Transit Agency Pilots Fare-Free On-Demand Service, Richmond, VA 2021

The Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC Transit System) has announced that it will provide customers with a limited point-to-point microtransit service up until spring 2022. Through this service, customers can call a hotline or use the Uber app to request rides in real time to and from any of GRTCs’ bus stops. Rides on this service are only available from 5 AM to 6 AM and 11 PM to 2 AM during the work week. Customers are only allowed to ride on this service once per day. Rides are fare-free through GRTC’s Zero Fare program extension and can take place on an Uber vehicle, a UZURV paratransit vehicle, or a GRTC small vehicle.

GRTC is piloting this service in response to operator labor shortages that many transit agencies are experiencing nationwide. The agency has modified its bus schedules and is giving its customers the opportunity to use this on-demand service only in non-peak times. GRTC plans on implementing this pilot in phases throughout the winter season and expresses that they might opt to discontinue the service before spring 2022 depending on program demand, funding resources, and performance measures.

Last updated January 3, 2022