Chesapeake, VA – I started riding transit as an adult in Italy. I worked as a Latin teacher during my career, and on a few occasions I was able to participate in summer study programs and other opportunities for teachers that gave me grant and scholarship money to go to big cities like Rome, smaller suburbs of Naples, and rural areas in southern Italy. Despite not knowing the language, riding the buses and trains made me realize what a joy it is when you can get around without having to deal with the craziness of traffic. As somebody who has never really liked driving, this experience made me think differently about my life back home.
But when I came back to the US, I found it difficult to use transit the way I had in Italy. Whether I was living in Gardner, Massachusetts or Pasquotank County, North Carolina, public transportation didn’t run frequently enough or go to enough places, if it existed at all. It took me moving to Chesapeake, Virginia, to find a transit system that had enough service for me. Although Hampton Roads Transit (HRT) isn’t perfect, even the once-an-hour bus frequencies helped me get around my community, from dance classes to fun trips to Virginia Beach that my husband would sometimes accompany me for. And although we didn’t know it yet, that familiarity with transit would come to save us.
In 2024, both my husband and I had some health problems. Within the space of a few months I had fainting spells and he had a stroke. I ended up having to get a pacemaker, and while I was going in for that surgery, the cardiologist told me I wouldn’t be able to drive for six months. That meant that for four months, neither of us could drive. Without the ability to walk to transit, and our knowledge of how to use transit before we needed it, getting around would have been just another source of stress on top of supporting each other through our health issues and having to deal with my medical bills. When people tell me they’ll never use transit, I share this story and tell them that never is a long time, and that it never hurts to know about another way to get around.
That doesn’t mean that transit here is perfect. If I want to go to Virginia Beach, it can take me three hours or more to get there. If I want to take the first Amtrak in the morning out of Norfolk station or arrive on the last Amtrak back in the evening, transit doesn’t serve that trip. If I want to take transit to the airport, the nearest bus stop is a mile-and-a-half away. And if you have an hourly bus that’s running late or doesn’t come at all, it’s not just stressful, but jeopardizes your ability to make connections to the other buses. Sometimes you can even see the bus you’re trying to transfer to across the street, but you’re not able to get there in time.
I’d love to see the bus come every 15 minutes, because that would help people use it more. We’ve had some improvements since I started riding—the hours are more extended, we have some limited Sunday service, and there are more bus shelters—but I’m not the person I’m most worried about. HRT’s own studies show that most of their riders are taking the bus to work or doctor’s appointments, who may not have the means to use alternative systems. One of my fellow bus riders told me that she’s a single mother who can’t afford a car, so the buses only coming once an hour means getting her kids to school, making it to work on time, and taking her kids to the doctor means she has to take large amounts of time off of work. If we had more service, faster regional trip times, and better regional connectivity, her life and my life would be a lot easier.