Bikes, Buses, and Trains... Oh My!

When I saw that Valentine Richmond was holding a community talk in the Richmond Railroad Museum I was immediately interested. The museum is in the restored Hull Street Station which once serviced the Southern Railway, and the topic fit the historic location perfectly: "Where are we going? Changes in transportation."

The panel of speakers covered the gamut of non-car-related transportation: Jennifer DeBruhl (Director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT)), Faith Walker (Executive Director, RVA Rapid Transit), and Phil Riggan (Transportation Director, PlanRVA). Each of these speakers could have filled their own hour; unfortunately they had to condense their thoughts into roughly fifteen minutes each.

The brief overview of transit trends in Richmond began with canal boats, and was followed with railroads, streetcars, and buses. It's unfortunate that this city had such a strong history of public transit options, only to reject them so quickly when automobiles came on the scene. I mean, Richmond had the first functional streetcar system in the world and then literally burned the last streetcars when buses began to take over. Now everyone wishes we had streetcars instead of buses.

Each of the speakers gave an overview of the programs that they work on (trains, buses, and bike/pedestrian infrastructure), and each was optimistic about the future. This is positive considering how much regional fighting has happened over the last few decades. The influx of COVID-era funding has certainly helped to boost a number of projects. High speed rail is beginning to seem like a reality, and the Fall Line (a planned bicycle and pedestrian trail) is partially funded. Probably the least optimistic part of the evening was learning that the local bus service is lacking roughly 60 drivers. Expansion isn't possible until the current routes are fully staffed.

Why do transportation issues interest me? Well, for one thing transportation is a huge factor in public health. Reliable methods of getting to work, grocery stores, and jobs can have an outsized impact of an individual's health outcomes. When communities are lacking proper access to public transit it can cause massive disparities in other aspects of their life.

Secondly, I have an interest in small towns. Believe it or not, transportation issues are not limited to major metropolitan areas! After this talk I am more conscious of the fact that communities should spend more time thinking further into the future. If a small town is projected to have a population increase of 10% over the next decade, they should be thinking about where those people will live, what impact they will have on the existing population, and how they plan to ensure everyone has adequate access to transportation options. The next time Stephen and I visit a small town for the podcast I will definitely be looking around for signs that they did not completely abandon their transportation roots in favor of automobile-induced-sprawl.