GRTC Pulse

GRTC BRT Line
Overview
System	Greater Richmond Transit Company
Status	Under-construction
Began service	2018 (projected)
Predecessors	Richmond Union Passenger Railway GRTC Line 6
Routes
Routes	1
Locale	Richmond, Virginia
Start	Willow Lawn
End	Rockett's Landing
Stations	15
Service
Daily ridership	3,300 (projected)
Route map In Henrico County: Willow Lawn In Richmond on Broad Street: Staples Mill US 33 Cleveland I‑195 Robinson Allison Shafer US 301 Adams Street 4th or 5th Street 6th Street 9th Street 12th Street On Main Street: Main Street Station I‑95 25th Street Route 5 Rocketts Landing This diagram: ← {{{previous_line}}}  {{{system_nav}}}  {{{next_line}}} →

The GRTC Pulse (often abbreviated as The Pulse) is an under-construction bus rapid transit line in Richmond, Virginia. The line will be along Broad Street and Main Street starting at The Shops at Willow Lawn, and will go down to Rockett's Landing. Once the service opens, it will be the third bus rapid transit service to open in Virginia, and the first rapid mass transit service to service Richmond since 1949.

Before, the bus rapid transit, the city's fulcrum of transit was served by conventional buses run by the Greater Richmond Transit Company. Bus service in the city began on February 1, 1923 and became the main mode of public transportation through the city in 1949. From 1888 until 1949, the city was also served by streetcars via the Richmond Union Passenger Railway.

Original plans for rapid transit in Richmond originated as early as the 1990s, with case studies for light rail and bus rapid transit being studied by the City of Richmond. In 2003, Richmond's Department of Transportation conducted a two-year feasibility study on commuter and light rail in the Greater Richmond Region. The studies found that the lines would be moderately successful, but population in Richmond was not dense enough to demand either said service. Since the studies, other independent groups have begun their own series of studies given Richmond's higher than expected population growth and the region's expected population growth.

In 2010, formal studies began to test the feasibility of a bus rapid transit line, rather than light rail line. The decision to pursue BRT rather than LRT prompted mostly negative reactions from the community, who primarily preferred light rail over bus rapid transit. The Greater Richmond Transit Company has remained open about upgrade the Pulse's initial line to a light rail line in the foreseeable future, should ridership dictate capacity beyond that a BRT system. Feasibility studies, stakeholder analysis, alternative assessments, and environmental impact studies, research was complete in mid-2014.

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