NET Bus System in Norfolk May Grow

Published on HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com (http://hamptonroads.com)

With light rail coming, role of Norfolk’s NET could change

NORFOLK

With light rail set to run through the city late next year, Norfolk and transit leaders are evaluating what role the free NET shuttle service will play in moving people around town.

The NET bus is a downtown circulator that now runs close to where light rail is being built.

Possibilities for the NET’s future include extending the downtown service into Ghent, reducing or eliminating weekend service downtown, and moving from free to charging a small fee. The options were discussed Tuesday at the City Council’s transportation committee.

“I think the role of the NET is changing,” City Manager Regina V.K. Williams said.

The NET turned 10 earlier this year. Mayor Paul Fraim suggested contacting NET riders as well as business leaders from downtown and Ghent to hear what they want from the service and whether they’d be willing to pay a fare. He offered a 25-cent fee as a starting point for discussion.

“It seems we need to be smart about it,” Fraim said.

Assistant City Manager Stanley A. Stein said discussions with Hampton Roads Transit should cover all of the city’s transit needs, including light-rail feeder bus routes, the NET and transfer center locations.

“What is transportation going to be like in and around downtown?”

The city’s $288 million starter light-rail line is scheduled to begin carrying passengers in mid- to late 2010.

It will run 7.4 miles from the medical center near Brambleton Avenue, through downtown to the city line at Newtown Road.

The fare will be the same as for buses, which is currently $1.50.

Michael Townes, HRT’s president, said his agency has developed potential feeder bus routes for light rail as well as four alternatives for the NET bus.

The NET has an annual ridership of about 290,000.

The service costs about $1.4 million a year to operate – nearly half is funded by the city, with the remainder covered by federal and state operating subsidies.

One scenario offered by HRT would extend the NET to loop around Granby Street, 21st Street, Colley Avenue and Olney Road in Ghent. That would cost the city an extra $250,000 a year, HRT estimates.

Because extra buses would not be purchased, bus frequency would go from 8 minutes to 20 minutes at peak hours.

“That’s really going to hurt us,” Fraim predicted. “It seems like we ought to have a lot of options on the table.”

Stein said any changes need to be decided within the next six months so they can be incorporated in next fiscal year’s budget.

Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com