More Buses, Free Fares, No Problem

RICH: Welcome to RVA’s Got Issues, a podcast about politics and public affairs in and around Richmond, Virginia. I’m your host, Rich Marr. Each episode will bring you stories about what’s happening here in RVA. We’ll bring you deep dive interviews on the biggest stories in the news, and you’ll hear from people who are coming up with innovative ways to improve their communities. From Richmond, Chesterfield, Hanover, Henrico, and more, we’ll tell you what’s happening, what’s next, and what you can do about it. On this episode, RVA’s got issues with public transit. We’ll talk to Faith Walker, the Executive Director of RVA Rapid Transit. She’ll tell us about Richmond’s new transportation plan, Richmond Connects, and how if we want a better and more fair transportation network, we need to start with people first. Also, RVA’s got questions about sidewalks. For our community question, a listener wants to know, why is it so hard to walk around Richmond? Finally, RVA’s got answers about cookies? For our community spotlight, we’ll talk to the founder of a Southside bakery that is giving young adults with developmental disabilities a chance to succeed, and the results are delicious. All that and more coming up on RVA’s Got Issues.

 

RICH: Today, RVA’s got issues with public transit. Faith Walker is the Executive Director of RVA Rapid Transit, a non profit group that advocates for frequent and far reaching transit in the Richmond region. She also served on a community advisory board for Richmond Connects, helping craft the city’s future transit goals. Faith, welcome.

FAITH: Thank you. Thank you for having me here today.

RICH: I want to talk about your work in public transit, but first we should talk about Richmond Connects. And it’s just completed. It’s the City of Richmond’s comprehensive plan for multi modal transportation over the next few years, even the next few decades, right?

FAITH: Everything from bike lanes to sidewalk repairs to bus access.

RICH: And Faith, you and other community advocates played a role in shaping this plan. So what’s different about this plan? What does it mean for the future of the region?

FAITH: I have participated in so many advisory councils to many studies, many feasibility studies and many action plans for the region, whether they’re in Henrico County, Chesterfield County, all nine jurisdictions within our region. And this by far has been the best engagement that I’ve ever seen. You mean engagement with the people right with the public engagement with people. So Richmond connects obviously reached out to a lot of people. I mean, we’re talking five people, 10 people, like how many, how many people provided input to the Richmond connects? Because Richmond connects made it a, an intent effort of making sure that communities of color, disabled communities, People with low income were all impacted or participated in those surveys. Impressively, thousands of people participated. That’s what makes this so successful. That so many people were engaged and talked to.

RICH: And all over the region, right?

FAITH: All over the city of Richmond and the region.

RICH: So in other words, the plan makes sure that we’re not hearing from the same folks, and then the money goes to fix their problems, the money goes to make their neighborhoods better, and instead the idea was, let’s ask everybody, let’s get everybody involved, and then we can, let’s get everyone involved, and then we can actually design an action plan that, that brings transit and fixes sidewalks and, and brings transportation access to the whole city. Is that the idea?

FAITH: That is correct. And then also too, versus them having, Quantitative, they focus on qualitative data because a lot of times people don’t feel heard. They feel like they fill out these surveys and not a lot of what they said or wanted is there’s a response to. And because the way the survey and the intent behind the survey was done, I think the most need will be put in the highest priority.

RICH: So public transit is just one part of the larger plan in Richmond Connects, but it’s the main focus of your organization, RVA Rapid Transit, right? Making sure people have safe, reliable transit access to school, to work, to doctor appointments, grocery stores. This is something you’re familiar with, right? Having lived without a car? Absolutely.

FAITH: Absolutely. In this city. And in others, and so how has that experience shaped your experience on public transit will not being able to just hop in a car and go having to spend 2 to 3 hours running an errand when if I ran the errand with a vehicle can take. So when I’m in my own city and where I live, that really allows me to have a perspective or lived experience. And it allows me to be a little bit more passionate about my work.

RICH: And so in the city of Richmond and in the region more broadly, right, public transit here means the GRTC, right? The Greater Richmond Transit Company. So how is that system doing? How’s ridership doing?

