AROUND THE REGION

GRTC's informational meetings introducing folks to the new transit network have begun! Get the full list of meeting dates and locations over on the RVA Rapid Transit website, and put one on your calendar ASAP. You can read some reactions to the new system from 8th District residents in this piece by Robert Zullo at the RTD.

For folks who love maps (and who doesn't love maps?), GRTC put together this neat tool that lets you overlay the new lines with the existing lines so you can really see the coming changes.

As part of the new route rollout, GRTC has proposed an entirely new set of route numbers and names. The new, proposed route numbers are three digits long and way different from what we've got now. Pull up this PDF to see them on the new network map. You can send GRTC your feedback on the new numbers (or on anything else, really), right here.

ELSEWHERE

Last week, I mentioned the Bridj service in Kansas City that's vastly underperformed its ridership goals. This week, Wired says, hey, maybe that's not so bad if it's in the name of research.

Here's a fairly indepth look at what it takes to have equitable access to jobs across a region that includes both a dense city center and a sprawling suburban ring. Sound familiar? It's a big, complex problem and one that probably requires a bit of everything to make a dent: private sector programs, system expansion and redesign, and focused transit-oriented development.

StreetsBlog has this really excellent ongoing series called "Getting Transit Right," that you should totally check out. This installment about Atlanta is fascinating and is chock full of stuff, both successes and failures, we can learn from. Here's their quick list of what's working and what's not working:

What’s working

• Hard work rebuilding MARTA’s reputation paying off with growing support for transit region-wide.
• Coalitions around equitable transit access have yielded better results than corporate-led “all of the above” transportation funding campaigns.
• Volunteer efforts to improve bus stops illustrate demand and enthusiasm for getting the fundamentals of the transit rider experience right.

What’s not working

• Inability to coordinate regionally on transit investment.
• Streetcar funding wasted on slow, unreliable service.
• Public investment in basics like bus stop schedules is lacking.

—Ross Catrow