Lynchburg transit service seeks public input on plan to suspend Sunday routes

The Greater Lynchburg Transit Company is considering a proposal to temporarily suspend Sunday service due to an ongoing shortage of bus drivers. 

The service change is not in effect yet and wouldn’t be for at least a month, said Josh Moore, GLTC’s general manager. The transit company’s board of directors will collect public comments in various formats until Feb. 17, when it will take a final vote on the service change. 

The first of five public meetings is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Thursday at the Kemper Street transfer station.

GLTC currently operates 14 bus routes within Lynchburg and a portion of Madison Heights seven days a week. Sundays have the lowest ridership numbers, Moore said, making them the easiest schedule to cut with the least disruption to riders.

If approved by the board, the suspension of Sunday services likely wouldn’t take effect until March so that residents have an opportunity to adjust their commute schedules as needed, Moore said. The service change would affect all transit modes, including fixed-route buses, on-demand GLTC Flex rides and paratransit services for riders with disabilities, according to a Jan. 12 press release. The service change would be temporary until more drivers can be hired, Moore said. 

GLTC needs 42 bus operators to fully staff its fixed-route services, Moore said. Right now, there are 33, leaving about a 20% vacancy rate. When you factor in a few vacation days and sick days every week, Moore said, there aren’t enough drivers to provide reliable service on every route.  

“Particularly, right now, the flu is going around, and if somebody’s sick, then it just creates cascades and we just don’t have enough people to man the service normally,” Moore said. 

GLTC isn’t alone in facing the challenges of bus driver shortages. Nationwide, the number of transit and intercity bus drivers decreased about 8.5% from 2020 to 2024, from 162,850 drivers to 148,980, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ employment data. School systems have encountered a similar shortage, tracking a 9.5% decrease in bus drivers from 2019 to 2025, according to the economic policy institute. 

The high average age and rate of retirement among bus drivers, the process of obtaining necessary training and licensing, and the level of stress compared to similar-paying jobs are commonly cited as reasons for the national shortage of drivers. In Lynchburg, Moore said, he has the specific challenge of finding drivers who are qualified to navigate the roads of an old city that can be narrow and congested. 

Push came to shove this winter when Moore had to occasionally cancel routes at the last minute because he didn’t have enough drivers on the schedule, he said. 

“We were having a lot of customers that were reaching out to us and saying, ‘Hey, things are becoming unpredictable. Is there anything you can do?’” Moore said. That prompted GLTC leaders to consider canceling Sunday operations to ensure quality service throughout the rest of the week. 

“What we’re looking at is that it’s better to know that there’s no Sunday service and more regular, predictable weekday and Saturday service,” he said. “But what we want to hear from customers this month is if they really would like to keep Sunday service and are OK with possible weekday service disruptions.”

In the meantime, GLTC leaders are looking forward to growth in other service areas in 2026, Moore said, including replacing some shelters and benches throughout Lynchburg and rolling out a smart card system that will allow residents to access fare-capping payments without the use of a smartphone. 

Moore said he also has his sights set on a spring hiring program that will allow prospective operators to test drive buses before committing to the application and training process.