FAITH: Our ridership is the highest that has ever been. And that’s because of zero fare right now. It doesn’t cost a penny for riders to utilize GRTC. Thanks to a zero fare policy that runs through 2025 GRTC says this is being made possible thanks to their state and local partners, including the city of Richmond and VCU and an 8 million grant that was matched locally in 2020. Transit agencies across the United States, when fare free. And as a result of that, the city of Richmond did not experience the lack in ridership as others.

RICH: And is there any pushback? I mean, I know, what would you say to people who might be skeptical about their tax dollars going towards free fares on the bus, right?

FAITH: Nothing’s free. Why should that be free? What would you say to folks? Like I’ve heard that, um, I’ve heard that a lot. And what I would say to that is. We have to really look at the impact of zero fare in our region. It’s a small portion of GRTC’s overall budget, it’s under 10 percent of their budget. And so if we’re asking the most vulnerable population, we know that 70 percent of the folks who use public transportation are African American. And as of 2019, it was reported that over half of folks who are using public transportation make under 25, 000. And so we’re asking the most vulnerable population, we’re asking essential workers to cover something that we as a city should be supporting. Our ridership is the highest that has ever been. And that’s because of zero fare And so if we want to continue our city, if we believe in economic mobility, this is a backdoor boost in people’s wages. And not to mention for the environment, if people are choosing to get out the car, this can reduce emissions. This can reduce congestion on the roads. And so there are so many factors to. The amount of money that we would have been collecting in fares. I think the benefit outweighs it.

RICH: We’ll hear more about better bus stops, a new advocacy program, and more from Faith Walker from RVA Rapid Transit. Right after this,

RICH: We’re back with Faith Walker from R. V. A. Rapid Transit. Now, part of what strikes me about your work at R. V. A. Rapid Transit is not the part about transit. It’s about how we make decisions and who is left out. So for example, you have this writer’s voice program where you record messages from writers about why the bus is important to them, but also how the system can improve.

RICH: So can you tell me more about where that idea came from?

FAITH: When I started this work, I started in 2020 as community engagement director. And how do you engage people? In December of 2020 in the heart of the pandemic. And I’m thinking the only way to do that is actually talk to bus riders. And so I created a sticker campaign and a sticker campaign had a voicemail where you can call old school, old school, old school. Hey, thank you so much for calling the writer’s voice created by RVA rapid transit. The Writer’s Voice is a collective of stories and experiences amplified for better transit in the Richmond region. Our mission is to make it easier.

RICH: How do these messages shape the priorities of RVA Rapid Transit?

FAITH: I think our board wanted to make sure that The engagement, the policies, the things that we advocated for matched what writers were saying. And so, as I began to collect all of these comments, there was a continual thread of things. And it was more buses going more places. Listen, baby, I don’t understand when we can’t go to Chesterfield, I don’t understand at the evening time when I’m trying to get home at six or seven. I gotta wait 30 minutes for the next bus. This don’t make no sense. And there’s a lot of factories and a lot of companies that we can’t get to. So it stops the opportunity. It stops the growth. I want to have this job at Amazon, but the bus comes every hour. It doesn’t match my life. It doesn’t match me being able to get the nine to five, be at home in time for my kids. So I just can’t have a job. And then number two, dignify places to wait. I’m hot. I don’t feel safe. I don’t feel seen. The bus driver can’t see me. When it rains, I get soaked and wet. People actually bring their car stuff from Walmart, turn it over, and sit on it. And that doesn’t look good. So, maybe a little more shelter and a bench would be good. And then number three, I don’t know how to change all of this. I don’t know what to do. I feel like I’m not a part of the decision making process. Recently, they had changed the bus routes, where the one just went straight to Hull Street, but now you have to get on two different buses to get to Hall Street. And I remember the first day that they did it, everybody was out there complaining, they were arguing, they were mad. And I was mad. Those comments that I have recorded, we transpose them and make sure that they’re directly inputted at GRTC’s board meetings, but also all of the surveys and studies that I just mentioned to you when they asked for comments, I submitted them as well. So they live on. And so these voices can get even louder in this even louder. And so Richmond Connects also includes some plans to address the infrastructure of bus stops. You mentioned that before your organization strongly supports bus stops. Even car drivers who don’t maybe pay that much attention to GRTC can notice sometimes that bus stops might be just a pole in the ground and maybe not even with a sidewalk around it.

