ODU Student and Hampton Roads Blogger reviews HRMPO Transportation Meeting

by Russell Manning (including photo credit)
WVEC News 13 interviews meeting participants. HRP’s Executive VP, Donna Morris, also in attendance, can be seen in the background.

Representatives from Hampton Roads Transit, Williamsburg Area Transit, VDOT, and other transportation specialists were on hand at the HRMPO Public Meeting. Speaker, Michael Townes, President/CEO of HRT, hit home with his message that now is the time for regional mass transportation action.

Mr. Townes believes that everyone should be able to choose their mode of transportation. Choice is an ‘American Value,’ and that, currently, if you don’t drive, you’re out of luck in Hampton Roads.

He said that HRT, while willing and able, is unable to increase frequency and duration of bus service due to reliance on funding from the cities.

Apparently Hampton Roads’ method of individual city payments to HRT is unique in that it is funded by property tax revenues, something not done anywhere else in the country. Transit Organizations elsewhere have a dedicated funding system, so that property owners do not pay the majority of money funding mass transit.

Mr. Townes also called HRT “an amazing success,” and, thanks to the cities’ support, Hampton Roads pays substantially less than other areas pay for similar services.

Vince Jackson, VP of Planning for HRT, spoke on land use, stating that for mass transit to work most effectively, every locality in Hampton Roads needed to work together to develop land use patterns that were less conducive to single occupancy vehicles and more conducive to mass transit.

Mr. Matthew Huston, engineer for HNTB, the planning firm responsible for the Transit Plan, spoke. Mr. Huston said that current development patterns were unacceptable for the future and made it difficult for planners to create effective mass transit solutions, pointing out that whatever the solution was, it had to be multi-modal.

Comments and questions followed with most comments referring to precisely what users would want in a mass transportation system: fewer transfers, longer hours of operation, and ease of use.

Russell, a junior in the Political Science major at ODU, was named by Hampton Roads Magazine as a Top Ten Blogger in the region, and we thank him for his insightful report. http://757HamptonRoads.blogspot.com