HRPTA Blog
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Community Conversation on New Norfolk Bus Transfer Station
The City of Norfolk invites you to participate in a community conversation to help determine the future location and design for a new Bus Transfer Station in Downtown Norfolk. It’s time to develop a bus transfer station that supports bus travel as a transportation option of choice – one that is accessible, attractive, safe, clean and inviting. Join us to discuss the appropriate location, layout, design and appearance for this new City asset. We look forward to seeing you there. Be Sociable, Share! Tweet
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How To Ride The HRT Bus, Step-by-step
Planning your trip –three methods Let Google plan your trip online. At www.gohrt.com, click on “Trip Planner” and fill in your starting and ending place. Plan your own trip online — if you already know which route(s) you will ride. At www.gohrt.com, click “Routes”. Pick up route maps (green or blue) in the lobby of HRT offices in Norfolk or Hampton; each one shows the route and the times the bus reaches key points. Paying for your ride If you are going to pay as you ride, have ready $1.50 (in correct change) every time you board. If you’ll ride [...]
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HRT Announces End to Norfolk International Airport Bus Service
Source: HRT HRT ending Norfolk airport bus route; ridership low By Lauren King The Virginian-Pilot April 6, 2012 NORFOLK A pilot bus service to Norfolk International Airport will end next week. Hampton Roads Transit started the route in February, but ridership was weak, a news release from HRT said. The minimum goal was 10 to 12 passengers per hour of service. The average number of passengers per hour on the airport route was about four. The last trip will be at 11 p.m. April 14 from the Norfolk airport. Route 7 runs from the arrivals and departures terminals via Norview [...]
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HRT CEO, Philip Shucet, Goes Out in the Style He Rode In On: Success!
Source: HRT Outgoing HRT CEO on remaining agency officials: “These people tell the truth” By Jon Cawley, DailyPress.com 3/22/12 HAMPTON — Outgoing Hampton Roads Transit CEO Philip Shucet attended his final meeting Thursday of the agency’s governing board. And in true Shucet style, he didn’t mince words. Shucet began his monthly management report to the board, that is comprised of local and state officials, by referencing his being hired two years ago to right the listing transit agency. That was done in the wake of a scandal over mismanagement of the Norfolk light rail construction project that resulted in the [...]
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HRT To Extend Bus Service to Norfolk International Airport through March 31st
Source: HRT Hampton Roads Transit is extending trial bus service to Norfolk International Airport through March 31st. The Airport route, also known as Route 7, began service on February 5th. It serves the arrivals and departures terminals via Norview Avenue and Tidewater Drive from downtown Norfolk and the Cedar Grove transfer facility. Hourly service begins at 5 a.m. and operates to 11:47 p.m., seven days a week. Each trip costs $1.50. The Route 7 was previously slated to run through March 10th. The extension through March 31st will provide additional time and information for Hampton Roads Transit to determine the [...]
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Hampton Roads Transit will extend bus service to Norfolk International Airport through March 31
Source: HRT By Cindy Clayton The Virginian-Pilot February 14, 2012 NORFOLK Hampton Roads Transit officials will extend bus service to Norfolk International Airport through March 31. They want more time to gather information to determine whether the new route should be permanent, according to an HRT news release. The service had been scheduled to run through March 10. If 10 riders per hour use the service, HRT could continue the new route 7. The hourly service runs from 5 a.m. until 11:47 p.m., seven days a week and costs $1.50 per trip. Route 7 serves the arrivals and departures terminals [...]
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HRT Plans To Boost Bus, Ferry Service as Toll Alternative #HRVA
Source: HRT By Debbie Messina The Virginian-Pilot December 14, 2011 Don’t want to pay tolls at the Downtown and Midtown tunnels starting next year? Mass transit may be an alternative. As part of the public-private deal to build a second Midtown tube, the private consortium will provide about $2.5 million each year to Hampton Roads Transit to improve bus and ferry service across the Elizabeth River. Service frequencies will be bolstered on two bus routes, from the Victory Crossing Transfer Center and from Tidewater Community College in Portsmouth, so that buses run every 15 minutes during peak hours. Those buses [...]
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HRT Offers More Free Rides on The Tide
Source: hamptonroads.com Free rides. HRT has signed up two more businesses for its GoPass 365 program, in which businesses and educational institutions pay an annual flat fee for its employees and students to ride all of HRT’s services for free, including light rail, bus and ferry. Portfolio Recovery Associates, headquartered next to the Military Highway station with 1,200 employees, and Glasser & Glasser law firm downtown with 220 employees are now participating. Tidewater Community College is considering the program. They join Old Dominion University, Norfolk State University, Eastern Virginia Medical School and Norfolk Southern Corp. in the program. In all, [...]
