This week in transit!
Here's an unnecessary Election Day reminder! Take some time to dig into the transit-related stuff on your ballot this coming Tuesday. Lots of candidates—no matter where you live—have thoughts on transit and transit policy.
Take action
Join us at the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors meeting on Wednesday evening, November 16. We'll have five speakers sharing about the need and promise of public transit in Chesterfield along the key corridors of Midlothian Turnpike, Hull Street, and Jeff Davis Highway.
- Wednesday, November 16th • 6:30 – 7:30 pm
- 10001 Iron Bridge Road, Public Meeting Room
- Parking is located in front of the building
We encourage everyone—whether your live in the county or not—to come out and show your support for transit in Chesterfield and across the region! For more info or if you need a ride, please contact info@rvarapidtransit.org.
Around the region
In potentially exciting news, details on the Regional Transit Vision Plan—the plan that will guide us to a truly regional transit system—will be available soon. Maybe even as soon as next week!
NPR has this lovely list of transit referendums that show up on ballots across the nation next week. In our region we've got voters in Virginia Beach deciding whether they want to extend the Tide and Wake County working to pass a regional sales tax to fund a regional transit system. That last one should sound familiar, since it's an good model for how the Richmond metro area could fund its regional transit system.
Speaking of the Tide, this week they had dueling pro/anti transit public meetings. That's some intense advocacy competition! Maybe attendance to both meetings would have been better if they'd not been scheduled during World Series Game 7? Suboptimal.
Elsewhere
This article about D.C. development is a bit old, but this stat is crazy: "Of the 5.5 million square feet of office space under construction in the region, about 4.6 million of it, or 84 percent isn’t just near a Metro station but within a quarter mile of one..." Transit-oriented development is a real thing, and you've got to build the transit to make it happen!
After instituting a congestion charge in 2003, traffic is back in London. What's the cause? "Private-hire cars and online shopping delivery vans from the likes of Uber and Amazon. The on-demand economy is choking the city."
If looking at transit maps is your thing, you're gonna need to dig into this guest post on Jarrett Walker's blog about European bus maps. So cool!
Previously, on RVA Rapid Transit...
—Ross Catrow