In brief Fellini’s closing Yet another Charlottesville business has been shuttered by the coronavirus. Last week, the owners of downtown Italian restaurant and music venue Fellini’s announced that December 19 would be the spot’s final day. “We literally tried EVERYTHING,” reads a post on the restaurant’s Facebook page. The owners report that they asked the […]
JAUNT
Riding green: JAUNT’s all-electric van gives a peek into the future of regional transit
Braving the frigid weather, nearly two dozen people gathered in front of Regal Stonefield & IMAX last Wednesday to see the newest addition to JAUNT’s fleet: an all-electric transit vehicle. The first of its kind in the region (and the first in operation in Virginia), the Ford Transit 350HD passenger van, which will be used […]
In brief: Not the Daughters of Confederacy tour, City Council is back, no confidence in Cumberland, and more
Tour de force For the past couple of years, Jalane Schmidt, UVA professor and activist, and Andrea Douglas, Jefferson School African American Heritage Center director, have been conducting tours of our downtown monuments, providing new context for the Confederate statues that have long dominated Court Square and Market Street parks. Now, those who haven’t seen […]
Steering the bus: JAUNT’s Brad Sheffield looks to the future
From its origins in 1975 as a public service corporation transporting elderly and disabled customers, JAUNT (that’s Jefferson Area United Transportation) has grown to cover a six-county, 2,600-square-mile service area while welcoming the general public onto its 85 vehicles. Recently, the [...]
Take the bus: Is this public transit’s moment?
Charlottesville is a growing city. We’ve added 5,000 residents since 2010, with another 10,000 in the county. And by 2040, projections from the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service show an additional 6,000 people in Charlottesville and 33,500 in the county (roughly), bringing our total [...]
29 Express: New bus service draws average of three riders, lawsuit
To much fanfare, JAUNT unveiled a commuter express service May 2 from the Food Lion on U.S. 29 north of town to UVA and downtown. Free for the first two months, the service seemed a boon for commuters traveling through major construction this summer as they headed into town. To the man being [...]