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Buy Your HRT Bus & Light Rail Tickets Online Now
Source: hamptonroads.com Online ticket sales. Starting sometime next month, customers can purchase $3 round-trip fares online through HRT’s website as part of a three-month pilot project. E-tickets will be sent via e-mail that can be printed or downloaded to handheld phones and computers. Shucet said HRT has not found another transit agency using e-tickets. HRT will pay 50 cents per transaction for using the service. It will be evaluated after three months. The Tide is changing. After one month of service, several revisions are underway to make light rail more attractive and user-friendly, including adding wireless to the trains and [...]
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TCC Students Could Soon Ride The Tide For Almost Free
Source: HRT TCC bargaining with HRT to snag special rate for students Tidewater Community College students and staff may be able to use Hampton Roads Transit’s light rail, ferry and bus services at a special rate if contract negotiations between the school and transportation provider prove a success. TCC’s College Board unanimously approved a proposal Tuesday night to begin negotiations with HRT to provide the services, which would be available to students who attend all of TCC’s campuses, said TCC President Deborah M. DiCroce. Currently, TCC provides a free, on-campus shuttle service that takes students to the campuses. Under the [...]
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HRT Bus Route 9 Change
Source: HRT Effective: Monday, August 15, 2011 Dear HRT Customers, Starting Monday, August 15, 2011, Route 9 will make changes to improve its ontime performance. Trips traveling from Evelyn T. Butts and Avenue “J” to Cedar Grove, Monday to Thursday from 5:48 a.m. to 10:18 p.m.(Friday until 11:18p.m.), will continue to depart at :18 and :48 minutes after the hour. However, they will arrive at Cedar Grove 10 minutes later than previously scheduled. Please plan your trip travel times accordingly to get to your next destinations or bus connections on time. For more information, please call 222-6100 Be Sociable, Share! [...]
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HRT Bus Route 6 Change
Source: HRT Effective: Sunday, August 14, 2011 Dear HRT Customers, Starting August 14, 2011, Route 6 will provide service to South Norfolk on Sundays. New Sunday service on Route 6 will travel between Cedar Grove and 20th Street/Seaboard Avenue via Berkley Avenue and Liberty Street hourly from 5:52 am to 6:43 pm. For more information, please call 222-6100 Thank you for riding with HRT Be Sociable, Share! Tweet
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Don’t Miss These HRT Bus Service Line Changes Supporting The Tide Light Rail
Source: HRT Norfolk, Va. – Beginning Sunday, August 7, Hampton Roads Transit customers will see significant changes to Southside bus service designed to support the start of light rail service on Aug. 19. Eighteen bus routes will provide service to six of the 11 Tide light rail stations. The remaining stations are designed as walk-up stations or are in areas where there is no room for bus stops. The following stations will be served with bus connections: • EVMC/Fort Norfolk station will be served by bus routes 2, 17, 23, 44 and new route 16. • Civic Plaza station will be [...]
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Harbor Park Multimodal Transfer Station Kicks Off
Source: Inside Business Norfolk has scaled back its plan for a rail, bus and ferry hub, originally costing $16 million. Instead, the city has set aside $3 million in this year’s budget, which began July 1, for a multimodal transfer station adjacent to Harbor Park. “The budgeted amount should allow the city to construct the first phase of the multi-phased center,” said Norfolk’s director of development, Rod Woolard. “The design of the project is now under way with the city having retained Michael Baker Corp.” The phase-one components are a 3,000-square-foot station and a bus transfer facility similar to that [...]
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HRT Light Rail Feeder Bus Testing Schedule
Effective: Sunday, August 7, 2011 Dear HRT Customers, Please be advised of the following: Starting Sunday, August 7, 2011 through Thursday, August 18, 2011, Routes 2, 6, 8, 9, 13, 15, 18, 20, 23, 25, 27, 44, 45, 960, 961, 967 and new Route 16 will perform light rail feeder bus testing to select light rail stations. During this time, customers will not be permitted to board or get off at the light rail stations. For more information, please call 222-6100 Be Sociable, Share! Tweet
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August HRT Bus Service Changes
Source: HRT Effective: Sunday, August 7, 2011 Dear HRT Customers, Please be advised of the following service changes starting Sunday, August 7,2011. New schedules will be available for all time and route changes. Route 2 Hampton Blvd. Route 2 will be modified to provide service to the Fort Norfolk/EVMC TIDE station and no longer provide direct service to Norfolk General Hospital. Service to the hospital will be provided via Colley Ave. Route 4 Church St. Route 4 will be modified to operate between Old Dominion University and Cedar Grove and no longer provide service to Norfolk General Hospital via Bolling [...]
