PUBLIC TRANSIT OPERATORS’ RESILIENCE AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AMID THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: THE CASE OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
The Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC) is used as an empirical case to demonstrate how a relatively small transit operator in the Richmond, Virginia, United States (RVA) region survived and thrived during the COVID19 pandemic period. During that time, GRTC experienced a substantial downturn...
| 總結: | The Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC) is
used as an empirical case to demonstrate how a relatively
small transit operator in the Richmond, Virginia, United
States (RVA) region survived and thrived during the COVID19 pandemic period. During that time, GRTC experienced a
substantial downturn in its system transit ridership. In
response to this emergency, GRTC immediately took bold
measures to protect its operators and riders, such as: serving
essential trips, improving bus interior seat design, modifying
operating schedules, matching service with the demand,
implementing new boarding process, offering free transit
services, broadening funding sources, and others. As a result,
GRTC successfully and quickly overcame the pandemic crisis,
and it embarked on the road to full recovery in its transit
operation. In the post-pandemic future, GRTC expects that
many of the adopted pandemic workplace safety and cleaning
protocols will continue long-term as it takes time to rebuild
people’s trust in public transit. The successful lessons (in
particular, in four areas: putting people’s safety first; giving
priority to serving essential trips; using a dynamic scheduling
approach; and increasing and diversifying its funding
sources) from GRTC could also be transferable to other
similar transit services in the U.S. and elsewhere. |
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| ISSN: | 2067-4082 2068-9969 |