This week in transit: More transit arrives on September 16th

TAKE ACTION

GRTC needs extras for their new marketing campaign to promote public transportation in Henrico County. They’re looking for folks on a bunch of different days, so if you’d like to be a bus model, just send an email to . Also, I hear there’s free food!

Here are the details:

• What: Extras needed for film and still photography to promote Henrico service changes.
• Potential film dates: Wednesday September 5th, Thursday September 6th, Friday September 7th, and Monday September 10th. We are shooting for two days, however, we have baked in rain dates in the event the weather is not cooperative.
• Potential still photography dates: Thursday, September 13th, Friday September 14th, Monday September 17th, and Tuesday September 18th. We are shooting for two days, however, we have baked in rain dates in the event the weather is not cooperative.
• Contact information:
• Tentative Schedule: 7:30 AM–5:00 PM
• Who: 7 years old and up, all racial and ethnic backgrounds.

AROUND THE REGION

Expanded bus service in Henrico begins on September 16th, which is right around the corner! The County has put together this neat page with an explanation of the changes you should expect. The bus to Short Pump kind of steals the show, but expanded night and weekend hours is a big deal—and don’t sleep on the fact that the #19 (aka the Short Pump bus) is now a $1.50 bus instead of a $2.00 bus. This means less complicated and cheaper transfers between it and the rest of the system.

Also on September 16th, a whole slew of tweaks and updates to the rest of GRTC’s system goes live. Most exciting: The Pulse will begin service at 5:00AM and will have its frequency increased from every 15-minutes to every 10-minutes until 7:00 PM (thanks VCU!). Also exciting, in addition to all of the Henrico stuff mentioned above, the #18 will now connect the Willow Lawn Pulse station to both Libbie Mill and the Staples Mill train station.

Back in June, when the Pulse opened, I spent the day riding the bus around with Blaine Lay of the Two People Podcast. He recorded our adventure, and you can listen to it here if you’ve ever wondered what a Day in the Life of Ross is like.

ELSEWHERE

Joelle Ballam at TransitCenter rode one of New York City’s new, pilot-program electric buses, and has some thoughts about transit agencies moving all or part of their fleet to electric. Noting the obvious health and sustainability advantages of electric buses, Ballam cautions: “One potential pitfall of the declarations for all-electric fleets is that agencies may be inviting technical performance problems to go along with their other systemic issues.” That seems like wisdom.

Every year, Streets Blog hosts the Sorriest Bus Stop Tournament. Riders from around the country submit photos of the worst bus stops in their towns, folks vote, and then an eventual...champion?...is crowned. We’re in the Elite Eight at the moment, and, dang, those are some bad bus stops. Of course Richmond has its fair share of terribly unsafe and inhumane bus stops, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything like that “bus stop” in Cincinnati. If you frequent a local stop and think it’d be improved by a bench, trash can, or shelter, drop an email. GRTC is actively installing new bus stop amenities and would like to hear from y’all about where they’re needed most.

—Ross Catrow

Isaiah Project Speaks

The Isaiah Project organizes encouraging, broad-based showings of support for expanded public transportation during public comment period at Board of Supervisors meetings in Henrico and in Chesterfield. We go out four times a year, twice to Henrico and twice to Chesterfield. These outings are called "Isaiah Project Speaks." While communities of faith in each locality lead the way, we invite broad regional solidarity and participation.

At each meeting, we will have a few speakers during the Public Comment Period. All you have to do is show up, look encouraging, and rise together when one of our speakers invites supporters to stand. As you’re able, please wear something green (RVA Rapid Transit also has green "Ready to Ride!" t-shirts you can purchase at cost for $6 - simply contact info@rvarapidtransit). We will also have an opportunity to pray ahead of the meeting. 

So that we can get a sense of numbers, please rsvp here for Isaiah Project Speaks in Henrico on Sept 25 and here for Isaiah Project Speaks in Chesterfield on Oct 24. We are hoping to have at least 40 people of faith out at each of these meetings this fall. Your participation makes the difference!

Isaiah Project Speaks in Henrico

Henrico Board of Supervisors Meetings, 7 p.m. Tues, Sept 25

4301 East Parham Road, 23228 (Henrico Government Center Administration Building)

Isaiah Project Speaks in Chesterfield

Chesterfield Board of Supervisors Meetings, 6 p.m. Wed, Oct 24

10001 Iron Bridge Road, 23832 (Chesterfield County Public Meeting Room)

For more details or to sign up to join in a Board of Supervisor meeting, please contact isaiahproject@richmondhill.org or see rvarapidtransit.org/isaiah. 

This week in transit: A CEO search!

TAKE ACTION

Quick reminder! Our faith-based screening of Free to Ride is this coming Tuesday, August 21st at 1:00 PM. You can learn more and register over on Eventbrite.

Now, on to the news!

AROUND THE REGION

By now, you’ve probably heard that GRTC’s CEO David Green will resign at the end of the month. Green has a long list of achievements to take credit for during his tenure, including the Pulse, the bus network redesign, and new bus stop signage. Filling in for Green while GRTC conducts a CEO search is Charles Mitchell. Mitchell previously served as GRTC’s interim CEO, so he should be familiar with the job!

I’m also sure you heard about the arrival of Bird electric scooters in town over the past couple of days. These little guys are an excellent way to get to or from public transit, helping with the first/last-mile problem. Since the scooter company popped up without giving the City a heads up, their future in Richmond is...uncertain. For now, though, it looks like they’ll keep operating despite City complaints.

ELSEWHERE

If you’ve ever checked the real-time bus arrival information for the Pulse and seen several buses all arriving at the same time instead of evenly spaced every 15 minutes, that’s called bus bunching. It happens for a variety of small reasons that quickly compound over time resulting in a big impact on the bus schedule—like Ian Malcom said in Jurassic Park, “You see a Tyrannosaur doesn’t follow a set pattern or park schedules, the essence of chaos” (but with buses instead of dinosaurs). For an intense and math-heavy discussion of the whys and hows of bus bunching, read this post by transit genius Alon Levy. Luckily, there are some easy things that we can do to ease bus bunching: all-door boarding, bigger buses, bus-only lanes, giving the buses signal priority. Keep this in mind next time you ride the Pulse: The quicker you board, the better the buses stay on schedule—don’t be afraid to get on through the back door!

Fare capping is awesome! I hope that once GRTC rolls out their planned fare technology upgrades later this year—specifically, reloadable tap cards—they’ll consider implementing a fare-capping policy. This sort of policy allows folks who ride the most to get the benefits of the 7-day and 30-day unlimited ride passes without having to drop a ton of cash upfront. It also eliminates the need to do any sort of mental math to figure out if an unlimited ride pass is “worth it.” You just ride, ride, ride as much as you need and you’ll end up with the best deal possible.

Check out this pop-up flower bomb at a bus stop in Everett, Massachusetts. Make sure you watch a bit of the video because the photos don’t do it justice.

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If you'd like to support RVA Rapid Transit's work to bring a truly regional transit system to Richmond, consider making a tax-deductible donation.

—Ross Catrow