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GRTC to cut Main Street/Church Hill
12/15/2009 1:55 PM by John M
Efective January 31, 2010, GRTC‘s route 13 Main Street/Church Hill will be eliminated (PDF), as will 5 other “historically underperforming routes”. GRTC’s route map (PDF) shows routes 1 and 2 offering similar east/west linkages.
geee… maybe the No. 1 route underperformed because the damn bus never showed up! i used to try and take the bus to work, but it was so unreliable, that i finally stopped. if i was lucky, it would come once an hour- but it was never even remotely on time!
Don’t worry, ecochick. GRTC is cutting no. 13 (not pictured on map), not no. 1. I’ve never tried taking no. 1 west from Church Hill, so have on idea how timely it is. I DO know, however, that the no. 13 bus is completely reliable. Sigh.
My bad, no. 13 is the dotted blue line. Goodbye, 13 bus! You were a faithful commuter.
I have a couple thoughts here. Yes, I do take that bus (or the 6) but there’s almost never anyone on it so I can see how the route isn’t profitable. But rather than cutting service altogether I would have preferred to find an alternative, possibly smaller buses or run less trips.
I also appreciate that they’re not stopping it for a year. That is reasonable and gives everyone plenty of time to make alternate arrangements.
Third, as far as I know, Chesterfield County still isn’t paying for GRTC services although they are heavily served. I’m not really sure what the politics are around that (although I am sure someone here will fill me in)…but it seems that if they carried their own weight then we could bear a few underperforming lines, and all of the people could be served instead of just some of them.
I think that you have it backwards. Chesterfield is one of the joint owners of GRTC (along with Richmond), but very few routes actually run into the county (other than a handful of express routes).
Hey katzenjaammer, January 31, 2010 is not a year away.
I’m glad to see that they’re getting rid of the stop near our house. I’ve never seen a single person waiting for it. However, the audible announcement can clearly be heard inside my house at 6:30 am. I’ve contacted GRTC several times about the announcements but they never responded.
crap, i had a type-o… i meant it was the No. 13 bus that was unreliable. i’ve never taken the No.1.
sorry!
bummer… that one takes you right to carytown!
Now if they could just cut the 1 & 2 along with the 13, we would be good to go. I wouldn’t have to deal with buses going 55 miles an hour straight through a stop sign without even hesitating or contemplating stopping. You think I am exaggerating, sit at 23rd and Marshall street in the early AM for 15 minutes and you will see for yourself. The bus drivers for GRTC are absolutely despicable.
Michael #9, I lived for a short while on that block of Marshall Street, and I agree with you, they blow thru the stop sign and are probably going anywhere from 40-55 miles per hour as they do so. I think if I still lived there, I’d try calling the president of GRTC and complaining.
Why are u cutting out the buses out ? And what buses are u cutting out ?
You can see the list of the 6 routes that are being cut here.
They are cutting the routes that are described as “historically underperforming”, eg not enough riders to be worth running the busses.
Yeah I first heard it was Dec 2010…I now realize it’s the end of this month. Thanks for pointing that out!
Just some general inform,ation; the city subsidizes GRTC to the tune of $12 million a year; VCU and UR provide some subsidies, as do the counties. GRTC has been trying for a year to find some way to close the shortfall. Ironically, when the company tried to raise fees slightly in 2005 Wilder blockled the attempt. If the company had that revenue, the dropping of lines might have been unnecessary. If bus drivers are running red lights/stop signs, get the bus number and report to John Lewis or Larry Hagin at GRTC. If you can get video, even cell phonme, that would help as well. The management does not need another multi-million dollar settlement of a lawsuit.