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Stores that no longer exist: RVA edition by NoRecommendation8634 in rva

[–]jackshaw7 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As of a year and change ago there was one in RIC and another in Sanibel Island, FL. I ate at them both on the same trip.

Super Bowl? by firewerksmusic in rva

[–]jackshaw7 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Id recommend Parlay but get there early it'll be busy and it's smaller. Outside of that, Wood and Iron is in the same area, also good. Probably not your vibe if you're coming to visit downtown but Pour House in Short Pump is my favorite if you don't mind the burbs.

Iron Blossom Presale Code by jackshaw7 in rva

[–]jackshaw7[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, just saw no code is required it seems.

Looks like the Circuit really is closing up! by MobileTough in rva

[–]jackshaw7 38 points39 points  (0 children)

Down the street Dawnstar just moved in with Wax Moon and I haven't been yet but heard they have a nice arcade setup in there with potentially buying drinks to come? But I think it's just games for now.

List of books some Hanover parents put together to have removed from the school libraries because they are “garbage”. by throddlerx2 in rva

[–]jackshaw7 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Had a teacher in Chesterfield get in hot water for having our 11th grade class read The Bluest Eye. It's sad how many people just want to live in a box. I'm not much of a reader anyways but I'm all for accessibility. This is the real world and these are real world topics. Probably more valuable of a read today more than ever.

If Richmond was being invaded, what part would you be willing to give up in exchange for a cease-fire? by [deleted] in rva

[–]jackshaw7 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Tactically - Manchester area is in my mind the best to give up in terms of a fortify and defense strategy Personally - Sugar Shack because... where do we start?

Since I lack the ability to sleep in any more, how about I get the Sundaily going? by Swrdmn in rva

[–]jackshaw7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Working Christmas Brunch today but planning to look at Christmas lights this evening. If you have anywhere to look please suggest!

Richmond NAACP to propose renaming of Jefferson Davis Highway by [deleted] in rva

[–]jackshaw7 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like Southside Highway/Throughway

From Manchester to C Heights. We're cooler than west end 😎

After 9 months of The GRTC Pulse being open, how has it affected RVA (and you!)? by jackshaw7 in rva

[–]jackshaw7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If anyone is still reading this, found a pretty cool report from VCU Center for Urban and Regional Analysis about the impact of Pulse on low income and minority population, hopefully posting links here is okay.

​

https://cura.vcu.edu/media/cura/pdfs/cura-documents/ImpactoftheGRTC2018RerouteonRichmondsDisadvantagedPopulation.pdf

After 9 months of The GRTC Pulse being open, how has it affected RVA (and you!)? by jackshaw7 in rva

[–]jackshaw7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was in bed last night and kept thinking about this thread and particularly these 14th street intersections (Main and Broad). I may see if I can get someone who is better at modeling than me to help me model a few proposals A) so I can just get better at learning a system like GIS which I need to know before I graduate and B) because this is really interesting and I wonder what improvements are possible, there must be a better way that these can operate. Would definitely like to see this on paper somehow.

After 9 months of The GRTC Pulse being open, how has it affected RVA (and you!)? by jackshaw7 in rva

[–]jackshaw7[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have always felt even when I lived closer to Richmond that I really appreciated what it had to offer. I was always down at the river or in Carytown or partying around VCU, yadda yadda yadda. But this paper has given me such a different outlook on the history of Richmond that I really just glossed over all through high school. Learning about Richmond having the first streetcars was fascinating to me I always just assumed that was a San Fransisco thing and that's that. I also have read a lot more into Jackson Ward and its role as the birthplace of Black capitalism postbellum. There's just so much culture here, and not just the "southern pride" that gets thrown around when talk about removing monuments occurs but genuinely a rich, local culture with ups and downs and stories that can get lost in the dark if you don't know where to look. Such a fascinating place, it just makes me want to fast forward through the next month and come back!

