How Rapid Transit Benefits Our Aging Population

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) benefits people of all demographics and backgrounds. Whether you’re a business professional who lives downtown and would rather not brave interstate 64 to get to work in the West End, or a VCU student without a car who would like to experience everything that Richmond has to offer, RVA Rapid Transit is designed to serve everyone who wants to ride.

BRT will be particularly effective in addressing the needs of our senior population. Providing them with adequate transportation options will be increasingly difficult as the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age.  According to a Brookings Institution Study, by 2030 one in five Americans will be over the age of 65 and one in 11 Americans will be over the age of 85.  According to a Transportation for America Study,  many of these seniors tend not to move after they reach retirement age, preferring to “age in place” ( pg 3).

Additionally, a 2004 study found that seniors age 65 and older who no longer drive make 15 percent fewer trips to the doctor, 59 percent fewer trips to shop or eat out, and 65 percent fewer trips to visit friends and family, than drivers of the same age. And a 2008 study by AARP found that 85% of older Americans were extremely concerned or very concerned about rising fuel prices, causing them to consider alternative modes of transportation. 20% of seniors over the age of 65 do not drive at all.

The Brookings Institution study notes, “over the last decade older people have made less use of public transit. However older people would consider using this mode if services were provided in ways that better met their needs. To make transit services more appropriate for older people, federal, state,  and metropolitan policies and programs should encourage or require, as well as finance, four major categories of public transit developments: improving conventional service, increasing safety and security in all parts of the system, enhancing communication and information, and providing additional services more carefully targeted to the elderly.” Both the Transit for America Study and the Brookings Institution study suggest designing public transit to be accessible to seniors and making pedestrian sidewalks safe and accessible for seniors.

    Locally, the United Way of Greater Richmond’s Age Wave Study arrived at similar findings to these national studies.  According to the study, the population of people over the age of 65 in Metro-Richmond is projected to double by 2030. The Age Wave study provides a framework to support an increasingly elderly population including:

•     An Engaged Community that gives back through civic participation and volunteerism.

•     A Livable community that has affordable housing, accessible public transportation, and makes the effort to comply with the Americans with Disability Act (ADA).

•     A Stable community where adults have access to jobs that provide financial stability and allow people to save for retirement.

•     A Well Community that provides for the medical needs of an aging population.

RVA Rapid Transit is an important step toward making the Richmond region more liveable for seniors. This system of rapid mass transit will allow them to “age in place” while retaining access to the services they need and the amenities they enjoy.

Rapid Transit Proves Effective in Richmond-sized Cities

Most people who have lived in metro Richmond for any duration of time come to see the city as a “big small town”. It’s big enough that you can get a taste of city life, but not so big that you feel overcrowded and have to deal with a high cost of living. The supporters of RVA Rapid Transit love the Richmond region and believe that a comprehensive Rapid Transit System will substantially improve the quality of life for the entire metro area. We’d like to share some examples of how cities similar to Richmond have successfully implemented comprehensive transportation systems.

In 2012, Reconnecting America, a national nonprofit that “integrates transportation and community redevelopment,”  released a report, “Midsize Cities on the Move: A Look At the Next Generation of Rapid Bus, Bus Rapid Transit, and Street Car Projects In the United States.” (You can download the full report here.)

The report defines a “midsize city” as any city between 50,000 and 250,000 residents. Many midsize cities are part of metro areas of 100,000 to 10 million.  The report notes that midsize cities are often characterized by both promise and problems. On the positive side, many are inexpensive to live in, have lower levels of congestion and have institutional assets such as universities. On the negative side, many of them struggle with poverty, unemployment and limited tax revenues.

Does any of that sound familiar? Based on the report’s definition, Richmond is a pretty typical midsize city. The Reconnecting America report shows that successful rapid transit in a city  the size of Richmond is not only possible, it’s already being implemented with great results.

In Eugene, OR, transit planners have begun construction of the first phases of a 61-mile network of bus rapid transit (BRT) lines. In 2007, the Emerald Express, the first BRT line, opened for business. This line connects downtown Eugene with its partner city Springfield, while serving major destinations like the University of Oregon. In 2009 the Federal Transit Administration reviewed the line and found that ridership had doubled compared to previous service, riders found the service to be more reliable and developers had taken interest in developing along the BRT line (p. 42).

In 2008, residents in Flagstaff, AZ, approved a ballot measure to fund Mountain Links, the city’s first rapid bus service, which links downtown Flagstaff, the Northern Arizona University, and off campus residential and commercial areas called the Woodlands (p. 26). Already, data from ridership indicates that Mountain Links has 600,000 trips per year (p. 41).  As a result, Northern Arizona University has closed some parking lots and converted them to green public spaces.

