Mayors talk transit

On September 29th, you've got an opportunity to hear all of the mayoral candidates speak on some of the most pressing issues facing Richmond (transit, of course, being one of them!). It's called the Mayorathon, it'll be a blast, and you can RSVP right here.

To prep your brain for the event, Richmond Magazine has set up a nice little webpage where you can read through all of the candidates' responses across each of the topics.

While RVA Rapid Transit isn't in the candidate endorsing business, we do encourage you to read through their respones to the below transit related-questions. Some of their answers are surprisingly similar. Some are very, very different and would, in our opinion, lead to vastly different outcomes. Read through them and decide for yourself which candidate best represents the future of transit you'd like to see in Richmond.

Below are the five questions we asked (scroll down for links to each of their answers) :

  1. State and federal plans are in the works to make Richmond a stop on a proposed higher speed rail route along the eastern seaboard. Do you support a higher speed rail connection between Richmond and the Northeast Corridor?
  2. The station options being proposed for a higher speed rail connection in Richmond are Main Street Station, a Broad Street Station, and a Boulevard Station. Which Richmond station option do you think offers the greatest opportunity for economic development and connectivity?
  3. The Richmond Regional Transit Vision Plan will be complete in the fall of 2016. This project, which is being undertaken by the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation in partnership with the jurisdictions of Metro Richmond, will offer the layout of a regional public transit network, but one premised on regional cooperation. What are the barriers to regional cooperation from your perspective, and how do you intend to foster more collaboration in order to bring this much-needed plan to fruition?
  4. The Broad Street BRT route will be a first of its kind in our region. What do you think is the next key corridor to focus on expanding our BRT system? Why?
  5. The most successful transit networks in the country have a dedicated revenue stream, and our lack of dedicated funding for public transportation has been cited as the number one challenge to providing transit for the region. Do you support a dedicated source of funding for transit? If so, what funding source would you prefer? If not, why not?

And here are each of their answers:

RVA Rapid Transit is independently funded, and not GRTC or part of any City, County, or State government. We do not provide transportation.