Virginia Railway Express

First of all, thank you to all of our riders who submitted comments or attended our public hearings on the two proposed fare increases (in January and July 2009). Your feedback helped us as we finished with the projections for the remainder of our current fiscal year and continue to refine our budget for FY 2010.

In addition to your comments, we have been monitoring the effects of both a slightly lower cost of diesel fuel and the rising ridership.

Fuel costs were originally projected to exceed budget by approximately $3 million in FY 2009. Current fuel prices have caused us to lower that projection to $2.8 million. We will continue to refine this figure over the next several months.

Fare revenue is expected to exceed budget projections because of the increase in ridership. Our original budget estimated an average daily ridership for the year at 14,700. For the first three months of the current fiscal year (through September 30), the average daily ridership is over 15,500.

As a result of these two items, your comments, and several other considerations, VRE is making a recommendation to our Operations Board that the mid-year fare increase be 7%, instead of the originally advertised 15%.

We are continuing to refine our budget projections for FY 2010 (which starts in July 2009). At this time, we do not have an indication as to what the recommended increase will be in July. That recommendation will be brought before our Operations Board at the December meeting and will not be more than the 10% that was discussed as part of the fare increase proposal.

Last but certainly not least, the majority of the comments made to us were in regards to cutting service. We know that cutting the mid-day trains, or any trains for that matter, creates less flexibility for our riders. VRE will make every attempt to keep our service at its current level.