AROUND THE REGION

Last week, Richmond’s City Council approved the rezoning of Monroe Ward as recommended by the Pulse Corridor Plan. This new upzoning will limit the number of surface parking lots and encourage more and denser development in a neighborhood that has easy access to high-quality transit in both the Pulse and the #5 bus. You can read an overview and some context behind the rezoning here—as far as zoning summaries go, it’s a delightful read.

GRTC’s high school bus pass program was a great success last year, and the bus company is out at summer school programs making sure students are signed up and comfortable with riding the bus. At the end of last year, 42% of eligible students had signed up for the pass. If you’ve got an RPS high school student and want them to get free access to the entirety of our region’s bus network, you just need to fill out this permissions slip (Spanish version here).

Emma North, writing for RVA Mag, has a car-free tour through Richmond’s Arts District that, of course, heavily features the Pulse.

Are you in search of a good gift for the transit nerd in your life? Consider a print of this modern redesign of Richmond’s old street car network circa 1891. Give it a closer look, and you’ll see that a lot of Richmond’s current bus system is still based on the old street car lines from 130 years ago.

Logistical note: As summer winds down, this email newsletter will take a quick summer vacation for the next couple of weeks. HAGS!

ELSEWHERE

Here’s a good piece about how to design an equitable, just, and inclusive transportation system. From the article: “We have a 20th-century transportation network that needs to be redesigned to address the future needs of the 21st century. We are faced with a choice to continue following the examples set by our predecessors, or to shift the paradigm to right historical injustices by designing a network that is inclusive of all people while also preparing for the future.”

TransitCenter has a great post titled "The Right to Pee." about a recent study which found that bus operators routinely worked 10-hour shifts without a bathroom break. If you've ever wondered why there's a planned (and necessary) delay at the end of a bus line, this is why. Bus operators may be superheroes, but they're still human!

—Ross Catrow