This week in transit: RPS high school students ride for free
TAKE ACTION
The unlimited bus pass program for RPS high school students begins on October 1st! If you’re a parent or guardian of an RPS high school student, and want them to have unlimited bus access to all our City has to offer (at no cost to you!), you’ll need to fill out this permission slip (PDF) and return it to your school’s liaison. If you have any questions about how the program works, you should read this handy FAQ, and if you’ve still got questions, shoot an email to Pass Program Administrator Kendra Norrell (
AROUND THE REGION
One week from today GRTC will launch its next round of bus service updates which include a bus to Short Pump and expanded hours on its major lines. This is huge and exciting! You can find a list of those changes (plus all of the other changes going live on September 16th) over on GRTC’s website.
As always, if you have any questions about how you, your business, your congregation, or your bus-curious friends and family can take advantage of the new lines, please reach out and let us know! We’re happy to help.
ELSEWHERE
Today, here are a bunch of links about the connections between housing and transit:
- CityLab looks at a new study that finds that commute distance impacts the likelihood of a person getting a callback for a job interview. As affordable housing moves further away from city centers, and further away from transit, commute times increase and opportunities decrease.
- As Charlotte works on a ballot measure to dump $50 million into their housing trust fund, they’ll focus on “making housing investments that consider employment and transportation amenities.”
- The California state legislature passed a bill (which is on its way to the governor’s desk) that would “allow the Bay Area Rapid Transit system to establish zoning standards for its station areas so that it can easily build more housing there.” BART has set a goal of building 20,000 units, with 30% of them affordable, by 2040.
- A transit advocacy group in San Diego has released a report detailing how many affordable homes could be build on all the parking lots owned by that city’s transit agency. Spoiler: It’s a lot.
—Ross Catrow