If you make driving difficult…people take public transit! DC Metro set a one-day ridership record- as of 7 pm, more than 973,000 people had ridden the metro- breaking the previous record of 887,000. Those are some serious numbers, and without the last 5 hours of the day counted!
It wasn’t just the popularity of our current president creating this bump in transit-use. From a Times-Dispatch article:
One of the contributing factors in the heavy ridership was a decision by federal authorities to close all bridges from northern Virginia into Washington, limiting vehicle access to the city.
I’m trying to figure out how this lesson applies to Richmond. So far, I’ve got nothing.
Urban Richmond~ 
January 21, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Well, we could just close all the bridges and see what happens.
January 22, 2009 at 9:32 am
I agree, if Richmond were to make driving more difficult and the city more transit friendly then I believe Richmonder’s would be more enticed to use public transit to get around.
Just the other night a friend of mine was commenting on how odd she found it that at the Richmond bus stops they do not post the schedules of the buses for that stop. She said that in most if not all large cities you can find the schedule listed at the bus stop. I agree with her. If I wanted to take the bus tomorrow to work, and I didn’t have a chance to check the schedule online I wouldn’t have a clue what bus would come to the stop closest to me and I wouldn’t know where it would take me.
I would love to incorporate the public transit into my daily life and cut down on wear and tear on my own car, but it right now it doesn’t seem like Richmond really wants us “drivers” to change.
January 23, 2009 at 1:16 pm
I’ve always been a big transit advocate, but it really is almost impossible to get anywhere efficiently on GRTC. I mean, WMATA is successful not because it was able to accommodate all those people who came to DC for Obama Day, but because it’s a very practical system, useful for daily commuting and tourist activities, and also pretty sturdy and reliable, compared to many systems in other cities of similar size (I’m looking at you, MARTA). Meanwhile, Richmond has more expressways than people, and we’re still building more, presumably so exurbanites can zip to Powhatan County in less than 25 minutes, which we all admit is a truly noble goal. I mean, come on. Even Norfolk is building a light rail. I agree with Elle that there’s an entrenched culture in central VA that is very pro-car, pro-exurb, and anti-urban. Which is a shame, given our history.
January 23, 2009 at 1:23 pm
I’ve always been a big transit advocate, but unless you’re going straight from Willow Lawn to downtown, it really is almost impossible to get anywhere efficiently on GRTC. Forget transfers. Forget out-of-the-way neighborhoods. Forget odd hours. I mean, WMATA is successful not because it was able to accommodate all those people who came to DC for Obama Day, but because it’s a very practical system, useful for daily commuting and tourist activities, and it’s also pretty sturdy and reliable, compared to many systems in other cities of similar size (I’m looking at you, MARTA). Meanwhile, Richmond has more expressways than people, and we’re still building more, presumably so exurbanites can zip to Powhatan County in less than 25 minutes, which we all admit is a truly noble goal. I mean, come on. Even Norfolk is building a light rail. I agree with Elle that there’s an entrenched culture in central VA that is very pro-car, pro-exurb, and anti-urban. Even in the city itself, which is a shame, given our history. I don’t know how to change that, although I suspect the right kind of city leadership would help.
December 6, 2010 at 6:44 pm
I’ve taken the bus before just to see how the Richmond bus system is – it seemed nice once you hop on. It was just a little bit of an ordeal figuring out what bus will take me where, and when. I had to plan my whole day beforehand and write it down since like Elle said there are no schedules posted at the stops.
Honestly I think a bigger obstacle at least here in Richmond is the stigma that public transit is for people who have to use it – that it’s too confusing, uncomfortable, and inconvenient for everyone else. It’s mostly nonsense, but it still keeps people from using it.