Biography

I grew up in Pine Ridge, about one mile from the Fairfax Hospital, in Fairfax County, Virginia. In about 1952, I remember traveling on the Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) Railroad (the "Virginia Creeper") from Falls Church to Roslyn. This train ran from Bluemont to Roslyn and Alexandria, VA, with a branch to Great Falls, which ceased operations earlier. I graduated from Fairfax High School (1963), the College of William and Mary, BS, Biology (1968) and the University of Connecticut, MS, Zoology (1974).
I spent a year (1966-1967) working for the Smithsonian Institution in Venezuela collecting mammals and parasites. I was in the US Army (1969-1971) and spent a year in Japan, outside Toyko. That was first experience with a well run train system and with a ride on their Bullet Train, which traveled at 130 mph at the time. I have worked for the Office of Pesticide Programs at the Environmental Protection Agency for 36 years (1973 to 2009). During that period, I have ridden the Virginia Railway Express (VRE), a Washington/Virginia commuter rail system since its beginning in 1992. Now I am paying more interest in Amtrak and want to stimulate ridership and new service, especially in Virginia. I am a member of the Virginia Association of Railway Patrons (VARP), www.varprail.org, which has been promoting passenger rail in the state for 30 years and a member of Cvillerail, www.Cvillerail.org, which was major reason for the establishment of the new Amtrak Train to Lynchburg, the subject of this blog.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Establishing Bristol to Lynchburg Bus Connection

Goal 2 of this blog establishs a VA Tech to Lynchburg Bus Connection.

The 6-2-2009 Amtrak-VA Agreement [Sec 1(f)]has a process to fulfill this goal.

Step 1

If:

VA requests Amtrak to provide it with a cost/revenue estimate of adding a Bristol to Lynchburg bus connection,

then:

Amtrak must provide VA a cost/revenue estimate of the connecting bus.

Step 2

If:

VA elects to fund the bus connection and notifies Amtrak,

then:

Amtrak must sign a contract in 120 days with a bus company to operate the connecting bus [and to begin service according to the contract].

Note:

VA should request Amtrak to do a separate cost/revenue estimate for the VT - Lynchburg portion of the Bristol - Lynchburg bus connection because it will be much more cost effective and, therefore, more likely to be funded.

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