It's great to hear that the Montgomery County supervisors have agreed to fund increased bus service in Christiansburg (CT-May 21).
Blacksburg has excellent, frequent bus service. And the Smart Way bus between Blacksburg and Roanoke is flourishing. For a town our size, we now have pretty good public transportation compared to elsewhere.
The trouble is, transportation options to and from Blacksburg itself and places students, parents and tourists live is between slim and none. Common-carrier buses have almost disappeared in the New River Valley, perhaps two a day through Roanoke, none through Blacksburg. There is no Amtrak service within 50 miles, if that. And what air service we have through Roanoke is costly, infrequent, and doesn't serve the destinations most local visitors and students come from or go to, even with a change of planes in Charlotte or Washington. In short, unless you drive, you can't get here from there.
The average plane trip is about 600 miles, which means that flying from Chicago, Cincinnati, Atlanta, or New York to Roanoke, though costly and inconvenient, can be done if you are willing to change at a hub and be strip-searched at two airports. But if you live in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, or Maryland (where most visitors to Blacksburg do) it was easier to get to California in the Gold Rush in a Conestoga wagon or by going around the Horn in a pocket steamer than to get home from Tech or back again.
What is badly needed is a run-though by Smart Bus from Blacksburg to Roanoke and then on to Clifton Forge Friday and Wednesday to connect with the eastbound and westbound Cardinal (Amtrak trains No. 50 and No. 51, which also run on Sundays even if the Smart Way bus doesn't). An alternative would be to operate a minibus, similar to the ones Blacksburg Transit uses, to and from White Sulphur Springs Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday to connect with the Cardinal.
With gasoline in increasingly short supply, and heading up again in price, we need some user-friendly alternative to white-knuckles and empty wallets on Interstate 81. Or do we think walking, biking or jogging between Charlottesville and Tech is a realistic solution?
Randolph Gregg
Blacksburg resident