TAKE ACTION

Just a tiny, quick reminder that we’re quickly approaching the end of July, and RVA Rapid Transit is quickly approaching our goal of 100 new supporters before the month’s end. You can make a donation, of any amount, on our website.

AROUND THE REGION

A couple days ago, I got my hands on ridership numbers from the first three weeks of Pulse service. I went ahead and wrote up three quick takeaways from these initial numbers: 1) Ridership consistently exceeded goals, 2) Lots of folks are connecting at Willow Lawn, and 3) The Pulse is a fast way to get across town. You can download the PDF of the numbers yourself and dig in. Please let me know if you find your own interesting takeaways!

On Friday, I took part in a panel on how the Pulse and the other improvements to our public transportation network could impact tourism in the Richmond region. Turns out, when folks from out of town come to visit, they expect robust and functional public transit. Not only that, but the thousands of employees that support our local tourism industry can benefit from a frequent and far-reaching public transportation network. It’s not a zero-sum game: Building high-quality public transportation benefits everyone in the entire region.

ELSEWHERE

The Charlotte Area Transit System, headed up by once-and-former Richmonder John Lewis, has announced the details of their massive new transit plan. Better transit to the airport! Light rails! Transit tunnels! Whoa!

Albuquerque continues to face serious issues in launching their BRT, but, as they continue to push forward, they’ve implemented a $80 fine for driving in the bus-only lanes. While Richmond may have an issue with folks parking in the curbside BRT lanes, I haven’t seen a ton of people driving in our bus-only lanes. But, enforcement like this is an important part of prioritizing a bus full of people trying to get to work over a single, empty car.

Our friends at TransitCenter have released a new report focused on building an inclusive and equitable public transportation system (PDF). You can read a summary of the report over on StreetsBlog if you’d like!

If you'd like to support RVA Rapid Transit's work to bring a truly regional transit system to Richmond, consider making a tax-deductible donation.

—Ross Catrow