VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) – A new rideshare option just got the greenlight for the Bayside area of Virginia Beach.
Virginia Beach City Council voted 10-0 Tuesday night to approve an ordinance that OKs a 20% matching local grant for the project.
The service, through Microtransit from Hampton Roads Transit, could launch as early as this fall. The program would charge passengers $2 per ride and pair riders traveling on the same path through an app. A vehicle will then pick up riders at a virtual nearby bus stop.
Council meanwhile scrubbed part of the original ordinance that called for a similar program at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, saying constituents there wanted a different transit option from the one from HRT. This comes after council opted to not reup a similar ride-share service in the Oceanfront area from Miami-based Freebee earlier this year.
“There’s nothing wrong with the HRT proposal, but it does not necessarily meet the needs of our resort or tourists,” said Councilman Worth Remick.
Though the city could use the grant funding secured by HRT at a later date on a second service area, per Ray Amoruso, HRT’s chief planning and development officer.
The idea of the project dates back to 2020, when the Transportation District Commission of Hampton Roads adopted the Transit Strategic Plan for Hampton Roads Transit. The plan included identifying areas in Virginia Beach where microtransit could be useful.
In 2022, Virginia Beach and Newport News took part in a six-month pilot program to see if ride shares could improve mobility.
“Wait time of less than 15 minutes, averaging 11 minutes,” said an HRT representative during a July 9 city council meeting about the program. “The average ride rating was nearly 5, the perfect score.”
HRT said data showed 13,037 total ride requests in Virginia Beach, and 26,258 in Newport News. In addition, it showed there was a higher demand in the afternoons for both cities.
During the pilot program, the ride share vehicle was a van.
The Microtransit program is being funded through a larger Transit Ridership Incentive Program (TRIP) grant, which HRT applied for back in 2021. The grant would cover three months of launch efforts and a year of service.
The grant is for $3.5 million. The state provides 80% ($2,800,000), and 20% of the money would come from the participating cities, Virginia Beach and Newport News.
Virginia Beach’s Bayside area (Zone A) includes several major stops, including Pembroke/Town Center and Virginia Wesleyan.
Virginia Beach (Zone A)
- 15 square miles.
- Centered along Independence Ave.
- Shore Drive from Fort Story to the Bayside Recreation Center and on to the Pembroke area.
- It would extend to Newtown Road and Virginia Wesleyan University.
Meanwhile, here’s the zone for Newport News’ microtransit program.
Newport News (Zone B)
- 20 square miles
- West of Warwick Blvd.
- It’s expected to start by the end of Aug. 2024.
Under the original proposal, Virginia Beach would have paid a total of $466,000 for the Bayside and Oceanfront programs, using $233,000 from the General Fund and $233,000 from the Tourism Investment Program Fund. WAVY’s working to clarify what the new funding amount will be.