Article sourced from Nathaniel Cline, Virginia Mercury, from March 25, 2024
The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) is conducting a study to assess the feasibility of expanding Virginia Breeze bus service east-west between the Shenandoah Valley and Hampton Roads. The Virginia Breeze bus service, established in 2017, currently provides four north-south connections in the Commonwealth:
- Valley Flyer: Blacksburg to Washington, D.C. via I-81 and I-66
- Highlands Rhythm: Bristol to Washington, D.C. via I-81 and I-66
- Piedmont Express: Danville to Washington, D.C. via U.S. 29
- Capitol Connector: Martinsville to Richmond and Washington, D.C.
DRPT sought public input on a fifth east-west route to determine if there is a need for the service. An announcement about the new bus travel option is expected in May pending approval by the Commonwealth Transportation Board, which will pick one of two possible route plans and give an annual investment of at least $500,000 to fund the effort.
While the bus service expansion will run from Harrisonburg to Virginia Beach, the board will decide between two route plans that will each generate at least 16,000 riders a year and require an annual half-million dollar investment from the commonwealth.
The Alternative 1 route plan calls for stops at Richmond International Airport and in Newport News, Williamsburg and New Kent, while Alternative 2 includes stops in Suffolk, Petersburg and Richmond’s Staples Mills area, a transportation hub which is also home to Amtrak’s most-used train station in the Southeast.
Alternative 1 is estimated to generate 18,250 riders per year and will need $506,010 in annual operating costs. Alternative 2, the longer route of both options, is estimated to generate 16,060 riders yearly and require $572,701 in state funds each year. The proposed east-west route only connects to existing connection points in Richmond, making the plan ineligible for matching federal funds because it does not connect to cities required by the Federal Transit Administration’s program, such as New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
Read more from the entire Virginia Mercury article.