GRTC route structure plan favors ridership over coverage

RICHMOND, Va. — The city of Richmond and its consultants will push a model that favors high ridership over high coverage as it reconfigures Greater Richmond Transit Co. (GRTC) bus routes to incorporate the new Pulse bus rapid-transit system expected to start running next year and update a route network that hasn’t changed in decades, reported the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

This summer, three options presented for a new route network included: a “familiar model” that splits GRTC Transit System’s nearly $12.3 million in Richmond spending evenly between providing coverage for neighborhoods and boosting ridership; a scenario that increases service along densely populated corridors to maximize ridership; and a coverage approach that reduces service along most lines in order to offer closer access to bus lines in most neighborhoods, the report said.

According to the presentation to the council, about 3,000 riders and members of the public polled in on-board and online surveys and at public meetings largely favor less waiting and greater stop spacing, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

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