The future of public transit in Vestavia Hills

While Vestavia Hills does not see much in the way of ridership on public buses offered through the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority, the transit authority’s new executive director has plans to increase the service’s effectiveness and hopefully offer more options for users.

In 2021, the city of Vestavia Hills, which has just one route that runs along U.S. 31, saw 6,745 riders. Through June of this year, there were 2,823 riders, on pace for a slight decrease. The city paid $68,919 in fiscal 2021, with $98,456 paid this current fiscal year. The service level over those two years was the same, but the BJCTA had $30,000 of federal subsidies come in during 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Vestavia Hills City Manager Jeff Downes said.

“We continue to be a participant and a funder in the transit authority,” Downes said.

The city’s participation or lack thereof is contingent on other cities, Downes said, as routes must be connected through other municipalities. Last July, the transit authority proposed running buses throughout the day, connecting Vestavia to the new microtransit zone in Mountain Brook as well as a proposed transit zone in Homewood, though those changes never took place. While Mountain Brook now has a microtransit zone, Vestavia’s lone route remains the one along U.S. 31.

Those who use the bus within Vestavia are usually coming from outside the community to work in the city, Downes said.

The city’s BJCTA board representative, Paige Coker, said the pandemic caused a decrease in ridership, noting that demand response routes are also available for people with physical disabilities.

Downes said there is not a consensus from other cities on what makes the most sense right now, though, during the months of August and September, the transit authority met and will continue to meet with municipalities as they prepare their upcoming fiscal 2023 budget. Charlotte Shaw, BJCTA director, said she plans to propose again some changes to increase effectiveness, options and hopefully ridership.

The transit authority is preparing a proposal to expand options in the over-the-mountain area and plans to present those options to the BJCTA board for approval before presenting the plan to the various cities involved, Shaw said. She has also reached out to contractors to inquire about providing an on-demand service, Shaw said, and she hopes to provide greater connectivity throughout the Birmingham region.

“We have a lot of room for growth,” Shaw said.

Any changes made to zones and routes throughout cities must be approved by each municipality. Shaw said the authority will not recommend eliminating routes but providing more options.

With so many options for transit, from personal transportation to on-demand services like Uber and Lyft, Shaw said the BJCTA must be more competitive. While buses will always see riders who use them out of necessity, due to lack of transportation, the authority is now competing for “discretionary” riders, Shaw said.

“We have to get the rider to choose us,” Shaw said. “It’s about reliability and predictability.”

Expansion in the over-the-mountain area is a goal for Shaw, she said, including possibly expanding to areas like Trussville and growing in existing cities that receive service. But each city, from Vestavia to Mountain Brook to Hoover and more, must begin to look at a “holistic” picture of transportation, Shaw said, instead of just looking at their own city and having a system of inconsistent connectivity.

“That’s not how we’re going to build transit,” Shaw said.

During meetings with city leadership, Shaw said she plans on doing “transit 101,” showing how each city can play a part in connecting riders all over the area.

The Birmingham Xpress Rapid-Transit line will be a “game-changer” in Birmingham, moving east from west to connect 25 neighborhoods along a 10-mile corridor between Five Points West and Woodlawn. The system uses BRT technology to improve travel time, lower costs and enhance service, and crosses 80,000 jobs. Buses will run in 15-minute intervals, Shaw said.

The goal is for service to begin in late September, Shaw said.

The transit authority is also looking to add more complementary services and more targeted areas of service. For example, downtown ridership decreases after 7 p.m. So instead of running large buses that don’t get filled, there could be a service that allows the few people who aren’t home yet to catch a van that seats 20 people, Shaw said, increasing efficiency.

Public transportation helps keep “synergy” between communities, Shaw said, allowing people to access different communities instead of each city existing as a silo.

“It’s vital because we have to be able to connect people all over Birmingham,” Shaw said.

It’s vital because we have to be able to connect people all over Birmingham. … There’s no better way to connect people … in various neighborhoods.

Charlotte Shaw

Increasing opportunities and services offers a chance to make public transportation strong again, the way it used to be “before freeways and cars,” Shaw said.

Ridership increased a bit over the summer due to high gas costs, which were slowly coming down as of press time. Not only that, but The World Games, held throughout the Birmingham area in July, showed that people will get on the bus. The red line from 20th Street to Protective Stadium downtown saw 11,000 people ride for the closing ceremonies alone, Shaw said.

“People are willing; they’re waiting on a larger event,” Shaw said.

Benefiting the environment is another key factor to public transportation, Shaw said. The transit authority is making an effort to move more and more to electric buses, lowering emissions.

“Our environment is really important,” Shaw said. “And we are our biggest enemies.”

Shaw lived in Atlanta for 38 years, and asked if Birmingham wanted to become like the city, infamous for its traffic congestion, in the next five years.

“We have to stay ahead of the curve,” Shaw said.

But if residents are going to rely on public transportation and lower traffic congestion, the service must be convenient and reliable, Shaw said. Expansion isn’t possible until options become convenient, such as getting down U.S. 280 faster.

The transit authority is constrained financially, as Alabama is one of just a handful of states that does not provide any state funding for public transportation, Shaw said. The authority does receive $2 million each year from a county sales tax, which was issued several years ago to pay back the selling of bonds, along with other sources of revenue such as funding from local municipalities. Part of her work as the executive director is to build relationships and increase the funding they do get, as well as submitting grant applications. More federal money is available now due to the recently-passed infrastructure bill.

“For the next three years, money will come quickly,” Shaw said. “We’ve got our catcher’s mitt on.”

Some money is available through the newly-announced “Reconnecting Communities” initiative, unveiled this summer in Birmingham by Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. The grant provides federal dollars to reconnect communities disadvantaged by past infrastructure projects, and the city of Birmingham will be taking part in the program, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said at the event with Buttigieg.

Public transportation provides connectivity between historically different neighborhoods, allowing for even greater unity in the area decades after Birmingham’s role in the Civil Rights movement.

“There’s no better way to connect people … in various neighborhoods,” Shaw said.

As budget discussions get underway in Vestavia Hills, the Vestavia Voice will cover any changes made to public transportation. For more information on the BJCTA and public transit options, visit maxtransit.org.