Weigh in on West End route changes

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As previously discussed, GRTC has proposed some non-trivial changes to Richmond’s West End bus routes (PDF), and they need your feedback! Fill out this survey if you ride the #75, #76, #77, #79, or #50—or if you just live, work, or play out that way.

The biggest change would be eliminating the #75 (PDF) which currently provides half-hourly, peak-only service from the University of Richmond to Willow Lawn via Libbie (and the Target). The new proposed alignment would shift the #77 from its existing circuitous route (PDF), and provide a straight-line connector between UR and Monroe Park via the VUU/VCU Pulse station. So while folks at UR lose a (not very useful) bus to Target and Willow Lawn, they gain a straight shot to Downtown. Also, keep in mind, that UR does offer some of their own transportation services to students.

AROUND THE REGION

Chesterfieldians! GRTC has put together a bunch of how-to videos, in both English and Spanish, ahead of the launch of the new bus down Route 1. Learn what parts of the corridor the route will serve, how to ride and pay, and even how to safely put your bike on the front of the bus. The new Route #111 (PDF) launches on March 16th, so get excited.

Note! If you use the GRTC mobile app to pay for bus fare, you’ll need to download or update to the new version. You’ll have to log in again, so be sure to have your username and password handy (aka don’t do this while standing at the bus stop)!

ELSEWHERE

TransitCenter has the second in a two-part series looking into whether cities should make their transit systems free. Two important quotes from this piece: “low-income transit riders tend to cite improving service as a higher priority than reducing fares, and that policy makers should act accordingly” and “for agencies with significant ridership or agencies looking to put good transit within reach of more people, however, forgoing all fare revenue would substantially impede the ability to provide service, let alone improve or expand it.”

An example of a more targeted approach comes from Seattle: “King County Metro plans free bus passes for people with very low incomes.” Folks making less than 80% of the federal poverty level ($21,000 for a family of four) would qualify. This is an impressive expansion of Seattle’s existing low-income fare program—something Richmond lacks—which gives families making up to 200% of the federal poverty level ($51,000 for a family of four) access to reduced fares.

Finally, San Antonio shows how bus ridership will go up if cities seriously invest in making buses more frequent and more useful.

—Ross Catrow

Almost a million rides in a month!

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At this year’s session, the General Assembly will inevitably take up some transit-related issues. But how do you know what the folks down at the Capitol are talking about and when you should hit up their inboxes? The Virginia Transit Association’s email list is a great way to stay informed on the important state-level transportation issues of the day, and you can sign up right here. Remember: A ton of GRTC’s budget comes from state and federal sources. We need to let our state reps know that we expect them to be strong supporters of transit in Virginia!

AROUND THE REGION

This is new: GRTC has put the documents from their November 19th board meeting on their website.

Get excited, because included in those board meeting documents is GRTC’s November ridership report (PDF), and, whoa! Richmond’s trend of increased bus ridership continues with 947,064 rides taken in October. That’s almost one million rides in a month! Compared to October of 2017, that’s an increase of 247,770 or 35%! Really incredible stuff. Additionally, Pulse ridership is up and VCU use of the entire bus network is up, too.

Chesterfield County recently released the Chesterfield Millennial Visioning Project Report (PDF), which asked a bunch of county Millennials what they look for in a place to settle down. Unsurprising to readers of this email, but 66% of respondents said “they would not like to live where retail, restaurants, offices, and residences are all kept separate and accessible only by car” and half of respondents said “that a regional bus network in the Richmond Metro Area is important to them.”

Here’s an interesting piece in the Richmond Times-Dispatch by C. Suarez Rojas, that looks at GRTC’s budget planning for next year. Sounds like the concerns from earlier this year over missed budget projections aren’t as dire as previously reported, and that GRTC saw a revenue increase of $825,000.

ELSEWHERE

As Richmond’s bus ridership continues to climb, other cities in Virginia are looking to RVA as a model for juicing their public transportation networks. Wyatt Gordon at Greater Greater Washington, says Norfolk is looking to increase ridership on the Tide, its light rail that launched in 2011. But check this out, the Tide—which is, again, a train—sees daily ridership around 4,500, while the Pulse, a humble bus, averages daily ridership of 8,298 (137% over the initial goal)! Turns out, when public transportaiton is useful and efficient, folks will use it—regardless of how it moves around on a street.

