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The GRTC Pulse (often abbreviated as The Pulse) is a planned 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. == History == 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 from 1888 to 1949. 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. In late 2014, GRTC unveiled the first set of bus rapid transit plans, which involved several stations stretching from Willow Lawn down to Rocketts Landing. The Main Street Station would serve as the central transportation hub for the Pulse, linking the line with Amtrak, Transdominion Express, Megabus and Central Virginia Express. On March 17, 2015, GRTC announced that the line would be called the Pulse. The project team is currently working in the Preliminary Engineering Phase which will be completed by July 31, 2015. The team is also working to contract with a Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) construction firm who will work hand-in-hand with architectural designers to finalize the design of the project. That project delivery method will allow GRTC to begin early construction commitments by June 2016, approximately three to four months prior to design completion. Construction will last until August 2017. Between September 2017 and October 2017, BRT operations will be tested and accepted. Final BRT operations will begin by October 2017. The project has an estimated construction cost of $53 million to provide service from Willow Lawn in the west to Rocketts Landing in the east, including fourteen stations and over three miles of dedicated travel lanes. Half of the final design and construction costs come from the federal TIGER grant ($24.9 Million). The other half come in the form of a 50% match funded by both state and local sources. The Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) will provide 34% ($16.9 Million) with the remaining 16% provided by the City of Richmond ($7.6 Million) and Henrico County ($400,000). Operation of the service is estimated to cost $2.7 million per year. Some of the operating cost would be covered by fares and the remainder to be provided annually from yet to be determined local funding sources.〔http://www.ridegrtc.com/brt/study-history〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「GRTC Pulse」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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