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Long Time Passenger: The Story of a 12 Year Old Boy
Well, I was not real sure where to start. My journey on public transportation began 23 years ago, in Massachusetts. In brief, I was 12 when I started riding the public bus. I had to figure the system out all by myself. The reason I began riding public transportation was a rather sad one, my mother left and my dad was left with two children to raise (my grandparents did help, but only had one car). We lost our car and our house due to what was incurred by that. I’m the older of the two, and was in charge [...]
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HRT to Norfolk Riders: No More Freebies on the NET Bus
Source: PilotOnline.com By Debbie Messina The Virginian-Pilot © July 13, 2011 Free shuttle-bus service through downtown will end next month, when Hampton Roads Transit and the city launch light rail and revamp the NET shuttle to better connect Ghent to downtown and the rail line. Beginning Aug. 19, when The Tide opens, HRT will charge $1.50 for a new NET bus route that will still roll down Granby Street, then continue on to Monticello Avenue, 21st Street and Colley Avenue, ending at Fort Norfolk. One end of the route connects to The Tide, while other stops are within short walks [...]
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Wondering What Will Happen to Light Rail During Flooding?
Source: HRT by Cleve Bryan WVEC.com NORFOLK — The recent heavy rains have raised concern about Norfolk’s light rail and its dependability during and after storms. According to Hampton Roads Transit, light rail trains can’t pass through six inches or more of standing water. HRT says elevating the track above any kind of flood level was determined to be too expensive. When it floods, the plan is to perform what’s called a “bus bridge.” “In the case of trains, you can’t drive around it so you bring a bus to a location on the track, get the people off, move [...]
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HRT Proposes New Route and Cost Structure for NET Bus in Norfolk
To friends who live, work, worship, eat, or play in Ghent or downtown Norfolk: HRT and the city of Norfolk are planning a new route for the NET bus to help us connect with light rail, ferry, downtown and Ghent. See the details here: http://www.gohrt.com/public-hearing/2011/net-310/net-connector.pdf Note: the NET will have a fare like any other bus, ferry or light rail fare: $ 1.50 per ride OR $3.50 for an all-day pass (seniors and youth pay half those prices). You can give your opinion and suggestions on Tuesday, July 12 at the HRT building at 1500 Monticello Avenue. Two sessions: 12-2 [...]
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Our One-car Household Equates to a Low Transporation Budget
Our Norfolk household has two adult drivers and just one car. We have two HRT bus lines within a 12-minute walk. From those buses, we can make just one transfer to another HRT bus that take us anywhere in Norfolk, or to the Virginia Beach ocean front, or to Portsmouth, or to Chesapeake. Besides all that, we have a ferry. That takes us to the museums and restaurants across the river – and on to baseball games. Next month, our household is going to get a light rail line. And what do all these services cost us? $1.50 per ride. [...]
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Norfolk Mayor, City Council, Officials Ride The Tide Light Rail
Source: HRT – Norfolk officials take a spin on light rail By Debbie Messina The Virginian-Pilot © June 22, 2011 NORFOLK City Council members who took their first ride on The Tide light rail Tuesday said they liked what they saw. “It has a big-city feel,” Andy Protogyrou said. “And the views are unparalleled.” “I’ve been on trains in other cities, and I think this is fabulous,” Angelia Williams said. For many, their enjoyment quickly turned to worry as they wondered whether the public will see it the same way once it opens Aug. 19 and use it enough to [...]
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Why Do We Need Public Transportation?
A strong public transportation system is essential to the vitality of the regional economy, a key element in helping Hampton Roads maintain its competitiveness. Public transportation provides opportunities for economic development, creates jobs and contributes to a cleaner environment. Our transportation system faces extreme challenges which diminish the region’s competitiveness, productivity and quality of life: congested roadways, inaccessible employment, education and recreation opportunities, lack of mobility for those who rely on transit including the elderly and disabled, and environmental concerns. A strong regional multimodal transportation system will provide real alternatives to dependency on single occupancy vehicles, and include a variety [...]
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Public Hearing Announced on the (free) NET Bus Changes
Service changes are proposed for Route 310 and the Norfolk NET, the downtown shuttle services. HRT will hold public hearings on July 12, 2011 to solicit comments on the proposals and to provide advanced public notice as required by the Federal Transit Administration. With the introduction of The Tide light rail service in downtown Norfolk, the need for two downtown shuttles is unnecessary. The 310 shuttle serving the Cedar Grove transfer center is proposed for elimination to address duplication of downtown services. An enhanced NET connector is then proposed to better serve Cedar Grove, downtown and Ghent communities. In addition, [...]