—Ross Catrow

This week in transit: Rolling out the red (paint) carpet

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As local elections approach, make sure you read through these three candidate questionnaires:

• For folks living in the City, I went a head and pulled all of the transportation-related questions from the 5th District questionnaires we recently worked on with a bunch of cool local organizations. All of the bus, bike, and walk stuff you need now in one spot!
• For Chesterfieldians, we just got Board of Supervisor Candidate Kevin Carroll’s responses to our questionnaire. Make sure you give them a read—and the rest of the candidates’ responses if you haven’t already.
• For Henricoans, no updates. Sorry! But you can still read through what your candidates for Board of Supervisors have to say about local transportation policy.

AROUND THE REGION

Earlier this week, I talked with Greater Greater Washington’s Wyatt Gordon about the GRTC Pulse crash that killed a pedestrian. We went through some of things the City could do to improve our streets and focus on the safety of people—including painting the bus-only lanes red. A 2017 study from the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board puts the cost of red lanes at $308,000 per mile. If we do some back-of-the-napkin math, I think we’re looking at around $2.5 million to fully roll out the red (paint) carpet for the Pulse. There are, of course, some interesting ways to save money on red lanes, including red striping like Indianapolis and narrow red lanes like Seattle.

This coming spring, GRTC and Chesterfield County will pilot a new bus route from the city limits to John Tyler Community College along Route 1. New bus service is just one part of the work to bring more services, amenities, and development to that corridor.

ELSEWHERE

More great news, including lessons learned, from NYC’s 14th Street bus project where the City banned cars and created dedicated bus lanes. This sentence gets to the heart of it: “Bus-only lanes are among the simplest, most cost-effective ways of moving people through a region while cutting carbon emissions and congestion, eliminating parking, and ultimately returning some urban spaces to cyclists and pedestrians.”

Streetsblog has an interesting article about Chicago’s mayor increasing taxes and fees on ride sharing services like Uber and Lyft for trips that start in transit-heavy areas like downtown. Of note: “...the downtown tax won’t be in effect during prime nightlife hours, so it won’t be a disincentive to using Uber or Lyft to get home safely after a night of drinking” and “a portion of the $40 million in revenue projected as a part of the 2020 budget will be earmarked for the CTA and Chicago Department of Transportation’s Bus Priority Zones program.”

After two fatal crashes involving pedestrians, Oakland’s Department of Transportation has installed rapid response infrastructure to make the streets safer—just weeks after the crashes.

—Ross Catrow

This week in transit: Public transportation candidate questionnaires

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A while back, we sent out a public transportation questionnaire to candidates for both Chesterfield and Henrico Board of Supervisors. We wanted to know how each candidate planned to deal with the unique transportation issues facing their particular county.

In Chesterfield, we were concerned about the ability for folks to age in place; how the County can encourage productive development along its major corridors; where Chesterfield should look to expand public transportation next; and if the candidates supported a dedicated, regional transit funding stream.

In Henrico, we wanted to hear more about pedestrian access to transit; the next place to expand the County’s growing portion of the regional bus network; the candidates’ vision for transit-oriented development; and, again, if they supported a dedicated, regional transit funding stream.

You can read all of the responses to both questionnaires here:

• 2019 Chesterfield Candidate transportation questionnaire
• 2019 Henrico Candidate transportation questionnaire

If you are a candidate in either one of these races and do not see your responses, please contact info@rvarapidtransit.org. If you are resident of Henrico or Chesterfield and don’t see your favorite candidates’ responses, maybe shoot them an email and let them know that public transportation is a priority.

AROUND THE REGION

Henricoans! On Monday, September 23rd, the County, the National Complete Streets Coalition, Smart Growth America, PlanRVA, and Michael Baker will host a Complete Streets Open House at the Tuckahoe Library from 4:00–7:00 PM. They’ll look at the Town of Ashland as a case study for building a regional complete streets policy toolkit. This event is an excellent opportunity to hear about how to build a complete regional transportation network for all folks—whether they’re walking, riding a bike, or taking the bus. It’s an open house format, so don’t feel like you need to show up for the entire three hours.

PARK(ing) Day, an annual opportunity to convert parking spaces into temporary parks, was a complete and total success! C. Suarez Rojas has a write up in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and you can check out a handful of pictures from throughout the city over on StreetsCred.

ELSEWHERE

When you think of progressive parking policy, you don’t typically think about Houston. But maybe you should! The city recently removed “mandatory parking requirements from new developments in two of the city’s more walkable neighborhoods” and is already seeing some cool results. For example, one new development is using space that would have been parking to build a plaza for actual humans. This, let-the-market-decide strategy is a good first step which can and should be followed by implementing maximums on parking as well.

—Ross Catrow