VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Travel options are expanding for residents in Virginia Beach and Newport News, with a new ride share service coming to those cities.
At recent city council meetings, leaders in both gave the green light to provide funding to support rides on demand. In Virginia Beach, it was $466,000. Around $350,000 of that money will go towards routes in the Bayside area, with the rest of the money going to a second, undetermined zone.
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“Better connectivity, not just in our city, but our region, is critical when it comes to attracting businesses and more young professionals here to Virginia Beach and Hampton Roads,” said Virginia Beach City Council Member, Joash Schulman.
Schulman, along with Dr. Amelia Ross-Hammond, another member of council, are huge proponents of the program. She says buses struggle to get deep into these local communities.
“Microtransit can get into the communities, and people will be able to use their phones, the apps and call it. And at least there are three or four, like an airport kind of shuttle, but a smaller version,” Ross-Hammond told News 3.
The money from Virginia Beach is only 20% of the funding, with a grant awarded to Hampton Roads Transit covering the other 80%. HRT secured this funding thanks to a successful six month pilot program in the two cities.
“It's very expensive to run hourly service, so we thought a better way perhaps, to serve that district is to have this demand responsive service,” said Ray Amoruso, HRT’s Chief Planning and Development Officer.
The results of the program indicated hope for the future. According to HRT, around 34,000 trips were requested throughout the two cities. The average rating for the ride was 4.85 out of 5. To use it, all you will have to do is request a ride through the app, then a microtransit vehicle will pick you up at one of their many stop points. The ride will only cost around $2.
“We all know that Uber and Lyft is much more expensive. The difference, really is you might be sharing a ride with one or two other or three other individuals have a common destination,” Amoruso told News 3.
Newport News city leaders have also approved this program. A start date for both cities is anticipated for October 14.
“This isn't just about getting around Virginia Beach. This is about connecting people to, you know, to other parts in our region, and specifically our downtown and Norfolk,” Schulman said.
From the pilot program data, one of the most common destinations was the Newtown Road Station. Indicating that riders were taking it so they could use the light rail for a journey into Norfolk. For both cities, demand was higher in the afternoons.
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