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goosey65 t1_iui23q4 wrote

Reply to comment by STREAMOFCONSCIOUSN3S in Woman dead, 7 people sent to hospital after chain-reaction crash on I-95 by deathbeforeupvote

Agreed- the city of Richmond, especially Central (downtown to carytown), does not need to be as car centric as it is. Currently, we are because we cater to cars and the traffic isn’t yet horrendous compared to other cities. The more people move here and use their cars though, this will change.

We can do this though. We have a fairly good bus system when it is able to run at full capacity with drivers (which obviously is a big hurdle, not downplaying that.) We also have a walkable central city area, a small, but growing amount of protected bike lanes, and overall a small city size sq mile wise. I’d love to see someone on council (either current or in the next election cycle) focus on increasing GRTC and other non car options.

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rattylight t1_iui9mew wrote

I would sell my car immediately if there were more efficient bus routes to the west end/Innsbrook area where I work. So many people work in this area - why does it require 2+ transfers and 30 minutes of walking to take the bus from northside to Innsbrook (a 15 minute drive)?

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goosey65 t1_iuiavk6 wrote

For sure- I don’t know why cities always have to choose between making an efficient north to south or east to west bus route. We can have both!! In Austin, it was hell going North to South by bus, while here I find the 20 route really good (when it’s running…) but nothing efficiently going east/west unless you’re doing pulse, which I also know has issues.

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JustDyslexic t1_iuil6fx wrote

Richmond wants to but does that have control of the GRTC board the counties do but it does sound like the surrounding counties are softening on having public transportation

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JosefDerArbeiter t1_iuj12ui wrote

My 15 minute car commute would take 1 hour and 30 minutes if I were to do a combination of walking and taking the bus. That's in a best case scenario and could be longer with delays.

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J-Colio t1_iui5o7v wrote

Can confirm that for an able-bodied individual that downtown is highly walkable. From a transportation standpoint, I can safely walk from rockets landing to carytown, and most North-South's in between. I could cycle a lot of that too, but it'd feel much less safe, honestly.

For mobility impaired individuals who rely on ADA ramps, there's still plenty of work to do. The city has plenty of hills, so they're already in an uphill battle on top of plenty of less than accessible ramps/sidewalks.

From a non-transportation standpoint, some people should carry additional safety measures to protect themselves from other pedestrians - not vehicles. You hear stories... I've heard multiple stories of women even getting harassed while they're in their cars stopped at redlights.

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PayneTrainSG t1_iuic7zu wrote

You'd need the Jeep Wrangler of electric wheelchairs to navigate sidewalks in the rich parts of the city! It's dire as hell out here.

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zensucht0 t1_iuiejwr wrote

The image that popped into my head: An electric wheelchair, lifted, big ass tires, with a spare on the back that says (upside-down) "if you can read this roll me over".

Probably going to hell for that one, but it did make me laugh.

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goosey65 t1_iui87zj wrote

Agreed!

Also, by increasing easier non car options for able bodied folks who can use walking, biking, or the bus-it frees about the road for people who need to drive or rely on cars for basic mobility.

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Fit-Order-9468 t1_iuil1bq wrote

>For mobility impaired individuals who rely on ADA ramps, there's still plenty of work to do. The city has plenty of hills, so they're already in an uphill battle on top of plenty of less than accessible ramps/sidewalks.

Hardly the only thing to do, but expanding the CARE program would be great, especially later into the evenings. It's basically a shuttle service. Being in a wheelchair doesn't mean you don't want to get a drink or go to a punk show.

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___zero__cool___ t1_iuj37b8 wrote

That’s a really good point! How late does the CARE program operate right now? If VCU can chauffeur students around in the Ram Ride bus thing at 2am there’s no reason our city can’t do the same for our own residents.

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sirensinger17 t1_iuiynpb wrote

Oh God, the harassment in downtown is terrible. I used to walk to work. It was a 10 minute commute. My record so far is 5 harassers in 10 minutes. And these guys were graphic. I had just left a night shift at VCU and was wearing messy scrubs and a facial expression that yelled "murder"

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Ese_Americano t1_iujgijt wrote

Linear time trend forecasts suggest that by 2030, 51% of the US population will be obese or severely obese

Pray for high prices if we want a more-walkable RVA; a debt-based ever-inflating currency won’t save us.

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autotelica t1_iuil9mg wrote

I was riding my bike on the sidewalk downtown on Main Street the other day and noticed that the curb cuts for a long stretch were only in one direction. Like, ideally you should have a curb cut if you want to cross Main heading south and a curb cut if you want to go west. But all the curb cuts I saw were to the south, which was inconvenient for me since I was heading west. It would have really sucked if I had been in a wheel chair.

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