It's here! The planners working on the Richmond Transit Network Plan have released their Draft Recommended Network! This is your first look at what the future of Richmond's public transportation system will look like—and it's incredibly exciting.

Don't believe me? Check out these before-and-after isochrones. They show an example of how far you can get in one hour of busing/walking before and after implementation of the Richmond Transit Network Plan:

The colored blobs show how far you can get by walking or taking the bus. Red = 15 minutes, Orange = 30 minutes, Yellow = 45 minutes, and Green = 60 minutes.

Astounding. Let's just behold the system-wide map for a second:

A couple things to note:

Notice the #10. That's an orbital route that circumnavigates the city. We don't have one of those now, and it will be a favorite of folks from the North and Southsides who want to get into Carytown or points west.
Check out the East End! Gone are the squiggly, mostly parallel, duplicative routes, replaced by a simple, efficient, and frequent #5. Also check out the frequent lines in Fulton that connect to the Pulse.
On the Southside, access to and from Southside Plaza is much improved. If I were handing out an award for Most Improved Acccess, Southside would win it hands down.
West Enders take note! The #1 is no more. You'll need to walk up to Broad to catch the Pulse or down to Patterson to catch the #61.
Frequent services runs until 7:00 PM, then everything switches to 30-minute service until 1:00 AM.

To really dig in and have fun, make your own isochrones to see just how much more of the city you can access under the new system.

You can download all of the maps (including area maps, a nighttime map, and a chart of route frequencies and spans) on the Richmond Transit Network Plan website.

There are also a ton of public meetings over the next couple weeks. Please attend one and let the planners know what you think of their hard work. These are big changes to an important part of our city. Let's make sure we get it right>