RECENT COMMENTS
Richmond ranks 92nd in public transportation coverage and access to employment
Tina Griego’s Sunday Story this past week is a look at the disconnect in Richmond’s public transportation coverage and access to employment:
It cited a Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program study of the mismatch between jobs and transit in the top 100 metropolitan areas. That study found that in 2010 only 31 percent of working-age residents in the Richmond metro region lived in a neighborhood within three-quarters of a mile of a mass transit stop. (The top 100 metro average was 69 percent.) The same study looked at the share of jobs a resident can reach by public transit within a 90-minute ride. In the Richmond region, that share is 27 percent, which hewed closer to the Top 100 metro average of 30 percent. Take these two measures together and Richmond ranks 92nd out of 100 in public transportation coverage and access to employment.
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From the routes map above, it looks like our area is at least well served by transit stops, though there been complaints that last year’s move to a new transfer station on 9th Street has unfairly impacted East End riders. The transfer station cut most east-to-west routes in half to increase on-time arrivals; passengers who used to take one bus through town now have to make a disembark on 9th, wait to transfer, and pay a 25-cent transfer fee. “It takes over an hour to get anywhere: doctor’s office, Carytown, etc.”, says one neighborhood bus rider.
Too bad there wasn’t a plan to develop a significant parcel vacant land right on the bus route with…oh I don’t know…say a hotel, grocery store, entertainment venue and residences so there were more jobs right in the location they’re needed most.
I think one key point of the article hit the nail on the head, the bus routes stop at the county line. All things considered GRTC has pretty good coverage within the city, but in Chesterfield and Henrico counties it is almost non-existent. This isn’t likely to change unless attitudes about transit in the countys change. Most of the surrounding area is also pretty sprawling compared to the city, making transit less effective in those areas. The transfer center is also an issue that makes using GRTC across town unattractive to anyone that has an alternative.
Sometime in the 1990s, the General Assembly wanted to give Chesterfield County several million bucks to expand GRTC out into the county. Chesterfield flat refused the money, and one of their supervisors was quoted as saying something to the effect of, if the hotels and motels want their staff to ride a bus, then they can send a bus for them but the county wanted nothing to do with it. How’s that for attitude?!
Gosh, 92nd place seems high to me.
I don’t often post but I was reminded of the importance of face to face communication today. There is a Community Conversation about transportation tomorrow at the Valentine. I agree – this is an important issue for our neighborhood and our city.
http://www.thevalentine.org/calendar/re-rva-community-conversations