VA: Chesapeake backs effort to expand HRT’s on-demand rideshare program

Leaders this week voted to support a grant application that, if awarded, would help the city establish an on-demand transit rideshare system currently being piloted in two Hampton Roads cities.

Chesapeake City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to support Hampton Roads Transit’s application for a state grant that would help establish what’s been dubbed a “microtransit” zone in Chesapeake in an effort to expand access to fixed bus routes for longer distance trips across the region.

Chesapeake’s microtransit zone would be similar to an on-demand rideshare system already available in Virginia Beach and Newport News. Called Hampton Roads Transit OnDemand, users can request a minivan ride in specific operational zones for $2 per person per ride.

The microtransit area would span 11 square miles, serving the Great Bridge, Dove Acres, Fentress, Albemarle Farms and Albemarle Acres areas, connecting riders to places like Tidewater Community College, Chesapeake Municipal Center and Dominion Commons, according to a map provided by HRT in a memo to city staff.

“The microtransit service will be fully connected to the HRT bus network so that they provide a meaningful and useful connection as the first/last leg of a customer’s trip, before and after utilizing a fixed route,” said HRT President William Harrell in a memo to city leaders.

The vote on Tuesday was to receive the city’s concurrence to apply for a $1.3 million grant from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, though HRT has already submitted the application to meet the Feb. 1 deadline, according to a memo from city staff. The vote Tuesday was approved unanimously, but the memo states council could choose not to allocate grant funding if they had been opposed to the move.

If awarded, the grant would cover Chesapeake’s microtransit service for one year, with the city on the hook for a 20% local match of $260,400. City staff said in a memo that the city would be informed by April if they’ve received it, and it will still need approval from the Commonwealth Transportation Board.

City Manager Chris Price called it a “cost-effective and efficient way” to increase public transit ridership.

“(It’s) a very important service but it’s incredibly expensive and oftentimes people see buses that aren’t operating anywhere near peak capacity,” Price said at Tuesday’s meeting. “HRT recognizes that and has piloted some projects in Virginia Beach and Newport News to use a version of a ride share service that people can call and get quick transportation access to a transportation center, whether it’s a bus stop or a larger transit center, so that they can get access to the larger fixed route network.”

Hampton Roads Transit has been looking at cutting underused bus routes in Norfolk to save money and potentially replacing them with the on-demand rideshare service.

In Chesapeake, the proposed microtransit zone is in an area that has no fixed route services and was developed to test the waters to determine if there was a demand for this type of transit service, said HRT Communications Manager Thomas Becher.

Following a question posed by council member Debbie Ritter, Price said it’s possible the microtransit zone could help improve the shuttling of the city’s homeless population to a recently approved overnight shelter facility. Price said that issue would be addressed either way.

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