NORFOLK, Va. — Twenty-five years ago, Peninsula Transit (PENTRAN) and Tidewater Regional Transit (TRT) combined into one entity, Hampton Roads Transit.
“Two days before my unemployment camp ran out, I got a call from them,” said bus driver Lynette McDaniel, who’s been with HRT since the beginning.
Over the years, she’s seen some changes.
“The things we’re doing now. We weren’t doing it back then,” she told News 3.
In 2007, ground was broke in the Harbor Park parking lot in Norfolk for the Tide Light Rail. That opened in 2011, then in 2016, the company completed its Downtown Transit Center.
This year, the company launched its own microtransit service. Not to mention, all the technology that’s been added to the vehicles to make them safer.
Watch more: HRT OnDemand Microtransit returns to Newport News and Virginia Beach
“The best thing, I would say right now, is the cameras on the bus. They see everything they see inside, as well as around the outside of the bus. It picks up everything that you say. So I tell the students, watch what you say, because you know, it will, it'll tell on you,” McDaniel said.
To adjust for growth, the company recently moved to a bigger building.
“We used to operate out of turn of the century trolley barns. A little bit back over there where the building is, our buses couldn’t even get in,” said Noelle Pinkard, an organizational advancement officer with HRT, who left the transit service before returning three years ago.
She says she loves the changes that have been made to the service in the last 25 years, but wants more in the next 25. One of those changes would be more frequent buses.
“Providing an efficient, timely service. Getting people to know that if they miss their bus, they don’t even need a schedule, the next bus is coming in 15 minutes. That’s the gold standard for transit,” she said.
Watch related coverage: Major changes coming to 24 Hampton Roads Transit bus routes
Here is more information about the ferryand Tide light rail services.