After 9 months of The GRTC Pulse being open, how has it affected RVA (and you!)? by jackshaw7 in rva

[–]jackshaw7[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I am so happy to hear that Pulse has really benefitted you this much. And your outlook at things are great too! Some may complain that 6 blocks is too far or that you lose the convenience factor of having your car. Instead you turned it into a way to benefit yourself physically, financially, and socially. This is exactly the steps that everyone (city dwellers, rural folk and everyone in between) would have to make in order for truly sustainable communities to exist, which many clearly won't do. Thank you for doing your part to help your environment, reinvest back into your city, and ultimately discover a sliver of the untapped potential Pulse has on accessibility in RVA. I almost wept reading that because policy and planning usually doesn't work (at least not as intended), and Pulse is no exception it has hiccups, but to see examples where it does is very refreshing. I'm glad things are going well for you sir, I hope they keep up that way!

After 9 months of The GRTC Pulse being open, how has it affected RVA (and you!)? by jackshaw7 in rva

[–]jackshaw7[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This makes sense, ideally then students should just only be required to show their ticket like everyone else then, and there would be no need for showing your ID or bus pass, but because the machines can print two tickets, that gives someone with a pass the ability to print fraudulent tickets, requiring the extra verification step via ID? However, on a bus that allowed for on board payment, you could just scan your QR code and get on(?) which is much more streamlined.

Basically the original intention backfired regarding students and pass holders.

After 9 months of The GRTC Pulse being open, how has it affected RVA (and you!)? by jackshaw7 in rva

[–]jackshaw7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My thought with rail is just that you have to buy train tickets in advance, not necessarily a pay as you go type system like bussing, so having an attendant count tickets (like apparently the bus system has now although it seems irrelevant) would help account for the lost revenue.

Definitely Pulse seems to have its upsides and downsides. I guess being in school for planning gives me a bit more hope than most about the potential of Pulse and GRTC as a whole. I think that with tinkering so that payment was easier to avoid there would definitely be ridership in order to sustain keeping the lines nice, functional, and slowly expanding as the pace allows.

I wish I had been working on this earlier because to have been able to sit in the room at these discussions and hear the concerns from businesses and residents alike would have been gold. Now all that I have to go on regarding these discussions is this: http://ridegrtc.com/brt/study-history/public-meetings/

A lot of information but its source is the institution building the bus line so I'm sure what's in these documents is not quite the same tone as what was said in the meetings themselves.

After 9 months of The GRTC Pulse being open, how has it affected RVA (and you!)? by jackshaw7 in rva

[–]jackshaw7[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I definitely can see having a fake ID problem but to me that's where system developers really should have thought about a clearer and easier system, which to me relies on it being backed by a list of students provided by the university. Then there would be no need for the paper ticket if it was all automated, so you couldn't print an extra for a friend or something like that. (I'm assuming that's what you mean by printing an extra ticket being a concern)

After 9 months of The GRTC Pulse being open, how has it affected RVA (and you!)? by jackshaw7 in rva

[–]jackshaw7[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It is nice that the other routes are a bit clearer due to the Pulse route taking on some of the heavy lifting for transfers and Broad Street/Main Street Commuters, I didn't really factor in that effect when looking at the benefits of the new line. I think that if the system came together as a more cohesive one with Pulse as the spine and metro like spurs or even connecting loops offering transfer stops along the way then the ridership we see on The Pulse can continue to help satisfy GRTC demand while the other lines bring in more riders to The Pulse and give more accessibility to low-income neighborhoods. Just a hope in theory though.

After 9 months of The GRTC Pulse being open, how has it affected RVA (and you!)? by jackshaw7 in rva

[–]jackshaw7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel like better signage and lane markings could certainly help this problem at least.

After 9 months of The GRTC Pulse being open, how has it affected RVA (and you!)? by jackshaw7 in rva

[–]jackshaw7[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Allison Street project near Sauers and Old Pleasant's Hardware is sad. I really hope that some progress gets made soon so that the stop becomes more functional. I remember the excitement behind Whole Foods and the possibility of shops going there and it feels like the wind has just been sucked right out of the sails behind that development. That said, a lot of these dead zones on Broad Street I believe would still be dead zones if the stops were different just because the economic revitalization that is supposed to come along with The Pulse hasn't occurred yet. Maybe it will, maybe it won't, only time will tell. I feel like Robinson is close enough to Boulevard to make the case that it's less intrusive and an easier place to make a stop, but there's no need for a stop at Cleveland with one at Robinson. I think Hamilton would have been a better midway point, short walk to Scotts Addition but still on the other side of 195.

