This week in transit: Attend a transit meeting or two!

TAKE ACTION

GRTC will host two public meetings in the coming weeks which will give you an opportunity to weigh in on recent and proposed changes to the bus network.

First, on February 20th from 7:00–8:00 PM at the Neighborhood Resource Center of Greater Fulton (1519 Williamsburg Road), you can let GRTC know your thoughts on the recent reduction in frequency to the 4A and 4B. While you’re there you can also help them decide where to install new bus stop amenities—concrete pads, benches, trash cans, shelters, and adequate lighting.

Second, you’ve got two chances to attend a meeting about the 50, 76, and 77 routes: February 27th (6:00–7:00 PM, West End Branch Library, 5420 Patterson Avenue) and February 28th (6:00–7:00 PM, DMV, 2300 W. Broad Street). These are the three routes that originally turned around on the block bordered by Broad, Davis, Grace, and Robinson, but now turn around back behind the Science Museum.

AROUND THE REGION

This past fall, Henrico County improved and expanded their bus service in a big way—their biggest improvement to public transportation in 25 years. That hard work and new service is paying off as ridership has nearly double on a couple routes. As GRTC’s Carrie Rose Pace says, “Where you place a level of transit service that is more frequent, operates at later hours and on weekends, and reaches the destinations that the community needs to get to, the riders will get on board.”

ELSEWHERE

TransitCenter has released their Who’s On Board 2019 ridership study (PDF), and they’ve found that...fewer people are on board. Low quality transit service and cheap/easy car ownership seem to be driving the nationwide ridership decrease. What happens when cars ownership gets more expensive and more difficult? Who knows! But CityLab has an interesting article looking at the auto loan industry.

Streetsblog says that last year’s tax reform law may have accidentally added a tax to employers who provide free parking to their employees? This sounds good if you’re in favor of economic incentives to get fewer people driving to work alone in their cars and more people commuting by bike or transit. However, it sounds like the IRS is quickly working to fix the glitch.

—Ross Catrow

This week in transit: GRTC looking for Fulton feedback

TAKE ACTION

On February 20th from 7:00–8:00 PM, GRTC will host a public meeting at the Neighborhood Resource Center of Greater Fulton to “solicit feedback from Greater Fulton residents, businesses and riders about bus routes serving this area.” This meeting will take place about a month after the two 15-minute routes connecting folks living in Fulton to the Pulse had their frequencies halved. If those changes impacted your commute, this would be the time and place to share those concerns with GRTC. Also, if your favorite Fulton bus stop needs benches, lights, a trash can, or a concrete pad you can and should bring those issues up at this meeting as well.

Also! Don’t forget about Chesterfield’s Route 1 public transportation survey! If you live, work, play, worship, or learn on the corridor please fill out this survey—and send it to other folks who do as well. It’s far past time Route 1 had dedicated, fixed-route public transportation service provided by GRTC!

AROUND THE REGION

GRTC will celebrate Black History month by continuing its tradition of honoring local Black history-makers. You can check out this year’s honorees over on the GRTC website.

The Nation has a long piece about how bad bus service and extreme commutes impact people’s lives in the Washington D.C. region. You should read through this piece with an eye toward Richmond, because, at least on a smaller scale, you can find most of the concerns raised right here in town. For example, this sentence but sub in Chesterfield and Henrico: “A lot of these workers in low-wage jobs—they either have to [move] to Prince George’s County, Maryland, or Alexandria, Virginia, and the transportation network has not changed to meet the changing demand”

ELSEWHERE

The link between the increase in use of transportation network companies (TNC), like Uber and Lyft, and the decrease in ridership of public transportation is complex but probably not positive. That said, pilot partnerships between ridesharing companies and public transit agencies, like this one in Los Angeles, can be interesting. Key points from this particular pilot: Trips must begin or end at one of three rail stations, the TNC involved (Via) avoids trips with a single passenger, and riders that are registered with the existing low-income fare program can ride for free.

Atlanta just hosted the Super Bowl and, as a result, marked record highs in transit ridership before and after The Big Game. The flexibility with which MARTA responded to the changing transit needs—running 24-hour rail service and adding trains—is impressive.

Streetsblog looks into how Seattle is putting pedestrians first when designing safe street crossings—something you’d think would be the default but, unfortunately, is not.

—Ross Catrow

This week in transit: Bring fixed-route bus service to Route 1 in Chesterfield County

TAKE ACTION

It sounds like Chesterfield County has mostly decided to provide some sort of public transportation on Route 1 from the City limits to John Tyler Community College. Whether that will be fixed-route bus service provided by GRTC (👍) or an on-demand service provided by a private company (👎) remains to be seen. To help inform their decision, the County has put together a survey for folks who live, work, play, learn, and worship along the corridor. If you spend any time at all along Route 1 please fill out this survey! If you know people who spend any time at all along Route 1 please send them this survey!

AROUND THE REGION

Mark your calendars for February 28th! RVA Rapid Transit, along with a handful of other organizations, will host Mayorathon: Policy Jam from 6:30 – 8:00 PM at the Institute for Contemporary Art. We’ll sit down with Mayor Stoney to discuss his first two years in office and then also recommend priorities for his next two years. The evening will feature an in-depth, entertaining, and informal discussion on policy issues, with special guest appearances. It’s gonna be fun, wonky, and a good way to spend your Thursday evening. You can and should RSVP here.

At some point recently, GRTC installed new snow-route badges on some of their bus stop signs (pictured above). These charming little snowflakes let you know if your bus still serves that particular stop when GRTC switches over to snow routes. It’s a little, infrequently-used thing, but sure makes a big difference for folks standing out in the cold and snow.

ELSEWHERE

This Women Changing Transit mentorship program run by TransitCenter sounds awesome: “This program aims to connect women transit professionals with women leaders in transit to serve as mentors to help guide, advise and grow in their careers. The year-long mentorship program is open to applicants who identify as women and who are in the first 10 years of their career, in any facet of the transportation field: planning, engineering, administration, operations, finance, and advocacy. The multidisciplinary nature of this mentorship is intended to support and enhance connections and relationships across public/private/non-profit lines.” If you’re even slightly interested in this, I really recommend that you apply. The TransitCenter folks are wonderful to work with!

Now that our Bus Rapid Transit line is up and running, it’s fun to follow other cities through their BRT planning processes. Both Birmingham and Charleston are working through the next steps of bringing rapid transit to their towns.

These subway station designs in Toronto are beautiful / interesting!

—Ross Catrow