GRTC plans service changes impacting Henrico bus routes

Four GRTC bus routes that serve thousands of riders in Henrico likely will be reduced in frequency starting Feb 22.

The changes primarily target nights and weekend trips and are being necessitated as the result of a driver shortage. The GRTC Board of Directors still must approve them (and could make minor adjustments) during its Feb. 10 meeting.

The scheduled changes were to be discussed at the January GRTC board meeting, which was abruptly cancelled before it started because the organizers neglected to announce the event three working days before the event. It was rescheduled to next week.

The temporary scheduling changes already had been through the GRTC board’s finance and development committee and are proposed to be implemented in three weeks as follows:

• Routes 7A and 7B (Nine Mile/Airport) will change to run every 60 minutes after 7 p.m. Ten trips will be cut per route. GRTC’s most recent performance dashboard data from November showed those two routes had a combined average 3,041 people boarding daily during weekdays, 1,822 average daily boardings on Saturdays in November and 1,570 average daily boardings on Sundays in November. The routes have an average of 12 passengers per trip after 7 p.m. and just 5 after 11 p.m.

• Route 19 (West Broad Street) will be reduced on Saturdays to run every 30 minutes before 7 p.m. and every 60 minutes afterwards. Sunday trips will be reduced to every 60 minutes all day. GRTC’s most recent performance dashboard data from November showed the route had an average of 2,099 people boarding daily during weekdays, 1,769 average daily boardings on Saturdays in November and 1,149 average daily boardings on Sundays in November.

• Route 76 (Patterson) will no longer have weekend service during this change due to low utilization (an average of just 2 passengers per trip, according to GRTC data). GRTC’s most recent performance dashboard showed the 76 route had an average of 129 people boarding daily during weekdays and 48 daily boardings on Sundays in November (no data that month was available for Saturdays).

• Route 79 (Patterson/ Parham) will be reduced to peak periods only (6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.) because of an average utilization of 7 passengers per trip during off-peak hours. GRTC’s most recent performance dashboard showed the 79 route had an average of 79 people boarding daily during weekdays.

The other GRTC bus routes with planned changes in their schedule are:

• Route 1 along Chamberlayne/Hull/Southside Plaza;

• Route 1A along Chamberlayne/Hull/Midlothian;

• Route 5 along Cary/Main/Whitcomb;

• Route 12 to Church Hill;

• Route 14 to Hermitage/East Main;

• Route 20 Orbital;

• Route 87 to Bellemeade/Hopkins.

GRTC addressing operator shortages

In the planned January GRTC board presentation, the service update changes (scheduled to have been presented by GRTC CEO Sheryl Adams) were listed as necessary because of an operator shortages.

Adams said the scheduling changes are temporary as part of an ongoing examination of routes by the GRTC board, which analyzes them at least four times a year.

GRTC staffers came to the decision to change the bus schedules after looking at routes quarterly based on ridership and then examining at how they could readjust the schedules based on that.

“These service updates are just conclusion from what planning has already put together,” said GRTC spokesperson Ashley Potter, after the January GRTC board meeting was canceled. “Planning looks at a whole host of things including ridership information. And then once that's all decided, it has to go through a bunch of different stages to say, ’Hey, this is okay for our bus operators.’ The bus operators then will bid on what [routes and shifts] they want.

”Service adjustments need to be adopted by the board before they go into effect. The new booking is scheduled for Feb. 22. As we do with each quarter/booking change, we have a rider outreach plan.”

GRTC was planning to begin reaching out to riders to make sure they're aware of the temporary changes, Potter said at the time.

“Right now, we're working on increasing our operator amount to match the service we want to put out there for budget purposes,” Potter said.

GRTC currently employs 310 drivers and needs 15 more. A current class of drivers-in-training will graduate soon to help address that gap, and another training class of about 10 new drivers started Jan. 26. A third class begins this month.

Those applying for driver roles with the GRTC must have commercial driver's license or at least a CDL Class B permit.

Potter said the scheduling changes was meant to lower riders’ expectations during the driver shortage and it also, “reduces day-of cancellations.”

“It’s unfortunate to make the routes longer than it has to be,” Kwesi Powell, a regular GRTC Route 7A and 7B and 19 rider, told the Citizen.

Powell has relied on the 7A and 7B routes to get to a job at the airport and Route 19 for transportation to crucial shopping sites. While he said the zero fare is very convenient, Powell expressed disappointment with another service issue: the cleanliness of buses. He felt that with fewer buses running, the conditions should be improved.

Adams said the schedule change will run through May.

“But as we staff up, we will put some of the service back as is,” Adams said, echoing a statement in the GRTC board materials that indicated additional trips will be added as more operators are added.

An email from GRTC disseminated Jan. 29 detailing the proposed February service changes said they would improve reliability and that the GRTC board would review them next week.

“The Board will vote [on the proposed bus scheduling changes] on Feb. 10. We wanted to start communicating the changes and that it is subject to adjustments when the Board votes,” Potter wrote to the Citizen in an email.

The most up-to-date information on GRTC bus schedules and alerts regarding changes are available at ridegrtc.com and through official GRTC channels.

Are you a Henrico County GRTC bus rider impacted by a scheduling change? Email your transportation story to Henrico Citizen Community Vitality Reporter dina@henricocitizen.com

Dina Weinstein is the Citizen’s community vitality reporter and a Report for America corps member, covering housing, health and transportation. Support her work and articles like this one by making a contribution to the Citizen.