This week in transit: We're hiring!

We are presently seeking a full-time Director of Community Engagement to help press forward public transit in the Richmond region. The position will focus on grassroots organizing with current core bus riders as well as potential bus riders (where lines do not currently, but could, exist!) in order to amplify and advocate for riders' stories, concerns, and interests in decision-making about public transit throughout the region. Spread the word and check the position out here. 
  

AROUND THE REGION

Chris Gentilviso, RTD Associate Opinions Editor, gave public transit, as well as RVA Rapid Transit, a strong shout out in an editorial last week: "New bus lines would keep us moving toward a more connected region."

On that note, the CVTA (Central Virginia Transportation Authority) had is first Finance Committee meeting last Friday and first Technical Advisory Committee meeting this past Monday. While the CVTA is mostly still just getting the nuts and bolts in order so that it can operate, big questions remain ahead around public transit governance and funding, so stay tuned. The next meeting date for the full CVTA is TBA.

Mayorathon continues apace, and you can tune in to hear about candidates' views on public transit as well as other key issues. The 3rd District Forum is coming up on Monday next week at 6:30 pm and the 5th District Forum will be on Wednesday. You can see all upcoming dates, as well as recordings of each forum, through the link above.  

The General Registrar's Office for Richmond City is working with GRTC on a short-term solution to address limited public transit accessibility to its new office (2134 West Laburnum Ave). You can also see coverage on this front from the RTD and VPM. To bird's eye the weeds on this one, a longer term solution is needed, and a satellite office at City Hall may be the best long term option, though I'm sure there would be details to hash out on that front too. I'll just note that it is probably hard to get the closest bus line - the 91/Laburnum Connector - a bus stop significantly nearer to the office, given the layout of the surrounding roadways. And as the 91 is currently a 60-min line covered by Henrico County, it would also be a much larger conversation to get it running more frequently (though admittedly that would be a beautiful thing in its own right). Needless to say, accessibility by public transit is always crucial to successfully incorporate as a key element of any decision-making about public facilities and or services.
 

CONDOLENCE

In closing, we join GRTC in grieving the loss of GRTC bus Operator, John Thrower, to COVID-19. GRTC CEO, Julie Timm, writes: 

“For months, GRTC has continuously implemented safety measures and precautions to keep our employees and our riders as protected as possible without cutting off the essential trips needed to keep our community connected to housing, jobs, food, and health care. But the virus can be anywhere, anytime, unseen, and we are all at risk each time we step out of our homes and every time someone enters our businesses. Still, GRTC exists to serve our community’s essential mobility needs. John was proud to be a GRTC Operator, and he did everything he could to safely serve the public during this crisis while volunteering many hours and days of overtime to support the essential mobility needs of our community.”  

Please remember that GRTC is still operating under COVID precautions (wear your mask, only ride for essential trips, zero fares, and social distance). 


Nelson Reveley
Director of Operations, RVA Rapid Transit

This week in transit: Zero fare and new OETM

AROUND THE REGION

Never a dull moment in public transit these days (hold onto your seats)...

Just this past Tuesday, Mayor Stoney announced the creation of the Office of Equitable Transit and Mobility, which will be under the city's Department of Public Works. You can see some more coverage at VPM. As we know, a ton about transit funding and governance remains TBD given our new Central Virginia Transportation Authority (CVTA), but the City's OETM has a new key role to play. 

For instance, a very live question for our public transit system in the months and year ahead is whether GRTC should and could adopt a zero-fare policy as standard operating procedure. As you'll recall GRTC began suspending fare collection in response to the pandemic last spring, and at present GRTC has the potential to continue that suspension through spring 2021 via support from the CARES Act.

On this front, you can watch an extremely helpful presentation from GRTC's Board meeting earlier this week laying out fare policy alternatives moving forward: "Fare Policy Considerations" (just jump to minutes 23:00-46:00, or you can check out the pdf slides (pgs 15-28) from the Board packet). Three Richmond mayoral candidates support finding a way to fund a standing zero-fare policy for GRTC (i.e., post-pandemic), and we as a region more broadly would not be alone in exploring this move (New York Times, "Should Public Transit Be Free? More Cities Say, Why Not?"). Needless to say, we'll be diving into this issue more deeply in the weeks and months ahead. 

As a reminder, GRTC kicked off a new set of service updates on September 13 and is still operating under COVID precautions (wear your mask, only ride for essential trips, zero fares, and social distance). 

TAKE ACTION & UPCOMING DATES

Transportation for America has a Tweet Storm underway right this red hot second (Sept 17). #savetransit is calling for Congress's support for transit agencies across the nation in a new relief package. Join in through the links above. 

The CVTA has its first Finance Committee meeting bright and early tomorrow morning at 8:30 am (Fri, Sept 18). You can check out the agenda packet (updated revenue forecasts, pg. 5) and get more details on watching/generally public-participating here. The next full CVTA meeting date is still TBA. 

As a friendly neighborhood 501(c)(3), you will see no candidate endorsements here, but you can check out candidates' respective views on public transit and a host of other key policy issues at Mayorathon forums over the weeks ahead.

