GRTC releases details about new microtransit service in Henrico

New microtransit service – akin to rideshare services like Uber and Lyft – is coming to portions of Eastern and Northern Henrico County, thanks to a $6.7 million initiative from the Greater Richmond Transit Company.

The service will start in the fall and will provide an on-demand system for travelers to book rides in real time and be picked up and dropped off in designated areas.

In Henrico, those areas include the region around Brook Road, Azalea Avenue and the Richmond Raceway (which would provide connections to reconfigured GRTC Route 1, and routes 2A, 2B, 2C, 14 and 91) and the Sandston-Elko zone (providing connections GRTC routes 7A and 7B).

Three other micro transit zones (in Powhatan, north Chesterfield West and Ashland) also are part of the new program, which has received just more than $4 million from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation’s Transit Ridership Incentive Program (money that will fund the Henrico, Chesterfield, and New Kent routes; other sources will fund the Powhatan and Ashland routes).

The program is designed to connect riders to existing high-frequency fixed routes offered by GRTC.

The Richmond region covers 2,165 square miles and is home to over one million people. However, GRTC’s fixed-route service area only covers 9% of that area, leaving much of the region without access to transit. Much of this unserved area is composed of suburban and rural districts, where traditional fixed-route transit service would be inefficient to operate.

“These parts of our region need more mobility options,” said GRTC Chief Development Officer Adrienne Torres. “They are home to families sharing a single car, retirees wanting to age in place, and others that don’t have the option to make all their trips by single occupancy vehicle and need an alternative means of transportation.”

The five microtransit zones are designed to maximize opportunities to connect to major regional employers, medical facilities, and government and community services for residents across the region that have limited or nonexistent transit options. They will provide transit service and regional connections to major employers such as Amazon and Randolph-Macon College; government services such as a Social Security office and Powhatan County courthouse; large shopping centers such as Brookhill Azalea Shopping Center and Ashland Hanover Shopping Center; and healthcare facilities such as VCU Health Emergency Center.

Torres said the program also should reduce traffic congestion.

“Since microtransit service is anticipated to be used by citizens with limited vehicle access who may have had to rely on others to help make their daily trips, it should provide an overall reduction in single occupancy vehicle trips in the region as it replaces these trips with shared rides,” Torres said.

The program will replace a peak-only fixed-route bus line with all day microtransit service. Where zones are contiguous to the GRTC service area, microtransit will provide connections to GRTC stops, giving patrons access to the wider Richmond-area transit network.

GRTC received TRIP funding in fiscal year 2022 to continue offering free fares and its local bus ridership has exceed pre-pandemic levels. It expects systemwide ridership to recover to 2019 levels by 2023 and grow by 2% per year each year through 2027.