Chesterfield County, to Richmond’s south, is planning to launch its second-ever local bus route

Six years ago the list of destinations inaccessible by public transportation in Central Virginia was longer than the Greater Richmond Transit Company’s (GRTC) catalog of its nearly 1,600 stops. The airport, all but one of the area’s community colleges, the region’s busiest train station, 90% of jobs, and most major shopping centers were all unreachable by bus (and by design). Such segregation and disinvestment reached its nadir when in 2016 GRTC was ranked the 8th worst public transit system in the nation.

In recent years, however, Richmond has made progress toward dismantling that legacy of segregation by investing in public transit. The simultaneous rollout of all new routes, designed by Jarrett Walker’s firm, Walker + Associates, and the Pulse bus rapid transit (BRT) line in 2018 flipped the script on six decades of disinvestment. With the Central Virginia Transportation Authority now providing GRTC with dedicated dollars for the first time in its history, the entire region — even suburban counties once hostile to transit — is beginning to rethink the role public transit can play in spurring economic growth, housing development, and job access.

Chesterfield County

In 1988, Chesterfield County, to Richmond’s south, bought half of GRTC in order to have a veto on any potential bus routes into its territory. Thirty-four years later the county is planning a modernized second local bus route following the success of the Route 111 to Brightpoint Community College which exceeded expected ridership numbers despite launching the same week society shut down due to the pandemic. With the backing of businesses hoping to expand their potential pool of employees, Chesterfield is conducting a transit viability study for Route 60 to Chesterfield Towne Center.

Should the county receive a Department of Rail and Public Transit demonstration grant for this planned expansion, service down Midlothian Turnpike to Walmart Way could be up and running as soon as Fall 2023. Although Facebook comments on the county’s survey announcement revealed many of the most heinous narratives about folks who ride the bus are still alive and well in Chesterfield, the county’s leadership is sold on the value public transit can bring to one of the region’s busiest corridors.

“The county is working to make transit expansion a priority because we know the importance of bus service to portions of Chesterfield,” said J. Elias O’Neal, a public information officer with the county. “Route 60 rose to the top because of good residential density in close proximity to the roadway and lots of great destinations from retail and healthcare to education. It’s a good combination to support transit.”

The trial Route 111 to Chester proved so popular that the additional 7.6 miles of service were recently incorporated into GRTC’s Route 3, meaning riders can now travel from Highland Park all the way to Brightpoint without having to transfer. County officials hope to even extend service one mile further south to the Greenleigh mobile home park by the end of next year. An impasse with the park owner and the county’s reluctance to use eminent domain to acquire land for a bus turnaround mean that expansion will have to wait until the Better Housing Coalition has built a new 144 affordable apartment complex across the street that will include public roads for the bus.

With GRTC soon set to launch an official alignment study for a Pulse bus rapid transit route that could extend from Henrico in the north to Chesterfield in the south, the main hurdle to extending such top notch transit into Richmond’s surrounding counties is the lack of density. The 2018 Jeff Davis Special Area Plan was Chesterfield’s first foray into allowing denser housing and retail in a county that prides itself on its suburban nature. County officials hope a once-in-a-half-century zoning ordinance modernization will make it easier for developers to build more densely without the extra permits and waivers currently required.

“There are a lot of underused properties along our major corridors including abandoned warehouses and neglected retail that could be repurposed for housing and new retail,” explained Barbra Smith, program manager for Chesterfield’s transportation department. “Our old development plans from the 1980s included copious parking which folks don’t really want anymore.”