RICH: So why is that a problem again? You mentioned it before, but what are the real problems with our bus stops in the city?

FAITH: Well, I would say. We need more. We just need more infrastructure. When I started in 2020, GRTC has over 1, 600 bus stops in 2020 and 5 percent had shelters. That’s not many. That’s 80. 83, maybe, and that was in 2020, we’ve made some progress and then 15 percent have benches and I was like, wow, we need to get behind this. And so we shared those comments, we shared those experiences and GRTC responded right away. They created a essential infrastructure plan that by 2027, they want 75%. To be covered. And what we did, Rich, is change the language. People were saying amenities, amenities, these amenities, these amenities. It’s like a golf course or something. And I view amenities as something above and beyond your basic needs. Your necessities, and this is not an amenity. This is an essential infrastructure. And I think GRTC did adopt that language. And I thank them for that. So GRTC revised the bus routes. I think right before the pandemic, I remember there was a big debate about frequency, like how often a bus should come.

RICH: And coverage, how far into the neighborhoods the bus goes, like how far apart stops are. And I’m guessing that we probably need as much of both as we can, but can we afford that, right? How do we balance frequency and coverage?

FAITH: What we need is more investment in public transportation. GRTC provides a service of public transportation as a leader, as a person who is in charge of budgets. If I want service for my people, and that’s a priority for me, then I will set funds aside for that. And unfortunately, I don’t see that happening very much or as much as it could.

RICH: So let’s think about ideas for action for our listeners. We like to suggest some ways that they can get involved. And certainly, if you’re a transit rider, you can call Riders Voice if you have an issue or a concern or something you want to talk about. Talk about, uh, but there’s another piece here and that’s, uh, mobility university. Can you tell us more about this? And is this a way that listeners can get involved?

FAITH: Absolutely. Um, we have mobility university that take place every May and every September. And so in this cohort, it’s five sessions. And then we go over eight topics. Some of the topics includes, how do I tell a story? How do I tell an impactful story? Stories is what get people to move to action. A data point can change your mind about something, but a story can change your heart about something. And we really want to change people’s hearts about things. And that really solidifies the cohort. Because everybody gets to hear each other’s stories. And then secondly, we have a course with how to write a public comment. And this course can definitely help with any. Issue, which I’m happy about. Not just transit. And so how do you talk to city council? How do you talk to boards of supervisors? How do you talk to your delegate?

RICH: How do you talk to your senator? How do you talk to your governor? And so how do you craft a statement that’s impactful, that shares your story, that shares data points, and that doesn’t ramble? And so you just, you build people up so that they become successful advocates, right?

FAITH: Yes.

RICH: Faith Walker is executive director of RVA Rapid Transit. Thanks so much for joining us, Faith.

FAITH: Thank you.

 

RICH: On each episode of RVA’s Got Issues, you’ll hear a community question, a fellow listener who has a burning question about local government, politics, or their community, something that bugs them, that makes them want to thank someone, or that they’re just curious about. For this episode, RVA’s got questions about sidewalks and helping us out here is our producer Amber. Hi, Amber.

AMBER: Hey, Rich.

RICH: So you’ve got a question from a listener?

AMBER: We do. This week’s question is from Kyle Ottoway. I’ve been an enthusiastic Richmond resident for over six years. And one thing I’ve always wondered is why are the sidewalks in prominent and high traffic areas so bad? In some places, in the fan for example, a sidewalk will transition into a dirt path seemingly out of nowhere, where the material will degrade so badly that it’s difficult to roll a stroller over it or even walk over. I’ve always been curious about this and I would love for you to get to the bottom of it. Thank you.

RICH: That sounds literally rough, doesn’t it? Literally. Yeah, I, I remember my stroller days and how hard it was to get down the street. And now imagine you’ve got mobility issues, right? You’re an older adult or you need to like walker or wheelchair access. And you can see some of the problems that Kyle is facing. Uh, do you know who’s responsible for keeping the sidewalks in working order?

