This week in transit: More money for public transportation!

TAKE ACTION

Monday March 17th is Transit Driver Appreciation Day! Without the operators, none of this works, so take a second to thank your driver when you hop aboard on Monday.

AROUND THE REGION

The City’s Office of Community Wealth Building released their annual performance report (PDF) which contains this bit about the connection between high-quality public transit and employment: “Transportation continues to be one of the major barriers to individuals gaining and retaining employment. Although, the OCWB strives to ensure all participants are able to get to employment and training through our direct services we understand that the Richmond Area needs a comprehensive regional transit system that effectively and efficiently connects residents to employment opportunities. The development of a strong regional transit system continues to be a systemic goal of OCWB’s.” This, of course, is our goal as well, and we’re lucky that a plan for just such an effective and efficient regional transit system exists. While the recent and continued investment in public transportation by some of the region’s jurisdictions is definitely a start, to build a truly regional system we will need some bold leadership and movement towards creating a dedicated bucket of funding for just such a thing.

Henrico County released their budget (warning: huge PDF) and joins Richmond City in increasing their funding for GRTC. They’ll chip in an additional $465,000 to pay for “a 3.0 percent increase in GRTC operating costs, and for a full-year of support of the mid-September 2017 service enhancement.” So while Richmond’s money goes towards new service, Henrico’s money will go to preserving the existing service (which is still pretty dang new). Between the two jurisdictions, GRTC will see about a $1.4 million increase in funding.

Did you see this ridership trends PDF from GRTC? It’s kind of incredible. This past January saw a 26% ridership increase as compared to the previous January! After some back-of-the-napkin math that you should definitely take with a grain of salt, all of the recent investments in public transportation total a less than 10% increase in GRTC’s budget, but have kicked ridership up by 26%. That’s a significant return on investment.

ELSEWHERE

Gwinnette County, an Atlanta suburb, will hold a referendum this coming Tuesday to approve a one-cent sales tax to expand public transportation into the County. This would raise $5 billion to build and run heavy rail, Bus Rapid Transit, and more local service. Fingers crossed for those folks!

Also in Atlanta, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has decided to create a dedicated Department of Transportation for the City—something Richmond lacks but was one of the transportation-related priorities from Mayorathon.

—Ross Catrow

This week in transit: Mark your calendars for Mayorathon!

TAKE ACTION

This coming Thursday, February 28th from 6:30–8:00 PM, RVA Rapid Transit, Richmond Magazine, and a bunch of other organizations and nonprofits will host Mayorathon: Policy Jam. We’ll sit down with Mayor Levar Stoney to have a conversation about his accomplishments and priorities in a handful of topic areas: transportation, neighborhoods, education, public safety, and the urban environment. Get excited for an informative and fun atmosphere in which to talk about local policy—seriously, that’s a thing that can (and should) exist! The event is free and open to the public, but please RSVP over on the Eventbrite so we can get an accurate headcount. See you there!

AROUND THE REGION

Each and every ridership report released by GRTC is more astounding than the last. This recent one shows that year-over-year ridership in January across the entire bus system increased a whopping 26% (PDF)! Next up, this report shows that Pulse ridership continues to exceed expectations (PDF), with most weeks seeing near 40,000 rides. In that previous link, there’s also a fascinating table showing VCU ridership by route, with the #1A/B/C and the #5 both showing strong ridership growth.

Back in January, GRTC reduced the frequencies of the #4A and #4B routes which provide connections in and out of Fulton to the Pulse. However, after a recent public meeting at which they heard from more of the Fulton community, it sounds like the bus company may decide to add back 15-minute service during peak hours. Peak-only 15-minute service isn’t as consistent or useful as all-day 15-minute service, of course, but it’s good to see GRTC listening to the needs of the Fulton community.

Speaking of community input, on Wednesday at the West End Branch of the Richmond Public Library from 6:00–7:00PM, you can weigh in on some proposed changes to the #50, #76, and #77 routes. At this meeting, you’ll most likely hear about the changes presented at this past week’s GRTC board meeting (PDF). Those changes include new turnarounds on the eastern end of the #50, #76, #77—which you’ll remember are necessary since 1) City Council objected to the original turnaround on the block bounded by Grace, Robinson, Broad, and Davis, and 2) The current turnaround on the Science Museum property is only a temporary solution. You might also hear about a proposed extension of the western end of the #77, which would be a $255,000 change—more thoughts on this one after more details surface.

—Ross Catrow