Nelson Reveley
Director of Operations, RVA Rapid Transit

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This week in transit: Growing transit

AROUND THE REGION

Last Thursday, the Richmond Regional Transportation Planning Organization Policy Board (RRTPO, part of PlanRVA) adopted a set of planning recommendations for expanding high-frequency bus lines and accompanying infrastructure (sidewalks, crosswalks, etc.) in the region. You can see a bird's eye of the recommendations here, or you can dive down deep into the pdf and the illustrative story map. Roughly, the routes recommended for high-frequency bus lines in the near term are:

1. Reynolds Community College <—> Downtown (largely along Rt 1 to Parham) 

2. Chesterfield Towne Center <—> Downtown (largely along Midlothian Turnpike)

3. Airport <—> Downtown (potentially along Rt 60 or via GRTC's 7A/7B line)

4. Willow Lawn <—> Short Pump (along Broad St)

5. Gayton Crossing Shopping Center <—> Downtown (Quioccasin to Three Chopt to Patterson to Cary). 

If funded, these lines would either come as enhancements to existing service or as brand new service, depending on the route. And on that essential note, "if funded," remember that this is a strategic analysis/plan that the RRTPO Policy Board has adopted as a way of continuing progress toward the Greater RVA Transit Vision Plan (adopted in 2017). But plans without funding and political will are like plants without water and sunshine. We need funding and political will for such plan(t)s to bear fruit! (ok I'll stop).

Enter key player CVTA (Central Virginia Transportation Authority). As we highlighted last week, the CVTA had its inaugural meeting on August 27. It selected Henrico Supervisor Frank Thornton (Fairfield District) as its chair, Chesterfield Supervisor Kevin Carroll (Matoaca District) as vice-chair, and Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney as chair of the Finance Committee. The CVTA will have its first Finance Committee meeting on September 18 (exact timing TBA). Stay tuned. 
 

TAKE ACTION

In pedestrian safety and advocacy news, our friends at Bike Walk RVA have got an excellent Bike Walk RVA Academy coming up focused on funding, plans, policies, and advocacy for sidewalks, with emphasis on south Richmond. Every bus rider, along with anyone who cannot levitate, is a pedestrian at some point in need of safe avenues to move about. Applications for "Bike Walk RVA Academy: Sidewalks" are due September 14!

PlanRVA is also presently working on its long-range transportation plan (LRTP), which is updated every four years (as you can imagine, the Greater RVA Transit Vision Plan and near-term moves toward it are the kind of thing usually folded into an LRTP). Check out connectrva2045.org for more info. As noted in there, this plan guides "the region's transportation investments over the next 20 years" and focuses on "all modes of travel, including transit, highways, bicycles, and pedestrians." There is currently an online survey to help define the plan's goals, vision, and strategies, so take that survey to highlight the need for transit-oriented development and accompanying infrastructure. 


Nelson Reveley
Director of Operations, RVA Rapid Transit

This week in transit: The CVTA has arrived!

AROUND THE REGION

In big news, the Central Virginia Transportation Authority (CVTA) has arrived, holding its first meeting last Thursday, August 27. The RTD has a recap, and you can also relive the meeting's 3-plus-hour glory on youtube.

As a refresher, the CVTA is the new regional body overseeing funding dedicated to transportation projects and transit. Its revenue flows from increases in the regional sales tax as well as gas taxes. The meeting's agenda packet has a very good overview of the CVTA (labeled pgs 2-3) as well, which notes its core functions:

1. Reviewing the governance structure of existing transit service in the Richmond region, and evaluate the possibility of creating a transportation district, and report its findings by December 1, 2020, to the Governor and the General Assembly

2. Developing a Regional Prioritization Process for project selection pertaining to the regional apportionment of revenues (35% of revenue)

3. Developing a Regional Public Transportation Plan that annually prioritizes regional transit projects and spending needs (15% of revenue)

4. Overseeing the distribution of member locality revenues (50% of revenue) 

5. Issuing bonds as needed for project development and construction

How the CVTA and our respective localities ultimately decide to budget this new revenue each year is, shall we say, a key opportunity for public input and advocacy, and the pandemic will almost certainly reduce that revenue in the near-term too. But the CVTA marks a crucial demonstration of and opening for regional cooperation on transit, as Chesterfieldian Maxwell Johnson highlighted nicely in his call to "Connect the suburbs" earlier this week.  

In the months and many years ahead, the CVTA will have immense bearing on public transit governance, funding, and progress, so stay tuned for updates on the CVTA and ways to be involved.

On a related note, the Richmond Regional Transportation Planning Organization (RRTPO, also part of PlanRVA) is hot on the trail of possible expansions of public transit and supporting infrastructure (e.g., sidewalks, crosswalks, shelters, and such) for the region. You can check out current recommendations in the "Greater RVA Transit Vision Plan: Near-Term Strategic Analysis," or catch a summary of them from a presentation to GRTC's Board in July (see "Transit Vision Plan Update from TPO" on pg. 4 of the meeting minutes). The RRTPO Policy Board will be reviewing this plan at its virtual meeting tomorrow morning, September 3, and we'll dive in more on this front in the weeks ahead.  
 

ELSEWHERE (...& HERE)

Wyatt Gordon has a very helpful Virginia Mercury article on the current state of transit funding and zero-fare policies across the state, with a highlight on GRTC: "Fare or no fare? Transit agencies face tough choices amid COVID-19 budget crunch." Transit systems around the country continue to wrestle with losses in revenue due to the pandemic. The CARES Act included $25 billion to help transit agencies cover operating costs, as well as costs for additional cleaning and safety precautions. Yet as the pandemic continues to disrupt normal life and commerce, aid is still needed to help transit agencies weather this storm. You can still join Transportation for America's call for Congress to act and incorporate $32 billion to support transit agencies in any new relief package.  


Nelson Reveley
Director of Operations, RVA Rapid Transit