AMBER: I don’t know. I’m going to go with the Department of Public Works.

RICH: That is exactly right. It is the Department of Public Works, the DPW. Um, they are only responsible for the sidewalk itself, not the carriage walks or the driveway stick out parts, the aprons, uh, and homeowners are supposed to make sure that there’s nothing growing into the sidewalk, but you know, good luck with that if you’ve walked around the city as well. Uh, the DPU is a budget line. They’ve got a risk rating. They’re supposed to go around and rate all the sidewalks and prioritize the worst ones. Although I have heard that the list can be massaged a little, say a elected official takes an interest or there’s something on social media, Amber, are you familiar with the Richmond gun hole?

AMBER: I am not.

RICH: Uh, there was a famous gun shaped hole in the sidewalk a few months ago. And. Surprisingly enough, DPW filled it in pretty much the next day, even though lots of folks were super excited about it. So sometimes things can jump up on the list. They have an internal team that works on sidewalk maintenance. If it gets really big, it becomes a capital improvement. They hire external contractors. It’s a whole big thing. Now, Amber, do you know what you’re supposed to do if you see something? Uh, I do not. Okay, if you see something, you want to report it like a broken sidewalk or a hazard, you’re supposed to go to R.V. A. 311. It’s an app. It’s a website. And actually, if you’re in the city of Richmond, you can call 311 and you’ll get connected to the service. Now, the problem with that is that there is a huge backlog. Dozens of requests. I saw 18 requests in just the last week alone for sidewalk repairs. And so there’s not a lot of resources devoted to fixing this stuff and certainly not to enforcement of problems like overgrown weeds.

RICH: Now, Amber, you could take your chances with the counties. Do you think that’s a good idea?

AMBER: I live in the county, so maybe not.

RICH: Yeah, yeah. The counties are a little mixed about this. Henrico has a whole website devoted to walking. Lots of plans that are, they’re expanding their sidewalk network. It seems like they’re really paying attention. You go to the Hanover County website and it seems more like Hey, sidewalk. What’s that? You ever heard of that? I don’t really know what that is. Uh, so it’s gonna be mixed. Uh, you might want to stick with the city, Kyle. And that’s really the bottom line. Uh, if you’re sticking with the city, the best thing to do is keep reporting through the 311 system, because if you keep up the pressure on the city, you can show just Data, right? There’s all these requests. We need that. It shows the need. It shows the interest. You could also try to work with the transportation organizations in the city. There’s a bunch of groups that are pushing for better transit for bike lanes for better transportation to change the hearts and minds of everybody.

RICH: So they’re not so focused on cars. It’s not the best news for Kyle Amber. But do you think he’ll understand? I think he’s got some avenues to kind of start. And so what if other people have questions? What can they do, Amber?

AMBER: We need you to email rbasgotissues at vpm. org.

RICH: That’s right. Send us your questions. Thanks so much, Amber.

AMBER: Thanks, Rich.

 

RICH: Finally, for our community spotlight, we’re talking with Elizabeth Redford. Among many other things, she’s the founder of the Next Move program, but more famously, she’s the founder of Tablespoons Bakery in Westover Hills on the south side of Richmond. Now, Elizabeth, I’ve been to Tablespoons and the cookies are really, really good, but it’s not all about the cookies, is it?

ELIZABETH: It is not. It is also about job training and supported employment.

RICH: All right, so what is Tablespoons and what is it if it’s more than a bakery?

ELIZABETH: So we’re a nonprofit bakery. We do job training and supported employment. We have a partnership with the Virginia Department of Education and about 50 young adults from area public schools join us each year for the majority of their school day, and they are actually training alongside our team. We’ve been able to hire some of our graduates as well. But they’re doing a blend of hands on job training and then on site educational components.

RICH: That’s the supportive employment. Is that what that means? And so who are the students? Where are you getting these folks?

