Mass Transit x Climate Change in Cville
Fighting for a robust, equity mass transit system is critical for achieving climate and economic justice in Charlottesville.
Engaging City Council
Working to impact City Council’s decisions is easy and effective!
There are two main “introductory” ways to engage City Council:
Speak at a City Council meeting
Email or write a letter to Council
Civic engagement isn’t something that is built into our everyday culture. It’s easy to see news about big issues like climate change, systemic racism, and our crumbling infrastructure and think that it’s out of our hands—that there’s no way we can affect change. BUT:
When we act collectively on a local level, we can make a huge impact. That includes engaging our local officials! Look no further than the FY2023 budget: at first Council thought it would be impossible to include big-ticket items like low-income housing and school reconfiguration in the budget, but after mass pressure from the public, they found ways to do it.
It can be nerve-wracking to speak at Council or even write them a letter. We all go through this! The more you do it the easier it gets.
And remember: You don’t have to be an “expert” and your statements don’t have to be earth-shattering. The fact is, Council hears from most of the same people over and over again. While constant engagement is good and necessary, new voices and perspectives are a breath of fresh air.
What if I reside in the County?
Your voice is still important! Mass transit is an issue that the City and County work collectively on since Charlottesville Area Transit (CAT) operates in both jurisdictions.
While you can speak at Albemarle County Board of Supervisor meetings, we recommend engaging with Charlottesville City Council because most of CAT’s operating expenses are currently handled by the City.
If you reside in the County, think about framing your comments in regards to how you interact with the City: “I am a resident of the County, but…”
… I rely on Charlottesville Area Transit.”
… I work in the City.”
… I used to live in the City until I was forced to move due to housing costs.”
… I live right outside of City limits.”
… I come into the City multiple times a week.”
Councilor Contact Info
We recommend both emailing Council and speaking to them directly at meetings!
To contact by email:
To email all City Councilors and the City Manager at once: council@charlottesville.org
Lloyd Snook, Mayor: lsnook@charlottesville.gov
Juandiego Wade, Vice Mayor: wadej@charlottesville.gov
Sena Magill: smagill@charlottesville.gov
Michael Payne: mpayne@charlottesville.gov
Brian Pinkston: pinkstonb@charlottesville.gov
Michael Rogers, City Manager: cityman@charlottesville.gov
Advantage of email: You will get a response! Sometimes the response might be multiple paragraphs long; other times you may get a simple acknowledgement of receipt.
Disadvantage of email: Your voice is only heard by Council and not the public at large.
How to make public comments at City Council meetings:
You can attend a City Council meeting in person OR online via Zoom.
Find all of the upcoming City meetings listed here. Click “more details” to find a link to download meeting agendas.
If you want to participate online, register here.
If you want to participate in person, reserve a seat here (due to Covid, Council has a limited number of seats open in Council Chambers).
To guarantee a spot to speak, register for Community Matters before 9am the day of the City Council meeting here. Even if you forget, you can still speak, but if all slots are full for the early session, you may have to wait to speak until near the end of the meeting.
Prior to Community Matters, Council will ask if there’s anyone that would like to make comments about what’s on the Consent Agenda. If what you want to talk about is on the Consent Agenda, it’s OK to speak! If it’s not, wait until Community Matters.
If you registered to speak, your name will be called.
If you didn’t register to speak:
If in person, you will raise your hand and be called on.
If virtual, you will be prompted to press the “Raise Hand” icon in Zoom to get in line.
Advantage of speaking: You will engage Council directly and the public at large will be able to consider your opinions.
Disadvantage of speaking: Council does not respond to public comments that are made during meetings.
Physical mailing address:
Charlottesville City Council
PO Box 911
Charlottesville, VA 22902
Advantage of snail mail: Council doesn’t get many letters.
Disadvantage of snail mail: You won’t get any acknowledgement of receipt, your voice won’t be heard at large, and if speaking on an urgent issue, there’s no guarantee that your letter will reach them in a timely manner.
Why Great Transit Matters
We’ve compiled some of our favorite transit facts that are relevant to you and our community.
Charlottesville’s mass transit system—or lack thereof—has a tremendous effect on our city’s impact on climate change. Together and separately, both climate change and our transit system have disproportionate economic effects on low-income, no-income, and working class neighbors.
While understanding the science and knowing scientific factoids around climate are good to understand and can be helpful, they aren’t always relatable to our everyday lives. The fact is, climate change and poor transit systems both affect our lives today, and a failure to win great mass transit in our community will exacerbate climate change and climate-related catastrophes.
Expenses: Public transit vs. personal vehicle (US BTS)
Rural households spent more on transportation than urban households—20% vs. 15.7% respectively (US BTS).
This is especially an issue in Charlottesville. Due to our housing affordability crisis more workers are being pushed out to the County. Housing may be less expensive, but transportation costs are greater!
