Liberty considers GLTC billing

A miscalculation in billing from the GLTC caused Liberty to take a closer look at transit costs from company

High transit costs and fees by the Greater Lynchburg Transit Company (GLTC) may be costing the busing company the business of Liberty University.

Transit — Students utilize buses by riding from one side of campus to the other. Champion Archives

In a report released by the GLTC board, Liberty’s payment for the 2012 fiscal year was miscalculated. The GLTC had been inconsistently using a “Paratransit” adjustment to calculate costs applied to the college and, as their formula dictates, using figures from two years previous, the report said.

The GLTC board was asked to revise the current billing formula it uses to charge Liberty for its services each year. Richard Martin, the vice president of financial research and analysis at Liberty, said that the university has expressed concerns regarding the high costs that the GLTC has been charging.

“We have asked GLTC to reconsider the rates. There does seem to be some confusion about exactly how many hours GLTC will be asked to operate the next year, and we are working to clear up any confusion,” Martin said.

Annually, the actual operating expenses for Liberty averages $1.4 million, according to the report released by the GLTC. For the current fiscal year, Liberty is expected to be invoiced a bill for around $1 million, Martin said.

For the 2007 fiscal year, Liberty’s actual operating expense was $389,056. For the 2012 fiscal year, the university’s operating expense was just over $1.7 million, which is a 345 percent increase.

Kimball Payne, city manager and GLTC board member, said that the GLTC works to provide service to the entire community, which Liberty is a part of, but that the university has a different need because of its focused demand.

“The goal is to keep everyone’s costs down as much as possible,” Payne said.

Due to the high rates and the complications with the formula, Martin said that Liberty is currently shopping around for a possible private operating service that can provide transportation for students, faculty and staff should the GLTC decide to continue using the current rates.

“We will be visiting a number of campuses that utilize these operators during the spring semester,” Martin said.

The partnership between Liberty and GLTC began in 2007, and since then, according to Martin, the busing system has been a significant part of the campus’ growth.

“We also believe that Liberty has been a significant part of GLTC’s recent success and would like to see that continue as well. However, Liberty must be assured that transit costs are sustainable before it can commit to further growth using the current transit system,” Martin said.

Based upon the 2013 fiscal year budget, Liberty is expected to account for 35 percent of service hours provided by the GLTC annually. According to Martin, with this much ridership and the continuing growth of the campus, Liberty wants to keep the campus easily accessible to pedestrians.

“We want to develop a campus where students and employees are not dependent on having a personal vehicle in order to be an active part of the campus,” Martin said.

The GLTC board will meet again Feb. 1 to discuss the numbers they put to possible solutions to the bill revision proposed by Liberty, Payne said.

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