Kudos to the Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC) for thinking entrepreneurially. The GRTC has identified an unmet market niche: Richmonders who commute to Northern Virginia. The public transit system is soliciting bids from private bus companies to run express buses from Richmond-area Park ‘n’ Rides to the Virginia Railway Express station in Fredericksburg, where the riders would take the VRE to complete their trips.
VRE estimates that 100 regular riders who board the VRE in Fredericksburg come from the Richmond region. Some ride in van pools, others drive by themselves. CEO John Lewis Jr. told the Richmond Times Dispatch that he thought express buses could attract as many as 130 riders. Bids from the private bus companies will determine if the service can be operated with passengers picking up the entire cost.
Two points to be made:
First, that’s exactly the kind of thinking we need from our public transit companies — and from private bus operators as well. (Question: Why haven’t private bus operators spotted spot this opportunity already? If they did, what prevented them from acting on it?)
Second, as traffic congestion gets worse, more long-range commuters will find it worthwhile to shift to shared-vehicle transportation. Economics 101. Traffic and congestion will not increase in a straight-line projection, as the Virginia Department of Transportation assumes in its long-range traffic and budget forecasts.
