The Roanoker May/June 2023 - 116

transportation
SENATOR EDWARDS' BABY
Virginia State Senator John Edwards of
Roanoke has been a leading proponent for
public transportation for some years now and
his baby has been born a-screamin'. So much
of what the 79-year-old, six-term senator has
envisioned for public transportation in the
Roanoke Valley has come to pass, much of it
recently.
Bus service in Roanoke has a new station;
train passenger service returned a few years
ago, then added a second Amtrak train in 2022.
A Christiansburg train station is envisioned by
2026. He continues to push for priority to be
placed on efficient, environmentally-friendly
intermodal truck traffic, but that doesn't
involve passengers. It's the passenger service
that excites him.
" We are making serious progress and I'm
very pleased with that, " he says. " We improved
bus service in 2011, trains in 2017 and 2022.
To get train service, we thought we might need
55,000 riders. We got 125,000 the first year,
225,000 the next. Then the pandemic slowed
it down, but between the fall of 2019 and last
fall, 2022, ridership jumped 65%, the best in
the Commonwealth. I'm pleased with how it
picked up so dramatically. "
As with so much of what the Virginia
General Assembly does, money is a primary
obstacle, says Edwards. States, like Tennessee,
are blocking high-speed rail and are slowing
efforts to expand Amtrak's Roanoke service
to Bristol (and Knoxville, Nashville and
Memphis), for example. But extended service
to Christiansburg and Virginia Tech can mean
huge benefits for the region, especially when
it connects to the new Amazon facility in
Alexandria (which has tracks just outside the
proposed headquarters), says Edwards.
The value and the diminished environmental
impact of train travel is finally making
their way into the public consciousness. " Train
travel is so much cheaper and environmentally
friendly than roads, " says Edwards. " Trains get
500 miles per gallon/ton, while roads get 33. "
There is plenty of room and will to expand,
Edwards says. " It's not near saturation. I see an
increasing amount of interest; people are tired
of fighting I-81. They would much prefer to
take a train ... unless they're flying. I have a
bill this year that would require the railways to
notify officials if they are abandoning track, so
passenger services could buy it. " -DS
116 May/June 2023
shelters, as well
as accessibility. "
There are issues that aren't
always obvious. Says Hartman,
" I know people who would love
to ride the bus, but feel they can't
afford it-but it's not the ticket
price that is the concern. It's the
my colleagues
" Our top priority
is better service for
existing riders. "
LAURA HARTMAN,
BUS RIDER ADVOCATES OF ROANOKE
and students)
would use the SmartWay
bus if it went to Radford. Unfortunately,
its route stops at Virginia Tech. I've often
wondered why. It would be a
smarter, safer, more productive
and environmentally healthy
way to travel to work. "
Hetty Hoyt lives downtown
with her husband and walks
or cycles to the gym, church,
library, City Market, etc. She
says she feels " like we're doing
our small part to make a little
lighter carbon footprint. " The
former book publisher and
college administrator says, " We
find the trolley a godsend. It's
one of the reasons we relocated
to downtown Roanoke so that
our disabled son could commute
to work on his own. He
'time tax' levied on all riders. ...
The bus moves more slowly than
cars " and the frequency of buses
means lost time.
Andrea Garland of Ride
Solutions mentions that there
has been a lot of discussion about
the primary issues of bus travel,
including expansion throughout
the region. " Valley Metro has
been working on this, " she says,
" and more amenities have been
implemented recently. "
Samantha Steidle, who lives in
Roanoke, but works at Radford
University, says, " I (and many of
rides the trolley every day. And we love Amtrak
and use it to travel to New York City and D.C.
We're a two-block walk from the Amtrak station
and it adds much to downtown livability.
" As those of us of a certain age become less
and less enamored of driving and flying, it's
great to have these options. " Hoyt's son, Alex,
launched Amtrak's onboard magazine The
National a few years ago.
And finally, to:
TRAINS
Roanoke has become a virtual case study for
the national importance of rail passenger
TheRoanoker.com
DAN SMITH
http://www.TheRoanoker.com
The Roanoker May/June 2023

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