Broad Street Bus Rapid Transit News

On Tuesday, January 27, 2015 the following article ran in RVA News: RVA’s bus rapid transit updated

GRTC releases some more details of the future BRT system.

The first of two meetings to show off and discuss the rapid transit plan occurred last night. As expected there were some changes to the original plan and quite a few details were released.

• On-street parking between Interstate 195 and 14th Street will be removed for a bus lane (according to Style Weekly the lane is 9 feet wide and the buses are 10.5 feet wide, so that’s an issue to resolved)
• Station locations have been shuffled, with a downtown stop heading to the location of Stone Brewing and another moved closer to Scott’s addition
• Station designs revealed (seen above) and will allow passengers to walk directly onto the busses without dealing with steps
• Stations will allow passengers to buy tickets, including daily, weekend, and weekly passes
• Busses would operate every 10 minutes during peak hours and 15 during off peak and cost $1.50.

More information at Style Weekly and Richmond Times Dispatch.

January 27, 2015; 9:38 AM • by Nathan Cushing

RVA Rapid Transit January 2015 Update

Ebony Walden

New RVA Rapid Transit Staff

Ebony Walden joined the RVA Rapid Transit staff in August. Ebony has 9 years of City Planning experience and will be working to coordinate future efforts. In 2015, RVA Rapid Transit will help garner support for a land use and economic development vision along the Broad Street corridor to compliment the BRT project and ensure its success. We will also continue to promote the regional vision. Contact ebony@rvarapidtransit.org if you know of an organization that would like a presentation or if your organization wants to officially support the regional BRT vision via letter or resolution.

Dominic Carter

Dominic Carter joined the RVA Rapid Transit staff in November to focus on Church and Clergy Relations. Churches have played a significant role in our promotion and advocacy efforts as mission driven social institutions with multijurisdictional membership. Dominic will organize clergy and churches in Metro Richmond to promote and advocate for a BRT focused regional transit system. If you would like to get your church involved please email dominic@rvarapidtransit.org.

Broad Street BRT Update

In September, GRTC received a $24.9 Million federal grant to fund the Broad Street BRT project. The project will service a 7.6 mile route from Rocketts Landing to Willow Lawn, including 14 stations and over 3 miles of dedicated travel lanes. The design process is underway, with construction starting in 2016. Service is expected to begin in October of 2017. For updates and more information go to www.ridegrtc.com/brt .

Richmond Magazine wrote a recent article on the Broad Street BRT.

BRT News & Research

Bus Rapid Transit has gained a lot of prominence in the US and abroad. Click on the links below to learn about recent BRT and other transit related happenings. Like us on Facebook and get regular news updates: www.facebook.com/RVARapidTransit

• Bus Rapid Transit Nearly Quadruples Over Ten Years
• Interactive Map of BRT Successes Worldwide
• Study shows Millennials prefer walkable places with good transit and other options
• Metro Detroit colleges support transit, say riding buses a part of educational experience
• Southerner increasingly want to be taken for a [transit] ride!

Join Virginia’s Transit Action Network

Virginia Transit Association has launched a new e-action program to direct folks to their legislators when it’s time to push support for transit. This program allows target alerts for any level of government – even the local level of Board of Supervisors! To register go to the VTA website: www.vatransit.com.

Happy Holidays and thank you for your support. Please help us spread the vision…tell your friends, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and recommend presentation venues or partnerships

Metro Richmond Clergy Ride Buses to Bring Awareness to Rapid Transit

http://wtvr.com/2014/10/16/150-clergy-members-board-grtc-buses-looking-praying-for-transportation-changes/  

Rapid Transit For Richmond's Future

RVA Rapid Transit, together with Partnership For SmarterGrowth and GRTC, present:

Rapid Transit For Richmond's Future Richmond is getting very close to building its first Bus Rapid Transit line -- from Rocketts to Willow Lawn. Join us for an evening with Joe Calabrese*, the CEO of the Cleveland Healthline, the most success Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in the country, who will discuss the economic development potential of BRT for Metropolitan Richmond on:

Wednesday September 17, 2014 from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. The Science Museum of Richmond 2500 West Broad Street Thalhimer Theater Richmond, VA 23220 Seating is limited so please RSVP to let us know you are coming.

If you would like to help us get people out to this important event please email us at: rvarapidtransit@gmail.com

Ready to Ride!

The supporters of RVA Rapid Transit

Joe Calabrese** led Cleveland’s effort to build the innovative 6.8-mile long Healthline, a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system connecting several of the city’s major employment hubs, including a major university health system. Since Cleveland’s BRT came on line in 2008, the corridor has seen over 5.8 billion dollars in economic development. The Healthline corridor has many similarities to Richmond and is being used to predict economic development, especially as it relates to job access, for the planned BRT route.

Come hear Mr. Calabrese’s exciting vision about how Bus Rapid Transit will move Metropolitan Richmond into the future.