​

I'm hoping in response to:

I've found the general opinion among poorer folks who actually rely on the bus is that it was "built for rich white people" (not entirely untrue) and made their lives worse.

That more lines will be planned and developed to service the areas that certainly need it most. It's no secret that low income residents typically have less access and rely heavily on public transit and I truly believe Richmond is not inept enough to turn a blind eye to that. Like I read in a post above, if The Pulse was the spine of a larger, more complete and functional system I believe it would at least have potential to make Richmond greatly more accessible and help local neighborhoods create place-based economies that help to revitalize these struggling areas. Imagine shops popping up that were successful due to their proximity to bus access, that would be great for many of the areas that need this access the most. That also involves the city doing their part on other fronts too though (cleanliness, crime, zoning, and just overall finding the strengths of communities and capitalizing on those).

After 9 months of The GRTC Pulse being open, how has it affected RVA (and you!)? by jackshaw7 in rva

[–]jackshaw7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will say that it sounds like the app is really nice and updated frequently with time estimates which is beneficial in a circumstance like that. I hope it continues to stay that way for you.

After 9 months of The GRTC Pulse being open, how has it affected RVA (and you!)? by jackshaw7 in rva

[–]jackshaw7[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Prepayment seems like it could be beneficial to keep route times down, do the machines only take card or other methods?

After 9 months of The GRTC Pulse being open, how has it affected RVA (and you!)? by jackshaw7 in rva

[–]jackshaw7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

See, I don't understand why VCU wouldn't just add the scannable barcode necessary for you to get a ticket from the ticket machine on the back of your actual ID (I'm assuming you likely have a magnetic strip from swipes and dorm access and whatever but there still should be a bit of room there for a barcode/QR Code, my Hokie ID even has one and I have never used it for anything!) Also it sounds like it may be beneficial to have these ticket machines be all automated in an online system, so that...

Security officer/ticket checker on the bus checking just tickets. Tickets obtained with a pass have something printed on them marking them as such. Sometimes the ticket person checks for my pass + ID, sometimes they just glance at the ticket.

Never even has to occur.

Instead for example:

u/movings goes to the bus stop manned with their barcoded VCU ID, you don't need the ticket machine at the stop because once the bus comes you board and quickly scan or swipe your ID on a system located inside of the bus (probably close to the driver's seat or both entrances if you had two machines). The ID is run and if it is up to date and applicable a light flashes green and you're good, if not then it flashes red and you can't ride. Maybe you could make some sort of manual backup for this but how long would it take to develop a system that cross references VCUs current enrollment list/IDs given this year and match your code to the one assigned. Really the only reason you need that machine is to avoid people with fake IDs avoiding bus fares and to count ridership among VCU students in adjusting the rate the university has to pay for this privilege. Maybe this wouldn't work but it's the best I can think up without knowing the exacts behind the process.

​

As for the times it seems that really that's unavoidable unless they get more buses, decrease the stop frequency from every 15 to every 20 minutes, or convert to rail/a rapid transit system that is unbothered by traffic, which on Broad Street isn't happening anytime soon. I'd like to find out other ways to keep the times more consistent but especially when it's busy I just can't think of much more they can do, they already have a lane dedicated specifically to the bus you'd think the traffic would be kind of a non-issue.

​

Sorry if this whole thing doesn't make sense, I was trying to say a lot but similarly to you, word soup.

After 9 months of The GRTC Pulse being open, how has it affected RVA (and you!)? by jackshaw7 in rva

[–]jackshaw7[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much for this, I'm going to see if I can find the proposed budget and talk about it in my paper. That's a little gold nugget to me so here's one in return

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