This week in transit: Volunteer to make masks for GRTC

TAKE ACTION

As COVID-19 continues to impact our friends, families, routines, and the economy, GRTC continues to provide critical bus service to essential workers in the Richmond region. You can check on the GRTC system status and read about any policy updates over on their website.

Important note: Please only take the bus for essential trips!

GRTC is only able to provide this critical service to our region’s front-line workers because of its amazing operators, and those operators need to be protected from the coronavirus as much as possible—that’s why GRTC has suspended fare collection and implemented rear-door-only boarding on all buses. Additionally, the bus company wants to provide every operator and essential employee with two masks and “free masks for anyone who needs special assistance from operators to board and ride.” This is a fantastic idea, and one that you can help with!

If you’d like to make masks for GRTC, please check out the RVA Masks 4 Health Facebook group for tons of resources to get you started.

AROUND THE REGION

GRTC has also placed a recurring bulk order of hand sanitizer with Scott’s Addition-based Reservoir Distillery. This will help keep operators and GRTC staff safe during this crisis. Here’s what a huge drum of hand sanitizer looks like.

—Ross Catrow

This week in transit: Public transit needs congressional support

TAKE ACTION

Earlier this week, we asked you to take action and let your congressional representatives know that public transit must be included in any sort of federal COVID-19 relief package. Time is short, and new funding from the federal government is critical to help transit agencies all across the country as revenue and ridership drop and costs go up.

If you haven’t already, please take two minutes and use Transportation for America’s form to email your representatives.

AROUND THE REGION

As our region grapples with the impact of COVID-19, GRTC continues to provide bus service for those folks who need it. You can find GRTC’s system status here along with any policy and procedure changes they’ve made. Of note: All fare collection has been suspended and passengers are required to board through the back door to minimize contact with the bus operator. While we love public transportation, please follow GRTC’s guidance and eliminate all non-essential trips to help further protect bus operators and bus service.

Robert Roldan at VPM says bus ridership in Richmond is starting to decline as more folks (appropriately) stop taking the bus. We’ll have more data in a couple of weeks, but a drop in ridership should be expected and tracks with what transit agencies around the country are seeing. Moving forward, it’ll be important to stop using ridership as the sole metric of success for GRTC. They’re serving a critical role during this crisis in providing essential transportation throughout the region.

If you have more time on your hands, consider joining our newly-launched Urbanist Book Club. We’ll read through Taras Grescoe’s Straphanger over the next couple of weeks, posting updates on Twitter and our blog. Here’s some takeaways from Chapter 1.

—Ross Catrow

ACTION: Tell Congress to save public transportation

All across the country, the COVID-19 pandemic has sent public transit ridership plummeting as folks work from home, practice social distancing, and find other ways to travel. Locally, we've seen our transit agency, GRTC, invest in more cleaning supplies, greater frequency on the Pulse to reduce crowding, and fare elimination paired with back-door boarding to help protect the health of bus operators. These things all cost money, and, when combined with declining fare revenue from riders, transit agencies like GRTC are facing a fiscal crisis.

Following the lead of national transportation advocacy organization Transportation for America, today we're asking you to contact your congress members and tell them to protect our country's public transportation infrastructure—infrastructure that thousands of Richmonders rely on every day to access jobs, educational opportunities, healthcare, nutritious food, and much more. Right now there's so much uncertainty about what the future holds, but one thing remains certain: The Richmond region needs a frequent and far-reaching public transportation system so that its citizens can lead thriving lives. Congress must take strong action to support transit service—here in Richmond and across the country—and ensure that public transit will be ready and reliable when this crisis is over.

To learn more about the potential pittfalls facing GRTC and other public transportation agencies, check out this post from Transportation for America.