Greater Richmond Announces Microtransit Program

The three-year program will expand transit to rural and suburban areas that currently lack access to the region’s fixed-route bus lines.

2 minute read

April 3, 2023, 6:00 AM PDT

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


Green and blue GRTC Pulse bus in Richmond, Virginia

Quidster4040 / GRTC bus

A three-year microtransit pilot program run by the Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC) is coming to six localities in the greater Richmond, Virginia area, reports Wyatt Gordon in Greater Greater Washington.

The program aims to “close mobility gaps in rural and suburban parts of the region via an on-demand system that will allow people to book rides in real time and get picked up and dropped off in designated areas.” 

The need is real: “Of the 2,165 square miles which comprise the Greater Richmond region, GRTC’s fixed-route bus service currently only covers 9% of that area, leaving the vast majority of Central Virginia’s more than one million residents with no other options to get around besides owning a private vehicle,” Gordon explains.

The pilot will also give officials insight into transit demand in previously underserved areas. “Such service is an easy way to test demand in areas whose demographics and land use patterns are conducive to transit but don’t yet enjoy any public transportation.”

Details about the type of vehicles to be used in the fleet, fares, and other program elements are yet to be decided. The program is funded in part by a grant from the Department of Rail and Public Transportation’s Transit Riders Incentive Program.

Transit agencies around the country are exploring microtransit and on-demand transit as cost-effective options for expanding or maintaining transit service as commuting patterns and transit demand change and fare revenues remain below pre-pandemic levels.

Tuesday, March 28, 2023 in Greater Greater Washington

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Use Code 25for25 at checkout for 25% off an annual plan!

Redlining map of Oakland and Berkeley.

Rethinking Redlining

For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

May 15, 2025 - Alan Mallach

Interior of Place Versailles mall in Montreal, Canada.

Montreal Mall to Become 6,000 Housing Units

Place Versailles will be transformed into a mixed-use complex over the next 25 years.

May 22, 2025 - CBC

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

May 21, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Flat modern glass office tower with "County of Santa Clara" sign.

Santa Clara County Dedicates Over $28M to Affordable Housing

The county is funding over 600 new affordable housing units via revenue from a 2016 bond measure.

May 23 - San Francisco Chronicle

Aerial view of dense urban center with lines indicating smart city concept.

Why a Failed ‘Smart City’ Is Still Relevant

A Google-backed proposal to turn an underused section of Toronto waterfront into a tech hub holds relevant lessons about privacy and data.

May 23 - Governing

Pale yellow Sears kit house with red tile roof in Sylva, North Carolina.

When Sears Pioneered Modular Housing

Kit homes sold in catalogs like Sears and Montgomery Ward made homeownership affordable for midcentury Americans.

May 23 - The Daily Yonder