Why is the City Bus So Slow?

Welcome to What’s Next, Richmond? (WNR) This week we investigate factors that make the GRTC bus slower than other means of transportation, and discuss ways to improve it.

Many readers are familiar with the challenges of traveling by bus in Richmond.

For nearly any bus trip in the City, the total travel time is often only faster than walking.

As an example, here are Google Maps’ time estimates for a trip between the terminus points of the GRTC 14 bus. Driving a car is nearly 5 times faster than riding the bus despite the fact that this route is directly served by a single bus, no transfers required.

Retrieved from Google Maps

The interstate highway is, of course, a contributing factor to these stark differences. While the bus travels on local roads, a car is able to travel at significantly faster speeds by taking the interstate. Speed of the vehicle, however, is not the only major contributing factor to the difference in travel times.

To get a better understanding of the differences I (with the help of a friend) drove along the exact route of the 14 bus during the morning commute period, and it took about 29 minutes. On a different day (but the same departure time) I rode the 14 bus from end to end and for a total travel time of about 54 minutes, which is nearly twice as long despite the identical route.

This still leaves the question- why does the bus still take so much longer than a car even when you eliminate the highway as a factor? Many readers may expect the difference to be that the bus spends dramatically more time picking up passengers along the route. Based on my findings, however, the biggest difference between traveling by bus and by car is the amount of time spent waiting at stoplights.

Comparing Apples to Apples

Analyzing the amount of time spent at traffic signals, bus stops, and in motion while traveling by car versus by bus

The GRTC 14 bus is an arterial line that connects major destinations in the Northside with Downtown, providing connections at VUU and VCU campuses along the way.

Retrieved from ridegrtc.com

While driving and riding between the terminus points of GRTC’s route 14, I kept track of two variables: time spent in motion, and time spent stopped. For the car trip, the only reason I had to stop was for traffic signals. On the bus I kept track of the amount of time spent at traffic lights as well as the amount of time spent at bus stops.

The table below summarizes the two trips:

Notice that though the bus is slower in each of the three categories, the most dramatic difference is the extra 13:53 the bus spent waiting at traffic signals. This isn’t to say that the bus spent more time at any given traffic signal, but rather that the bus was stopped by more traffic signals. Of the 51 signals (by my count) that exist along the 14’s route, the bus had to stop at 26 of them whereas the car was only stopped by 15 total lights.

The primary reason for this difference is signal timing. Traffic signals are generally set up to optimize the number of consecutive green lights a vehicle can experience along the route. This pattern is ideal for cars trying to pass through the City quickly, but is less ideal for buses.

The average time spent at a single bus stop during my ride on the 14 bus was 19 seconds. Though these short stops alone had a minor impact on the overall travel time, they were enough to cause the bus to miss out on the consecutive green light signal pattern.

Each time the bus stopped to drop off or pick up passengers, it would then have to wait at a subsequent stoplight for the traffic signal pattern to reset.

It’s worth asking the question: Why do we employ a traffic signal pattern where the bus, a vehicle carrying an average of 18 passengers, has to have a longer travel time than personal vehicles with an average capacity of 1.5 people?

As it turns out, the City of Richmond and the GRTC are currently partnering on a potential solution that could optimize both forms of transportation.

Transit Signal Priority

A traffic management system that both allows consecutive green lights for cars and reduces the amount of time buses spend at red lights.

In a recent correspondence with a traffic engineer for the Richmond Department of Public Works I learned that the City will soon have a network of 100 traffic signals that will be capable of a system called “Transit Signal Priority” (TSP).

In other localities, such as Alexandria, TSP works to reduce transit travel times by holding green lights for incoming buses, and reducing the length of red lights when a bus does have to stop.

In an ideal scenario, the traffic signal detects an incoming bus and ensures that the signal is at the green phase by the time that the bus arrives. If that isn’t possible, the system can also “truncate” the duration of a red light. Outside of detecting an incoming bus, the traffic signals remain at their current pattern that prioritizes consecutive green lights for cars.

For the 14 bus, which spends over 40% of its total travel time waiting at stoplights, this could lead to significant time savings. TSP does not, however, completely eliminate traffic signal wait times.

D.C.’s Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (WMATA) estimates that their TSP system leads to an average time savings of 5 to 15 seconds per intersection. For the 51 traffic signals along the 14 bus’ route, that would amount to between 4 and 13 minutes of total travel time reduction.

Though the Richmond is in the process of increasing the capacity for TSP in the City, the GRTC’s Pulse Rapid Transit Line actually already uses a TSP system. That being said, it is currently only used in the limited capacity of assisting buses in maintaining on-time performance.

According to Patricia Robinson, GRTC’s Assistant Manager of Planning and Scheduling, TSP is currently used “To keep the bus running on schedule, not to make [the bus] move through the City as fast as humanly possible.” Essentially, TSP is currently used on the Pulse line exclusively when the bus is running behind schedule or at risk of bunching too close to another Pulse bus. Outside of these circumstances, the Pulse does not receive any TSP interventions.

