Green Mountain Transit warns of $3 million shortfall; state to shift some rural routes to other providers

Green Mountain Transit officials told the House Human Services Committee that the agency faces a projected $3 million operating shortfall next year and that the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) is planning to transfer parts of GMT’s rural service to other providers, a change GMT staff warned could take effect July 1, 2026.

The agency’s representative, Clayton Clark, said GMT — which operates both urban and rural transit under separate funding streams — has already cut about $1 million in annual operating costs but still faces a large gap driven primarily by labor and the end of temporary COVID-era relief. "Our biggest cost driver . . . is labor," Clark said. He told committee members GMT is negotiating a new three‑year contract with its largest union and that that negotiation outcome is a major budget uncertainty.

Why it matters: GMT operates the state’s largest share of rides and mixes urban fixed‑route service with rural on‑demand programs funded from distinct sources. Clark told the committee the separation of urban and rural funding prevents GMT from using surplus rural revenue to smooth urban shortfalls, and VTrans is proposing to move some rural operations to other regional nonprofit providers to reduce duplicated overhead.

Most important facts: Clark said GMT provides about 2.3 million rides in its service area and handles slightly more than half of the state’s public transit trips overall.…