HAMPTON, Va. — National and local transit officials convened at the Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton this week for the biennial State of Transit conference, a gathering focused on the future of public transportation across the region.
While the mood was optimistic, leaders acknowledged the long road to recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic, which dealt a major blow to transit ridership nationwide.
“There’s been a great, great rebound in terms of ridership for transit,” said Paul Skoutelas, President and CEO of the American Public Transportation Association (APTA).
Skoutelas noted that nationwide ridership levels are now approaching pre-pandemic numbers, a milestone that signals renewed public trust in mass transit systems.
With momentum returning, Skoutelas emphasized the need for substantial federal investment.
“We will be proposing to Congress $138 billion over five years for public transit,” he said. “And an additional $130 billion over the next five years for both freight and passenger rail,” he said.
While federal funding remains a key focus, local agencies face a different challenge: how to translate those dollars into increased ridership.
To explore how collaboration can drive growth, News spoke with several regional transit leaders together about how they work across city and county lines to streamline service.
“Our passengers don’t know where the boundaries begin and end between cities and counties,” Said Matthew Scalia, Executive Director of the Williamsburg Area Transit Authority. “So let’s try to make it as easy as possible, and that only comes from collaboration.”
A major theme of the conference centered on two strategies: adopting new technologies and enhancing the passenger experience. These include improvements to shelters, mobile payment systems, and real-time service updates, all aimed at making public transportation more accessible and appealing.
“Improving shelters, improving technology in terms of how you can pay — the bottom line is we have to remember the importance of our customers and what that means to the system,” said William Harrell, President and CEO of Hampton Roads Transit.
Another key takeaway: innovation in one area can inspire action elsewhere. Leaders from Suffolk, for example, are watching Hampton Roads Transit’s (HRT) microtransit system closely. As a reminder, HRT says this is a flexible, on-demand option designed for areas where fixed-route buses may not be viable.
“Suffolk is a very large city, and there are places where fixed route is not a viable option,” said Maria Ptakowski, Suffolk’s Transit Manager. “But you have people who still need to get places. Sometimes, that on-demand or microtransit option that connects to fixed routes can open up a whole new world for people.”
As the public transit conversation continues, News 3 plans to follow up with these leaders one-on-one to dig deeper into their strategies and how they aim to move transit forward, one rider at a time.