Members of the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors seemed open to expanding public transit along the Jefferson Davis corridor during a briefing this week by county planning and transportation staff, particularly if doing so would open the area to economic development opportunities.
“We found there’s a linkage between revitalization efforts and transit,” Planning Commission Chairman Gib Sloan told the board during a Wednesday work session, “[that] can create a premium from the development community at the end of the day.”
Sloan, also chairman of the steering committee tasked by the board in August with evaluating options for implementing the North Jefferson Davis Area Special Plan, asked the board to consider three recommendations:
- Allow the county transportation department to complete phase two of a Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation study.
- Use the study to submit a grant application, due Feb. 1, to the Virginia Department of Transportation for a pilot or “demo” project that would expand transit along Jefferson Davis Highway (U.S. 1)
- Allow the completion of a comprehensive market analysis, which would survey businesses and residents in close proximity to the corridor.
“Connectivity is a real challenge on the Jefferson Davis corridor,” Sloan told the board. “There are very specific metrics we’ll be able to measure with this [pilot project].”
If Chesterfield applies and is awarded the VDOT grant, Transportation Director Jesse Smith estimated the cost to the county would be roughly $200,000 — or, 20 percent of the total $1 million that the GRTC Transit System estimates for expanding bus service.
“If we were to do it, this grant affords us the opportunity for a three-year time period, renewable on an annual basis, where the [state] government would fund that exercise on an 80/20 level,” Sloan said, adding that the grant for the pilot project would be for “would give us the opportunity, over an extended period of time, to see if there’s viability and to have an overall assessment at the end of that time period, if the county wants to move forward … meanwhile the county’s financial commitment is limited fairly well.”
Along with Sloan, the Northern Jefferson Davis Implementation Steering Committee comprises 14 public and private stakeholders including Deputy County Administrator Matt Harris, who told the supervisors that the biggest appeal to expanded transit service in the county would be to open up the corridor for future development purposes, investments and opportunities.
Chesterfield currently has only one GRTC bus line for which the fare is $6 per ride, compared to $1.50 in the city of Richmond.
A September 2018 report from the Greater Washington Partnership calls for expanded transit in the region and outlines the link between service gaps and unemployment and low-income areas.
At Wednesday’s work session, the issue of unemployment seemed central to many of the supervisors’ thoughts on expanding bus service. Bermuda District Supervisor Dorothy Jaeckle asked if anybody would use the bus if the county expanded service, noting that when she grew up it was easier to pay someone for a ride than wait for the bus. Jaeckle was also skeptical of the Greater Washington Partnership study, which included analysis of the Baltimore, Washington D.C. and Richmond regions, stating that she “just found it interesting that big article on the Greater Washington Partnership that said what Chesterfield needed to do, when my guess is none of them have ever been to Chesterfield.”
Matoaca District Supervisor Steve Elswick asked if the county planned to keep metrics on unemployment figures, and said part of the deciding factor after a potential pilot program would be analyzing whether the expanded service would “motivate” unemployed people to find work.
Sloan noted that one challenge for the county would be the population density to support expanded transit, but again pointed to the opportunity for future development along the corridor.
“We can identify areas on Jefferson Davis and create incentives for projects to create some kind of density,” he said.
Clover Hill supervisor Chris Winslow noted that connecting to an existing network, such as the GRTC system, may be one way to sustain density, “especially if we’re talking about jobs.”
Dale District Supervisor James Holland spoke in support of the potential pilot to expand transit service: “The 80/20 split, to me, seems excellent. For us to not take advantage of that — it would be negligent for the county not to at least apply for the grant.” Holland added that he looks forward to seeing the Phase 2 transit study, “and your realization of transportation in a high-need area.”