In Grand Rapids Michigan, a town that has reinvented itself as a hub for high tech and medical industries, the city is constructing a 9.6 mile long BRT route, where 65% of the route consists of dedicated lanes.  The silver line will be the first BRT line in Michigan. Already, developers have shown interest, and one grocery store has agreed to locate there (p. 23).

The report contains several suggestions for achieving successful transit-oriented development in midsize cities.  These suggestions include having an overall vision of economic development with transit as a key element, working with business, institutional interests and property owners to support transit-oriented development and enacting supportive zoning to create the optimal densities of different types of development around transit routes.

The report shares just a few examples of midsize cities across the nation that are realizing the potential of sustainable, transit-oriented development. We look forward to Richmond joining their ranks so citizens of the metro area can benefit from the economic and quality of life improvements that a comprehensive rapid transit system will bring. We hope you’ll join RVA Rapid Transit in making this vision a reality!

Photo Credit: Ben Schumin, Wikimedia Commons

GRTC's CEO Calls Rapid Transit "The Future"

Retiring GRTC CEO Eldridge Coles calls rapid transit "the future of transit in Richmond," Style Weekly reports in a new interview.

The 46-year GRTC employee began his career as a bus driver and has seen many changes in Richmond's public transit system over the years. He believes that what Richmond needs now is rapid transit and a more comprehensive system that spans the entire Richmond region.

He says, "I would like to see buses go further out into the counties ... where the jobs are."

Read the whole interview at Style Weekly.

Reality Check....Great Minds Want Rapid Transit

REALITY CHECK….

GREAT MINDS WANT RAPID TRANSIT

RVA Rapid Transit has a vision. A vision of an affordable, effective, and premium Rapid Transit systems that serves everyone and that everyone wants to ride. But this isn’t an idea that we came up with on the spur of the moment. We are a group of citizens who are watching the larger trends in America towards sustainability and mass transit, and we are responding to that movement. We love Metropolitan Richmond, and we see RVA’s potential to become a go-to city for young professionals, start-up businesses and anyone looking for a high quality of life.  We’re working to promote a vision for the future of RVA.

And we are not alone.

On May 13, 2013 the Urban Land Institute (ULI) of Richmond met at the VCU Siegel Center to launch a one-day event called RVA Reality Check.  According to ULI’s website RVA Reality check, “is a one-day exercise that brings together diverse regional leaders to build consensus on where the projected growth of housing and jobs should be located across the region.”

Click here to read the Reality Check.

RVA Reality check did not set out to take the place of an official regional plan, but to bring professionals together from various fields to envision what the Richmond of 2035 might look like.  RVA Reality check consisted of multiple planning teams working independently of one another to see if any common vision of the Richmond of 2035 would emerge. Participants in the teams were from various backgrounds and included real estate professionals, small business owners, government officials, urban planners, economic development professionals and nonprofit representatives from various faith-based and civic groups.  By the end of this massive brainstorming session of some of the best minds throughout RVA, a big surprise emerged! In the words of the report;

“Leading up to the day, volunteers anticipated that some participants would opt to include transit, and others would focus just on the placement of Legos®, as the transit and roads were optional. Over 70 percent of the major transportation improvement miles recommended were new or improved mass transit routes.”

By the end of the Reality Check “Game Day” consensus emerged around the following transit routes:

Downtown to Airport 85%

–– Route 1 Downtown to Chester 85%

–– Route 1 Downtown to Ettrick/Petersburg 70%

–– Route 1 Downtown to Ashland 70%

–– Broad St. Downtown to Short Pump/West Creek 70%

–– Route 60 Downtown to Midlothian 70%

–– Route 360 Downtown to Brandermill/Woodlake 67%

–– Route 360 Downtown to Mechanicsville 63%

Overall, 93% of groups that participated in “Game Day” saw Rapid Transit as key to the future of Richmond. Connected with the desire for Rapid Transit was the desire for high density zoning.

RVA Rapid Transit representatives did not attend this event, nor we were aware of the event until recently. But the Reality Check’s proposal for new transit routes are virtually the same as those RVA Rapid Transit is proposing!  This isn’t about us. This is about a movement, an idea, a vision, that is rising up from multiple organizations, leaders and the citizens of the Metropolitan Richmond area. The vision is clear. The question remains …

Are you ready to ride?

Then why wait till 2035?