TAKE ACTION

Here’s another reminder about March 13th’s Henrico Board of Supervisor’s meeting! As Henrico County considers budgeting for more public transit service, our Henrico Team will be on hand offering the Supervisors support and encouragement. All you have to do is show up and look encouraging. Easy peasy.

AROUND THE REGION

It’s officially budget season! Around the region, elected officials will begin the process of introducing and approving budgets—which means, of course, an opportunity for more public transportation funding. In the City of Richmond, the mayor will present his budget to City Council this coming week, while in Chesterfield County, Board of Supervisors and School Board members will host community budget meetings. Henrico County should have a public hearing on their budget at some point in April. Stay tuned!

This story about the back-and-forth on Montgomery County, Maryland’s proposed bus rapid transit line is really interesting and shows how long it can take and how many hurdles large infrastructure projects like this have to overcome. I’m interested in this idea of reversible dedicated BRT lanes, too!

ELSEWHERE

The folks at TransitCenter have put together a report on how New York can improve their fare payment system (PDF). While Richmond’s system is obviously nowhere near as big as New York’s, we can definitely steal some of their good ideas. Top most on my list would be fare capping. Systems that do fare capping are smart enough to count how many times a rider uses the system and stops charging them once they hit a capped limit. This lets riders get the cost savings of unlimited ride passes without having to pay big chunks of cash up front. Plus it means no one has to do the mental calculus of whether or not an unlimited pass is “worth it.”

The New York Times looks at congestion pricing around the world to see if any of them could provide a model for New York City.

And then there’s this dystopian article in the Economist about a dark side to autonomous vehicles. Yikes.

If you'd like to support RVA Rapid Transit's work to bring a truly regional transit system to Richmond, consider picking up an awesome transit map T-shirt or making a tax-deductible donation.

—Ross Catrow