Greater Richmond Transit Company

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Slogan It's So Easy!
Founded 1973
Headquarters 301 East Belt Blvd.
Locale Richmond, Virginia
Service type bus service, paratransit
Routes 26 local routes
12 express routes
Fleet 231 buses & vans
Operator First Transit
Web site GRTC Transit System

The Greater Richmond Transit Company, known locally as GRTC, is a local government-owned public service company which operates an urban-suburban bus line based in Richmond, Virginia, USA.

GRTC primarily serves the independent city of Richmond and a very small portion of the adjacent counties of Henrico and Chesterfield with a fleet of over 200 diesel-powered transit buses operating approximately 70 routes.

GRTC uses government-funded equipment and resources principally provided by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (VDRPT), and local funds. It also maintains equipment and has other affiliations with Petersburg Area Transit, a similar agency which also serves a portion of Chesterfield County.

Contents

[edit] Ownership and management

As a public service company, GRTC is owned equally by the City of Richmond and neighboring Chesterfield County. Henrico County and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) currently purchase services from it, but hold no ownership interest.

GRTC itself has no employees, and it has always been managed, staffed, and operated by a private transit management company, as was its predecessor, Virginia Transit Company (VTC).

[edit] Ownership history

In 1944, the Richmond transit bus system (and a similar one in Norfolk) was purchased by VTC, which became part of the United Transit Company the next year. In 1962, American Transportation Enterprises Inc. (ATE) acquired a controlling interest in United Transit Company. After World War II, public transit systems in the United States became unprofitable, and most were eventually converted to government-owned and funded operations. This trend included Virginia Transit Company operations in Richmond and Norfolk.

In 1972, federal, state and local funds were used to purchase the assets of the Virginia Transit Company, and a new public service company was set up, GRTC, which was wholly owned by the City of Richmond. A one-half interest was later purchased by Chesterfield County in the late 1980s. Henrico County declined to purchase a portion at that time.

[edit] Management history

After GRTC was formed, ATE, through a subsidiary, continued to provide management and employees, an ongoing relationship of over 60 years in the community, as ATE as of April 2008, continued to hold a controlling interest in GRTC Transit Services, Inc., the operating company. [1]. ATE itself was acquired by First Transit, the largest bus operating company in North America, a division of FirstGroup plc, a Scottish company. First Transit also owns Laidlaw Transit, the contractor which has operated GRTC's paratransit services since the late 1980s.

For more details on this topic, see FirstGroup plc.

[edit] Routes

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[edit] Color-coded routes, Express buses, and Park-and-Ride buses

There are five color routes that serve various neighborhoods of Richmond.

To complement Color-coded routes, Express buses run from downtown to various points with few or no stops. Express buses are as follows:

Park-and-ride buses have parking lots for commuters. GRTC Park-and-Ride Service is provided for the following routes:

  • Parham Road - 23, 26
  • Glenside Avenue - 23, 27
  • White Oaks Village - 28
  • Gaskins Road - 29

Finally, five GRTC routes serve the Virginia Commonwealth University These are: 83-89 and 99.

Most routes converge on downtown Richmond near Richmond City Hall and the VCU Medical Campus on Broad Street with the exception of routes 18, 91 and 93. Although Chesterfield County is a part owner of GRTC and the county is largely urbanized, there is no public transportation in Chesterfield aside from the Brandermill express run and the two routes (Midlothian Turnpike and Jefferson Davis Highway) that travel roughly half a mile over the city line and then turn back into the city of Richmond. Service in Henrico County is also very limited, with very little bus service in the northern part of the county, and none in the Varina area or Short Pump.

The GRTC bus garage, originally a streetcar facility, is located in the City at Robinson and Cary Streets. Petersburg Area Transit buses are also frequently serviced at this location. In 2007, a new facility was being developed near the intersection of Belt Boulevard and Midlothian Turnpike in South Richmond.

[edit] Numerical list of routes

A complete list of routes is as follows:

[edit] Paratransit service

GRTC's paratransit service in Richmond and Henrico County is provided by the CARE service, which is operated under contract by Laidlaw Transit, Inc.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Greater_Richmond_Transit_Company&oldid=470159020"
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