VCU, GRTC reaches multiyear agreement to provide transit to students, employees

Virginia Commonwealth University signed a three-year paid agreement with the GRTC Transit System to fund unlimited transportation access on Pulse bus rapid transit, local, and express routes for all VCU, VCU Health System, and Virginia Premier students and employees, beginning in August.

In a recent VCU survey, 95.4% of students and employees expressed support for a continuation of the existing transportation agreement VCU and GRTC have been piloting since August 2018. Since January, VCU community members have accounted for approximately 12% of GRTC’s total ridership, averaging 87,400 trips a month. GRTC ridership has increased 17% during the past year amid a national trend of declining transit ridership.

Under the new agreement, VCU will pay GRTC $1.42 million for services in the first year, $1.57 million for the second year, and $1.65 million for the third year to cover the cost of ridership for students and employees on local routes and the Pulse and to maintain 10-minute headways for the Pulse. Express fares will continue to be billed separately based on VCU ridership data provided by GRTC. Students and employees of VCU and VCU Health System, including Virginia Premier, will not incur costs to ride.

In an effort to eliminate redundant services and contribute to the cost of the new partnership, VCU will eliminate its Campus Connector transportation service, effective July 1. To travel between the campuses, students and employees can use GRTC’s Pulse, which serves a 7.6-mile route along Broad Street, as well as Route 5, among other routes.

As part of the new GRTC-VCU agreement, the Pulse will maintain 10-minute headways during weekday hours. Route 5 headways will remain at 15 minutes. In addition, to promote more efficient intra-campus travel, GRTC will relocate some stops.