TAKE ACTION

This week is RVA Transit Week! We’ve put together a handful of events to help celebrate regular use of public transportation and also encourage the first-timers out there to give the bus a try. You can see the full list of events over on our website, but make sure you mark tomorrow, Monday the 16th, on your calendar as Bus to Work Day! It doesn’t matter if you’re a regular commuter or a bus newbie, plan your commute using the Transit app and then, if you don’t mind, do three things:

1. Take a bus selfie!
2. Answer the question, “Why does public transportation matter?”
3. Share both with us on Twitter (@rvarapidtransit).

It’s a small thing, but seeing folks we know using the bus helps grow and show support for our public transportation system. It makes the regional conversations we need to have about continuing to extend and expand our bus network all the easier.

P.S. RVA Transit Week coincides with the Department of Rail and Public Transportation’s Try Transit Week. You can head over to that website and enter to win a one year of free public transportation.

AROUND THE REGION

Here’s another post in our ongoing series of pieces analyzing some of GRTC’s most current bus ridership data. This time we look at bus routes in the western part of the region that have some of the lowest rides per revenue service hour and what could be done to make those buses more useful to more folks. Perhaps unsurprisingly, by increasing the frequency—and doing some creative rejiggering—these routes could start to shine.

ELSEWHERE

A quick check in on two BRTs from elsewhere in America:

First, after its initial week of operation, Indianapolis’s BRT ridership numbers are in! The Red Line, which covers about twice the distances as the Pulse, saw between 7,985 and 10,551 rides per day. For some context, Richmond’s BRT pulled an average of 6,671 rides per weekday during this past July (PDF). While the Pulse’s ridership goal was just 3,500 rides per weekday, Indy’s goal is 11,000. They’ve yet to hit that, but, just like in Richmond, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the ridership grow over the next several months as folks begin to work the Red Line into their daily transportation lifestyles.

Second, from Twitter, here’s an interesting thread about how an increase in fare enforcement in Cleveland has led to a 19% decline in ridership on their BRT, the Healthline. The Healthline, which scored a silver ranking from ITDP when it opened (the Pulse in Richmond scored a bronze ranking), would have its ranking dropped if rescored today.

—Ross Catrow