This week in transit: GRTC announces service reductions

AROUND THE REGION

Effect next Sunday, April 26, GRTC will reduce service on the following routes:

• #4A Montrose / #4B Darbytown will lose their 15-minute peak frequency and will run 30-minute service all day long.
• #39 Fairmount/Oakwood will be discontinued until further notice.
• #75 Three Chopt will be discontinued until further notice.
• #78 Cary/Maymont will lose its 30-minute peak frequency in the morning and will run hourly until the evening peak.

GRTC's reasoning for these service reductions: "...to redistribute those resources to busier local routes with passenger counts averaging greater than 20 people per bus. Re-deploying vehicles enables customers to better observe physical distancing guidelines on-board buses during the COVID-19 crisis." While we never want to see cuts to bus service, these specific cuts and the reasoning behind them make sense in this particular moment. For context, Jarrett Walker, who spends his entire professional life thinking about and redesigning bus systems, wrote up some thoughts this week about why, how, and when to cut service—and how agencies can recover from those cuts.

This past week GRTC announced they've been able to clean 100% of their entire bus fleet each and every day. From the email: "This is four times faster than normal, and this speed is thanks to the voluntary overtime efforts our of Cleaning and Maintenance staff. There are literally dozens of people behind-the-scenes working for our collective public health." Huge thank yous to the transit workers making this happen!

Mayor Stoney took some time this past week to thank bus operators and transit workers for the critical role they're playing during this crisis (via a socially-distant YouTube).

Learning opportunity alert! This coming Friday, April 24th, Partnership for Smarter Growth will host a webinar on the value of transit featuring Stewart Schwartz from PSG, GRTC CEO Julie Timm, and Chief of Public Transportation at the Department of Rail and Public Transportation Jennifer DeBruhl. You can register over on the Eventbrite.

Stay well,

Ross Catrow

This week in transit: Public transit, the CVTA, and Richmond's new budget

AROUND THE REGION

This past Friday, Mayor Levar Stoney introduced his budget for FY2021, which you can look through here (PDF). It's a big document, so, if you're looking for a place to start, read the Mayor's Message portion to get a handle on the focus of this year's new investments—one of which is transportation.

HB 1541, which has almost finished working its way through the General Assembly, will create a new Central Virginia Transportation Authority (CVTA) to fund local and regional transportation projects. The Mayor's FY2021 budget relies on these new funds in a couple of ways:

• First, some of that new CVTA money will go towards $30 million of road paving alongside several million dollars for building and maintaining sidewalks.
• Second, the Mayor's budget cuts the City's contribution to GRTC by 50%, from $15,915,367 to $7,957,683. It then looks to the CVTA to fill that gap, allowing GRTC to maintain their current level of bus service within Richmond.

As noted above, the Governor has not yet signed HB 1541 into law, and the CVTA has not yet been created or staffed. GRTC is also required by HB 1541 to create a regional transportation plan for approval by the Authority. These things will take time, and it's incredibly important that GRTC have enough funding from the region's localities to maintain existing bus service while the logistics of the new Authority are worked out. Further, any regional transportation plan created by GRTC and approved by the region must be centered around bus rider voices with high-quality community engagement.

Regional cooperation around public transportation is brand new for Central Virginia! As such, the region needs to be diligent with the details, take the time to get it right, and, most importantly, protect the bus service we have today.

—Ross Catrow

Weigh in on West End route changes

TAKE ACTION

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