Free GRTC bus service being eyed
Jeremy M. Lazarus | 2/14/2020, 6 a.m.
Free rides on GRTC buses?
That idea has begun to percolate as a proposal by Richmond Delegate Delores L. McQuinn to create a regional transportation authority to provide new funding for roads and public transit moves through the General Assembly.
To include Richmond and eight other localities in the region, the new authority is projected to receive about $166 million a year from a small increase in the sales tax and a hike in the tax on wholesale fuel sold to gas stations and other outlets.
Of that, 85 percent would be earmarked for local and regional road projects, includ- ing street paving in the city.
However, at least 15 percent of the new money, or about $25 million, would go to GRTC to pay for new routes and possible expansion of the Pulse bus system. Nothing would stop GRTC from using a portion of the money to sharply reduce or eliminate the estimated $8.5 million a year in fares paid by passengers.
Other cities are weighing the prospect. Some already have acted.
At least 40 U.S. cities have rolled back or eliminated fares, according to the website freepublictransport.info, which tracks such information worldwide.
Kansas City, Mo., though, is the only large U.S. city to vote to do so. It passed their City Council in December, with expectations that fare-free service launches July 1.
The idea of using some of the new funds to slash fares or provide fare-free service in Richmond is “deserving of consideration,” said the Rev. Benjamin P. Campbell, chair of the six-member GRTC board and one of the board’s three city representatives. Rev. Campbell said that any such consideration would hinge on whether Richmond and Henrico County maintain their current level of subsidies for GRTC in future budgets.
He said that Delegate McQuinn’s bill, which passed the House of Delegates with a large, bipartisan majority and appears to be on track to secure state Senate support, contains language that would allow Richmond and Henrico to cut their contributions to GRTC by 50 percent.
Richmond currently provides about $15.1 million a year to support GRTC, and Henrico provides about $9.2 million a year, according to the bus company’s annual report.
Rev. Campbell said GRTC is conservatively projecting to receive about $12 million a year in new money from the authority based on the potential rollback in local support.
If both Richmond and Henrico commit to fully funding GRTC rather than cutting back their current support, Rev. Campbell said that could open the door to discus- sions about reducing or eliminating fares for some or all riders.
The first signal of Richmond’s intent could come early in March when Mayor Levar M. Stoney presents his proposed 2020-21 budget, which would be impacted by any new funds.
The Free Press has been advised that some talks have begun with elected officials in Richmond about the implications of the new funding on the GRTC fare structure.
Meanwhile, the city and its partners in the proposed regional transportation authority already are making plans to use the new dollars. The other localities that would be included are Charles City, Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent and Powhatan counties and the town of Ashland — all members of Planning District 15.
For the city, the new funding offers a prospect of extra revenue for long-neglected street work. This year, the mayor proposed and City Council approved spending about $15 million on street paving, the largest amount in years, plus $1.2 million for sidewalk improvements.
However, a city audit and city Director of Public Works Bobby Vincent have indicated that is just a drop in the bucket compared with the actual need, which is reflected in the more than 34,000 potholes that were filled in 2019.
According to Mr. Vincent, Richmond would need to spend at least $110 million to resurface all of its streets and more than $200 million to undertake the rebuilding that many of the aging streets actually need.
The prospects of maintaining just a $15 million repaving pace appeared bleak until this new funding source came along, the Free Press has been told. According to the current 2019-20 budget, DPW was in line to receive only about $5 million a year in each of the next four years for repaving work.
However, with the authority, Richmond is projected to gain a stream of revenue that could ensure the city could put $15 million a year into such work and enable DPW to at least resurface all of the city’s streets in a six- to 10-year time frame.
GRTC proposes route changes
Regular bus service would be restored to the Providence Park community in North Side and between the University of Richmond and Virginia Common- wealth University.
Those are among small, but key changes GRTC is preparing to make to public bus service in May as a result of customer requests, the company has announced.
The changes include having the Highland Park buses (Routes 2A/B/C) turn east off North Avenue onto East Ladies Mile Road to make pickups at a restored stop at Hazelhurst Avenue before returning to North Avenue, according to GRTC spokeswoman Cary Rose Pace.
That jog into Providence Park was eliminated in 2018 when the Pulse and revamped regular bus routes were introduced, she said.
GRTC also plans to merge Route 75 Three Chopt, which now provides limited service between the UR campus and the Pulse stop at Willow Lawn, with Route 77 Grove, she said.
The result would be to reinstate the connection between UR, the West End, The Fan and VCU’s Monroe Park campus that was eliminated in 2018 as well, she said.
Another change would involve extending the Route 50 Broad Street to 3rd Street in Downtown, Ms. Pace noted. The route now stops at the state Department of Motor Vehicles’ headquarters in the 2300 block of West Broad Street.
Also, the two Patterson routes, Routes 76 city and 79 Henrico, would be realigned to make Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital an official stop for each, Ms. Pace said.
