on hand to assist riders starting Monday.
“We’re encouraging anyone and everyone who will be affected by these changes to let us know now. We’re trying to do personalized, one-to-one schedules with them to make sure they understand the changes.”
With the transit authority’s move away from the city’s core, Councilor Jenny Selin said she would like to see the city work with Mountain Line in placing bus shelters downtown. Bruffy said the shelters are badly needed, especially for riders with mobility issues.
Others, including Councilor Rachel Fetty, said Mountain Line is making the best of a tough situation and she’s hopeful the city can be a part of a collaborative effort in identifying and achieving the long-term plans of the transit authority — something Bruffy said he and his staff haven’t had much time to think about of late.
“Frankly, we’ve been running like a leopard after its prey for the last six months, so the long-term work we haven’t thought about,” Bruffy said. “We haven’t had the time to do that.”
The city provides $356,000 toward Mountain Line’s $6.1 million budget.
A video is available on Mountain Line’s website, busride.org, explaining the changes to the various routes.
Council also heard from Susan Riddle, director of the Greater Morgantown Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (CVB), who presented the organization’s 2017 annual report, explaining that “all key indicators are up, up, up.”
She noted revenues were up 6 percent in 2017 and trending even higher so far in 2018.
The Greater Morgantown CVB covers all of Monongalia and Preston counties. Riddle said the organization is in the process of creating a uniform lodging tax law for all the municipalities under its jurisdiction.
During public comment, a handful of residents addressed some of the comments shared online and in public forums by Deputy Mayor Mark Brazaitis.
Brazaitis has gone after a number of local stakeholders of late, including WVU, Mylan Park and the county while discussing funding needs for the city’s parks.
Michael Clifford said Brazaitis’ recent comments crossed the line from inflammatory to defamatory.
Alissa Ponzurick read a definition for narcissistic personality disorder.
“Your defaming posts against both people who live in the city limits of Morgantown and who can vote for you, versus people who consider themselves part of Morgantown, who frequent our restaurants, BOPARC and everything else we currently have, are sick of your online presence,” Ponzurick said. “My hope is that you can get it together.”
While it didn’t appear on the agenda, council also heard a presentation from the Blue Zones Project, a community health improvement program.
WVU is the first university to partner with the organization and city officials are hopeful Morgantown can join dozens of communities in achieving the Blue Zone designation, which, it was explained, comes with measurable health and economic impacts.
