Thursday, June 26, 2008

HRT Faces Steep Diesel Fuel Price Increase

The June meeting of the Transportation District Commission of Hampton Roads (TDCHR), Hampton Roads Transit's (HRT) governing body, was this afternoon. I expected an uneventful meeting when The Virginian-Pravda's Debbie Messina left 25 minutes before it was to begin, but we had a few events.

The most notable news of the day was the new fuel contracts. HRT's buses use 3.2 million gallons of diesel fuel per year, 2 million of which are bought on contract. The contract to expire July 31 is at $2.21 per gallon; the new contract is at $3.13 per gallon.

The new Budget of $77 million was unanimously approved. An immediate hitch is that it's based on a diesel fuel price of $3 per gallon, so it will have to be amended later.

How do you cover? At Thursday morning's Ocean View Task Force meeting (previous post), Randy Wright spoke of a fare increase from $1.50 to $1.75. However, that would require a later Staff reccomendation and public hearing.

Speaking of Randy Wright, he was nominated to become the new TDCHR Vice Chairman. Current Vice Chair Grace Routten of Hampton was nominated to become the new Chair.

1 comment:

Michael Ragsdale said...

I'd pay $1 E&D in exchange for night & Sunday service (Listening VB TDCHR members?)