ELIZABETH: They come from all the major school systems in the greater Richmond area. So Richmond City, Chesterfield, Henrico, Hanover, Powhatan, and Goochland, um, and they come to us again as part of their school day. It’s a pretty fun time too, to be able to leave your school doors, to go into an actual business. And learn combination of how to run sales counter, how to work in a commercial kitchen, how to interact with customers, how to run e commerce. These are the types of tasks that they help our team do as they report each day.

RICH: And so why do we need this? Right? So it sounds like a jobs program. I mean, that sounds great for kids, but why these kids, what’s it for?

ELIZABETH: Yeah, I think a lot of people have never even thought about the disability community in the space of employment, which is wild. But a lot of that is tied to the historical context for this particular population. So, up until the 1970s, almost every single student that I work with would have been institutionalized their entire lives. So, they would not even have the opportunity to work, to be a part of their community. Um, and we, of course, now know extensively how horrific the treatment was of folks in those particular environments. Right. But in terms of work, work is so much more than just having a place that you go, you clock in each day. There’s the whole social construct of work. It gives us a sense of identity. It makes us feel part of a team. Of course, financial independence is a big part of that. And that’s part of why we see such high poverty rates for this population, but it’s also just building out a network. People who care about you, people who are connected to you where they notice if you’re not there that day, they miss you, they’re gonna be checking on you if you’re out sick. I mean, all of that matters so much to us as individuals to feel like we have a sense of where we fit into our community, that we have friends and for work for these young adults, it’s often a way that they’re able to find friends.

RICH: That’s great, but why a bakery like, right? So did you think, I don’t know, 10 years ago that you were going to be running a bakery? Was that your goal?

ELIZABETH: I did not. I grew up baking. So I knew that there was a part of the process that would be perfect for the young adults that we work with. And then, of course, it just, it felt like such a great way to layer in workplace readiness skills, social skills, independent living skills, and being a nonprofit that already had done a lot in the job training space. We had so many wonderful corporate partners who were looking for vendors. And so we were able to then add other layers to our existing partnerships so that they could source cookies from us for different events, employee appreciation, customer appreciation, that type of thing.

RICH: Do you have a, like a, an example, a specific example that you can remember from your recent work that, that can help kind of let us understand how this, this operates?

ELIZABETH: Yeah, so one of my favorite stories to share is about this young woman, Cheyenne, from our team. When she first started with us at the farmer’s market, she had a really hard time identifying coins and bills. She’s a young woman with an intellectual disability as well as autism, and that was a struggle for her. And a big part of that too, is that she would go into these social environments where you would be, you know, using money and she’d start to feel kind of overwhelmed. So some of it was an anxiety piece too. But now she’s one of our top salespeople. She’s able with so much confidence to greet our customers, look them in the eye, ask them how they are. And she is a pro at managing our register. And a lot of it just required accommodations, practice and building that confidence.

RICH: So what are you baking these days? What’s the popular items?

ELIZABETH: We bake a variety of different treats. Cookies, I think is what we’re most known for. And more recent years that we have expanded that muffins, scones. I love our homemade pop tarts. And then I think what is more unique to our menu that people had never heard of, but makes a lot of sense is our edible cookie doughs. So we sell it by the pint. We also use it for cookie dough pies. We put edible cookie dough in the center of the pie. We make truffles, ice cream cones stuffed with it. Highly recommend that as well for folks.

RICH: I think, uh, we need to wrap this up cause I gotta go get some cookie dough. Uh, Elizabeth Redford is founder of the next move project and tablespoons bakery. Thanks for being here, Elizabeth.

ELIZABETH: Thanks for having me.

 

RICH: That’s our show. Thanks to our guests, Faith Walker and Elizabeth Redford, and to listener Kyle Ottaway for his community question. RVA’s got issues, and we’re betting you do too. We want to hear about the issues you care about. Tell us about something exciting going on in your community. Or ask us a burning question about local government, send us an email at RVAsGot [email protected]. Join us next time when RVAs got issues with, well, if you want to know, subscribe to us wherever you download podcasts. RVAs Got Issues is produced by Max Waserman and Amber Coles. Meg Lindholm is our executive producer. Gavin Wright is VPM’s Managing Producer of Podcasts, and Steve Humble is VPM’s Chief Content Officer. I’m your host, Rich Marr. Thanks for listening.