Though this is the current GRTC perspective on TSP, it could be possible to not only to improve reliability of the existing schedules, but to also reduce the overall travel time for the bus budgeted into the schedule. This is the perspective that the City of Alexandria takes, stating that their goals of TSP are to “keep buses on schedule, improve travel times, and make buses a more efficient and enjoyable travel option.” Washington D.C.’s WMATA also suggests using TSP as an “absolute” intervention, allowing all transit vehicles to receive signal priority rather than just those that are running behind schedule.

Why a More Efficient Bus Service Matters

Ways in which a faster bus service both attracts more riders and leads to cost savings.

In a previous article, we talked about ways in which a vibrant transportation system leads to improvements for the entire city, including increasing investment, reducing congestion, and improving air quality. Making the bus more efficient increases the number of people who want to ride the bus, which in turn multiplies these positive benefits the bus service provides.

A more efficient bus service can also reduce the cost to maintain bus service on a single route. Consider once again GRTC’s route 14. According to the GRTC Transit Strategic Plan, seven buses are required during peak hours for the 14 bus route (Section 2-6, Table 2-4). Recall that, by our numbers, each individual 14 bus spends more than 40% of the time stopped at traffic lights. By using TSP to reduce the total time a bus spends waiting, the GRTC could provide the same level of service along route 14 using fewer buses. This would cut down on fuel, labor, and equipment costs.

Decreasing the number of buses required to maintain service also opens up a different option: use the same number of buses, but improve the service frequency. If a bus can more quickly complete its route, then it is also more quickly available to return in the opposite direction. If each of the seven buses assigned to GRTC’s route 14 can complete their full run in less time, then the GRTC could possibly offer a higher frequency of service without needing additional buses or drivers.

The Richmond Connects Near Term Action Plan, a cohesive document that outlines transportation goals and projects over the next 10 years in Richmond, mentions service improvements on the 14 bus. In a category referred to as “Short Term/ First Steps Projects,” the action plan states a goal to increase the “frequency of GRTC Route 14 from 30 minutes to 15 minutes.”

Retrieved from the Richmond Connects Near Term Action Plan, p. 138

Despite being labeled as a “First Step Project” in the Near Term Action Plan (Adopted in March of 2024), increased service on route 14 was not included in the most recent FY2026 GRTC service expansion plan. This means that the earliest possible date for increased frequency on route 14 would be in the 2027 financial year, and the GRTC’s Transit Strategic Plan doesn’t even suggest funding it until 2031 (Section 3-64).

Though money has not been set aside for increasing the frequency of the 14 bus, perhaps TSP could lead to the same goal without needing additional funding. By reducing the amount of “dead time” the 14 bus spends at traffic lights, the GRTC could achieve better bus frequencies (say service every 20 minutes instead of 30 minutes) without needing to allocate more money from the overall budget.

It’s worth noting that the GRTC Operations Department sees TSP as “One ingredient towards an overall solution,” rather than a silver bullet to improve bus travel times. For the GRTC, TSP is a tool that integrates into other possible interventions such as moving bus stops to more ideal locations, dedicated bus lanes, and service expansion to create an overall better bus system. The GRTC is already in the process of studying such interventions to achieve this goal.

Why The 14 Bus?

Closing insights on why the 14 bus was worth studying and writing about

There are several bus lines in Richmond that have higher ridership than GRTC’s Route 14. Of all of the local lines in Richmond (a category that excludes the Pulse), the 14 bus ranks 8th in terms of yearly ridership according to the GRTC Transit Strategic Plan (Table 2-5)

Retrieved from the GRTC Transit Strategic Plan, Table 2-5.

Some higher-ranked bus lines, such as the 12, also only offer service every 30 minutes.

To me, the 14 bus is significant because of the future connections that it will provide. Richmond’s new Carmax Park, for example, will open for the 2026 baseball season. The new ballpark will be followed shortly after by the subsequent phases of the City's Diamond District mixed-use development.

On March 14th Kevin Vonck, Director of Richmond’s Department of Planning, shared a vision for the Diamond District where “Cars are welcome, but they aren’t the primary focus for moving around the district” (Speaking at the Richmond Bizsense Future of the Diamond District Event). Despite this, there are only two bus lines that serve the Diamond District: GRTC’s Route 20 and Route 14. Both bus lines only operate at 30 minute or 60 minute frequencies depending on the day and time.

The 14 bus is also the only GRTC route that provides a direct connection between VCU Main Campus and the under-construction VCU Athletic Village across from the Diamond District. At the same Diamond District event where Vonck spoke in March, Ed McLaughlin (VCU’s Athletic Director), shared that the Athletic Village will be open to the general public, not just VCU athletes. This means that the greater Diamond District Region could expect to see a significant increase in traffic in the coming years, and a robust bus system could help reduce the possibility of the new region becoming gridlocked by car traffic.

In order to allow Richmonders to easily travel to these upcoming destinations without the use of a car, we will need to improve the bus frequency to make alternative transportation more viable. I believe that Transit Signal Priority could play a low-cost role in achieving this goal.

Thanks for reading!

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