TAKE ACTION

This Thursday, October 10th, please join us—plus a bunch of other nonprofits and organizations—at the Randolph Community Center from 6:30–8:30 PM for A Focus on the 5th, a 5th District City Council Candidate forum. We’ve asked all of the candidates a bunch of policy-oriented questions across a variety of great topics and are looking forward to hearing their vision for the future of the 5th District and the City of Richmond. Please RSVP ahead of time to help us get a handle on the headcount.

Richmond 300 is the City’s master planning process, and a huge part of that process is planning how we will get around town 30 years from now—with a focus on people, not vehicles. In fact, here’s Richmond 300’s stated transportation vision, which you’ll probably love: “Richmond prioritizes the movement of people over the movement of vehicles through a safe, reliable, equitable, and sustainable transportation network. Walking, biking, and transit options are the most convenient and used forms of transportation in Richmond; thereby improving the natural environment and our health. Richmond's multi-modal transportation system is easy for all people to use and seamlessly connects Richmond neighborhoods and attractions to each other, the region, and the nation.” Take a look at the future connections map (PDF), which will give you an idea of how we can reach that vision. Also, you can and should attend one of the upcoming Richmond 300 forums to hear all about the plan—especially the parts that relate to the City’s transportation network.

AROUND THE REGION

NBC 12, via Capital News Service’s Mario Sequeria Quesada, has a great interview with new GRTC CEO Julie Timm. Timm talks through “five key components that she thinks will help the region build its public transportation and offset vehicle congestion: partnerships, developing a true regional transportation system, investment from local governments, improving service reliability and transit-centered development.“ Sounds great, and it’ll be exciting to see where Timm decides direct her energy first.

The Washington Post has a column up about Richmond’s transit successes and how other cities—even Washington D.C.!—can learn from what we’ve been working on over the last couple of years. It’s not rocket science: Make the bus more frequent, more efficient, more reliable, and more folks will ride. We’ve done a lot recently to improve the first two things on that list, now we’ve got to focus on improving reliability across the system—and it’s great that reliability is one of things GRTC’s new CEO will focus on!

In every part of the City you can find bus stops that are simply a sign post stuck into the ground—no shelter, no trash cans, and nowhere to sit and wait for the bus. This project from Art on Wheel looks to change that by working with Richmonders to make guerrilla bus stop benches that double as public art. After an unveiling on October 16th, Art on Wheels will locate the new seating in the East End or on the South Side.

This Reddit thread of people recounting their positive experiences with the Pulse and other bus routes is heart warming, and reading it is a great way to spend five minutes of your day.

—Ross Catrow