#AskNicholas: Parking???

Question: What will this do to parking on Broad?

Nicholas: To answer this question, GRTC commissioned an incredibly detailed parking study (PDF). 315 parking spaces on Broad, between Thompson and 14th Street, will be removed to create the bus lanes. Before the removal, there were 5,000 on-street parking spaces on or within one block of Broad, as well as 6,500 off-street spaces. Over 97% of spaces will be retained. Further, those spaces are often not used even close to capacity. Certainly there are some cases where at some time of day a block may have no available parking spaces, but that is true today and won't change much. Most of the time, people will still be able to find a spot within a block fairly quickly. And even then, if we ask bus riders to walk a few blocks to get where they're going, it seems fair to ask people driving to do the same.

#AskNicholas: Getting the Pulse out to Short Pump

Question: When will the Pulse go out to Short Pump?

Nicholas: We want the Pulse will go to Short Pump soon, but, as an advocacy group, we can't put a date on it. However, starting when the Pulse opens, Henrico will run its Broad Street bus, the #19, from Willow Lawn to Gaskins every 30 minutes (but not on evenings and weekends).

Henrico's portion of the Transit Development Plan, while not yet finalized, is almost sure to extend that route to Short Pump and expand the hours of operation. When that plan is implemented depends on when funds are available. So, especially if you live, work, or shop in Henrico, let your supervisor know that transit funding is important to you!

#AskNicholas: Easy fare payment

Question: Do you see a payment system like Uber for buses?

Nicholas: A payment system like Uber for buses (and trains) sort of exists! In some transit systems, you can download an app and purchase your pass with a credit card as the bus arrives, then show your device to the driver or an inspector if drivers don't check fares. Milwaukee has this for buses (show the driver) and Germany has it for trains (an inspector may come by).

GRTC is testing mobile payments on its buses, which it hopes to debut to the public soon, and it will soon have tap cards, like in DC and elsewhere. Eventually, GRTC may allow you to link your tap card to your credit card so it automatically renews a monthly/weekly pass or a fixed amount (e.g. $10-$20) when you run out. And since there's no surge pricing and fares are fixed (not based on distance), you'll know exactly how much you're paying without ever having to worry about if you have enough money in your account. How easy is that?

#AskNicholas: Transit and the Amazon HQ2 RFP

Question: Amazon has made transit a critical part of the HQ2 RFP process. Do you expect this to become a trend?

Nicholas: I think it's already a trend! More and more, businesses are locating near transit: we've seen this just up the road in the DC area, with businesses requiring office space near a metro station and Tysons seeing huge development. Though not everyone will want to use transit, many people do, and while predicting this with 100% certainty is impossible, I expect this trend will only increase. Businesses are on board in the Richmond region (CoStar and Owens & Minor, for example), and the city of Richmond is seeing more people move to it than any of the region's counties—and transit is certainly a factor.