The RUMS free ride

Why isn’t there already a free shuttle bus service running a loop from VCU Medical Center to VCU Monroe Campus, to Virginia Union, to the Museum District, to the University of Richmond and back again?

It seems to me like there ought to be.

The shuttle bus could stop at a dozen-or-so appointed places in linking up Richmond’s three universities, its Arts District and several of its key museums.

Let’s see, the bus stops might go like this: VCU Medical Center, Carpenter Center, City Library, November Theater, VCU/ICA (a work-in-progress), VCU/Library, Virginia Union, Science Museum, VMFA, Cary Court, Grove and Libbie Avenues, UR/Modlin Center, UR/Commons … then back the way you came. Free WiFi. Of course, free tourist pamphlets and brochures with savings coupons would be available.

Buy a few small green-friendly buses and have them running every half-hour from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. on weekdays. Maybe a truncated schedule after 7 p.m. until 11 p.m. and on weekends. Perhaps special stops to accommodate some college sports events could be made. Coffee, bottled water, granola bar snacks, etc., for sale.

What if it all got set up by wealthy corporations (that need to do good deeds) and governmental grants? After all, why wouldn't our community's leaders with vision want to see students and workers and families of tourists able to move about Richmond's cultural loop freely? 

Maybe the GRTC could adjust its operation to shift some of its resources out of that corridor.

If it was safe and dependable, wouldn’t a lot of people and businesses in the metro area benefit from such a system being in place? What about a free ride on a Richmond University/Museum Shuttle?

RUMS.