While Greyhound bus stations have been closing or relocating and Coach USA enters bankruptcy, some state DOTs are upping their investments in intercity bus service. Riders have been returning to intercity bus routes since the COVID-19 pandemic reduced demand dramatically. These routes often serve rural destinations without train or plane access, and can take the place of dozens of individual car trips.
Virginia
Virginia hopes to expand transit access by leveraging data
All public transit agencies in Virginia will have free access to planning software, thanks to a new partnership with the transit technology company Via. This is one of several steps the state has taken to incorporate accessibility analysis into planning and programming, and to advance equitable transportation. Providing statewide access to data and software may serve as a model for other agencies as they strive for more equitable and effective networks.
GPS data informs transportation projects in Northern Virginia: SSTI study
Transportation agencies, dependent for decades on traffic counts and travel demand models, are turning to new sources of data to understand the movement of vehicles and people. These include aerial photography, Bluetooth sensors, and cellular location data. Adding to that list, SSTI recently completed a study of vehicle trip-making patterns in Northern Virginia (NOVA), using commercially available GPS data. That study, presented to the Commonwealth Transportation Board in March, is now available for download.
Virginia adopts multimodal, competitive project scoring process
Last year Virginia enacted legislation to select state-supported transportation projects through a multimodal, competitive process. The law prescribed five areas to be considered in the scoring, along with project cost: congestion mitigation, economic development, accessibility, safety, environmental quality and land use. The relative weights of those elements, and details of how to assess project benefits in those categories, were left to the rulemaking process, which concluded June 17.
Virginia DOT aims to assess its core assumptions and reprioritize
Last month, Virginia’s Deputy Secretary of Transportation, Nick Donohue, updated the Commonwealth Transportation Board, which oversees VDOT, on the status of the agency’s long-term planning process. He indicated to the board that the agency is beginning to rethink its core assumptions about future travel needs, and that the state’s next surface transportation plan will reflect this new way of thinking in important ways. Among the issues facing VDOT, Donohue noted, was the fact that recent increases in VMT have been far lower than the state’s forecasts suggest—a nationwide phenomenon that affects funding outlooks and programming decisions.
VA Supreme Court: Tunnel tolls are user fees, not taxes
In a ruling denounced by the Portsmouth business community and commuters, but applauded by VDOT, the Virginia Supreme Court unanimously overturned a ruling by a lower court that held the tolls imposed to pay for tunnel expansions and maintenance in Portsmouth are unconstitutionally-imposed taxes. The Supreme Court instead ruled that the tolls are indeed user fees for the benefit of those that use the tunnels, not the general public. The tolls are being used solely to pay for the project, not to raise general revenue; and drivers are not compelled to use the tunnels, so can avoid the tolls. VDOT worried that if the lower court ruling stood it could hamper private-public partnerships in other parts of the state and call into question the entire Public Private Transportation Act of 1995.
VA Supreme Court: Tunnel tolls are user fees, not taxes
In a ruling denounced by the Portsmouth business community and commuters, but applauded by VDOT, the Virginia Supreme Court unanimously overturned a ruling by a lower court that held the tolls imposed to pay for tunnel expansions and maintenance in Portsmouth are unconstitutionally-imposed taxes. The Supreme Court instead ruled that the tolls are indeed user fees for the benefit of those that use the tunnels, not the general public. The tolls are being used solely to pay for the project, not to raise general revenue; and drivers are not compelled to use the tunnels, so can avoid the tolls. VDOT worried that if the lower court ruling stood it could hamper private-public partnerships in other parts of the state and call into question the entire Public Private Transportation Act of 1995.