Americans in the first income quintile ($0–24,009) spend 28.8% of their income on transportation. This is more than triple than the 9.5% that those in the fifth quintile ($124,432+) spend.
Populations most burdened by transportation barriers are low-income, disabled, elderly, rural, and minorities, including immigrant populations (The Equity Center).
Addressing transit costs can help alleviate overall costs for low income households, which already face significant & disproportionate energy burden of up to 6-20% or more of their income (C3)
Cville made little progress on transit emissions 2016–’19, and they even increased ‘18–’19.
Without a drastic reduction in transportation emissions, the City will not meet its pledged climate goal of a 45% reduction of GhG by 2030.
The infrastructure changes necessary for this reduction will take years to implement—we need to invest in a drastic start to this transformation immediately if we have any chance at meeting what should be a minimum goal.
Not only are personal vehicles a primary expense of households, they are the largest contributor to households’ carbon footprint (APTA).
Transitioning to public transit far exceeds the benefits of other energy saving household activities, such as using energy efficient light bulbs or adjusting thermostats.
Great transit and car reduction is a boon for community health, safety, and accessibility.
Air pollution reduction initiatives prevented between 185–370,000 premature deaths annually between 1990–2020 in the U.S. (NRDC).
To put this into perspective, about 140,000 people die of stroke in the United States every year.
These initiatives are estimated to help avoid approximately 46,300 heart attacks; 189,300 hospital admissions for cardiac and respiratory illnesses; and 119,000 ER visits by asthma patients.
In the last decade, fatalities for car drivers and passengers have increased by no more than 2 percent, but pedestrian fatalities are up almost 50 percent (The New York Review).
This makes America an anomaly among other wealthy nations, where pedestrian fatality numbers are in general considerably lower, and in most cases have plummeted in recent decades. This drop is thanks primarily to new street and crosswalk designs, implemented in the belief that most road deaths are avoidable. In Europe, pedestrian fatalities have dropped by 36 percent in the last ten years.
While total car miles have risen by 10 percent in the last decade, pedestrian deaths have surged by almost 50 percent (ibid).
Low-income, Black, and Hispanic neighborhoods, in addition to being populated by people who are more likely to have to walk, are more likely to force walkers to go near large, busy roads and be subject to other conditions— like the absence of sidewalks, crosswalks, or nighttime lighting—that increase their odds of being hit by cars (ibid).
In Charlottesville, stop safety is a top concern for the community (C3).
We need shelters that feature covered areas that fit seating with backs to support those that need it as well as space for wheelchairs; adequate lighting; and adjacent trash receptacles.
Great mass transit systems allow more money to stay in our pockets—especially in the pockets of our low-income and working-class neighbors—and improve living conditions.
Personal vehicle expenses make up a disproportionate amount of low-income and working-class families’ budgets.
Transportation is reliably Americans’ second-highest individual expense annually. In 2020, the average household spent nearly $10,000 on transportation (source: US BTS).
Although 2020’s $9.826 was lower than 2019’s $10,742, remember how much less Americans were mobile due to the pandemic. Despite more Americans staying home, transportation expenses were still enormous!
In order to meet our necessary climate goals, we must transform our infrastructure away from personal vehicles and towards mass transit, walkability, and bikeability.
Transportation Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions make up 29% of the City’s emissions (source) and 52% of the County’s (source)
The largest contributor of GHG emissions in the U.S. as a whole is transportation (~29%).
Between 1990–2019, emissions in the transportation sector increased more in absolute terms than any other sector (EPA).
Trip Planning Help
The most helpful Charlottesville Area Transit resources in one place.
Plotting your trip gets easier the more you do it, but the first time can be confusing. We’re help to help!
Tool #1: The SPOT app
If you have a smartphone, download the SPOT app to see where the bus is in real time.
Do NOT download the CAT Voice app. If you search “Charlottesville Area Transit” in the App Store, this is the first thing that comes up—it doesn’t work!
The SPOT app can be a little confusing. The most basic way to use it is:
Click “Route” and choose the route(s) of the bus(es) you want to catch.
Click “Map” to see the routes on a map.
To see the timetable of a specific stop, click the circle representing the stop on the Map and then click “View Schedule”.
If you don’t know what route or bus you need, you can first add all of the routes and then deselect the ones you don’t need!
Tool #2: The Trip Planner
If you’re at home, clicking “Trip Planner” on this page is helpful!
If you’re on the go, you can use Google Maps.
Enter your destination
Click “Directions”
Enter your starting location
Click the icon at the top that looks like a train (it defaults to the car).
Tool #3: Timetables and Rider’s Guide
You can find each route’s timetables here.
Those timetables don’t include a map, though, so the best thing to do is look at them alongside either the SPOT app or the old Rider’s Guide.
Remember that this Rider’s Guide has 2018 timetables—don’t use them! The maps are still helpful.
Some of the info on the first pages are helpful, but remember that CAT is fare-free through June 2026!
Be sure to check out the Bus System alerts on CAT’s main page before you leave!