VRT Supplemental Services

VRT is excited to support community events that align with our mission and benefit the public, bringing the benefits of public transit to the community with real-time bus tracking, easy identification of vehicles, low-floor boarding, and more.

We do this through supplemental services, which include expanded or special service offered during large, high-interest events within our service area, particularly to reduce traffic volumes and parking demand around events with high-volume transportation needs.

All supplemental service must comply with Federal Transit Administration (FTA) charter regulations, which are designed to ensure that public transit agencies don’t use taxpayer funded assets to compete with private charter transportation providers.

To ensure transparency, compliance, and sustainability, VRT may deliver event-based services under the following conditions:

• Planned in advance:  Ideally, event service will be identified early and approved as part of VRT’s annual fiscal planning process, which starts at the beginning of each calendar year for the following fiscal year, which begins October 1. This is especially true for annual events that occur every year. This allows us to allocate budget, staff, and vehicles in a way that supports special service while protecting regular, scheduled routes. It also ensures that the supplemental services we provide can be scheduled and promoted so the community is aware of the opportunity. However, new and new-to-us community events may be added to after October 1st, especially for one-time events that may attract large audiences. VRT will evaluate these opportunities based on availability of budget, staff, vehicles, potential advertising opportunities, and adequate lead time to provide high quality service and impactful promotions.  
• Fits within our budget and policy: In order to provide the highest quality service, VRT strives to identify supplemental services in our annual fiscal planning process. New community events can be added to those plans after October 1 with adequate budget, staff, vehicles, and lead time to provide high quality service. VRT will only provide service that aligns with our supplemental service policy, fits within our budget and service capacity, and will generally reduce traffic and parking needs around high-volume community events.
• Ongoing or high-impact events: VRT prioritizes recurring or regionally significant events with demonstrated transportation needs, public benefit, strong community support, and potential for long-term viability. These include major civic, cultural, or institutional events that serve broad segments of the public and occur within or adjacent to our service footprint. Supplemental services also include the use of transit buses to participate as demonstrations or in a static capacity, such as parades or the annual Stuff the Bus event, or others listed below.

Read VRT’s Supplemental Services Policy

VRT welcomes early conversations with event organizers to explore whether proposed services may qualify as supplemental and whether we have the budget and capacity to serve it in the current year. Early requests are more likely to be approved, while annual events that cannot be served during the current fiscal year may be considered and planned for in a future year. Requests for short-notice or one-time charter-style service will generally be declined to preserve public resources and regulatory compliance.

VRT follows the regulations that ensure that federally funded transit systems do not displace or undercut private transportation providers. VRT does not provide single-use, charter-style services funded directly by outside parties. Under FTA charter regulations, we cannot accept direct payment for exclusive use, operate routes determined by a third party, or provide service exclusively for private events.

Exceptions

Under limited federal exceptions, VRT may be allowed to offer charter-style service at current market rate if:

• The event organizer solicits bids from qualified private charter companies
• No eligible private providers respond or are able to meet the need,
• The organizer provides formal documentation verifying that no qualified bids were received.

In these cases, the event organizer must submit required documentation to VRT, and VRT must obtain federal approval before proceeding. These approvals ensure compliance with charter service rules and protect the role of the private sector.

For more details on these federal requirements, visit:

FTA Charter Bus Service Regulations