Business View Magazine l January 2023

220 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 12 attached to the city’s multi-modal transportation center on W. Washington and South Union Streets. The new Park and Ride facility was built with an $8 million grant from the state and is now PAT’s central hub, housing its fleet of 28 vehicles, three of which are old-style trolleys that participate in local parades, with room for over 200 cars. Parking, like PAT’s bus fares, is free. Of course, there are always challenges to deal with when running a governmental agency. Koonce reveals that since the pandemic, it has been harder to purchase buses because of the effect it has had on manufacturers and the supply chain. “Another problem we have is getting people hired,” he adds. “So now, we allow individuals who are interested in driving a bus to come on with a regular driver’s license and we will provide the training to help them obtain their commercial driver’s license. That’s one of the avenues that we had to take on because of the way the job market is now. “Now that we’ve taken that restriction off, we have hired three drivers since we were able to work with Shippers’ Choice. It’s a truck/bus driving school that helps you obtain your Class B for buses and Class C for trucks. Our first-class started in December. We put the new drivers on a two-year contract to take advantage of the training that we provide for them, and to keep them here for at least two years.” Going forward, it’s safe to assume that more transit improvements are yet to come as the newly-formed “Partnership for Petersburg” finds its footing. With 42 initiatives, and 61 organizations participating, including the city, the Commonwealth of Virginia, local businesses, area educational institutions, and law enforcement agencies, among others, the Partnership plans to address issues involving public safety, health, education, economic development, and transportation. While many of the planned transportation initiatives in the Partnership currently involve improvements to the area’s rail and road systems, there’s little doubt that Koonce will continue to raise his voice in favor of his own agency’s needs. “I hope in the years I’ve been here, I’ve shown the city that transportation can connect you to families, to jobs, to the hospital, to the doctors’ office, to the pharmacy, to the supermarket, to vacation places” he maintains. “And I think they got it. I can actually say, today, I have the full support of the city as far as moving transportation forward.” It’s all in line with Koonce’s well-known motto: “Don’t look back -- we aren’t going that way.” PREFERRED VENDOR/PARTNER n Peoples Advantage Federal Credit Union www.peoplesadvfcu.org