NORFOLK, Va. — Tuesday night, Norfolk City Council approved a resolution to redesign the city's public bus routes through the Hampton Roads Transit system.
"We'll be keeping the same number of buses, same number of drivers, same hours of service, but operating more frequently on major routes," Norfolk's Director of Transit Amy Inman told 13News Now Tuesday ahead of the council meeting.
The overhaul, which is the result of years of public input and work, reshapes the frequency that buses stop along the city's major bus routes, with the hope of reducing wait times from as much as an hour to as little as 15 minutes between buses.
"The service has been in place for decades. There have been modifications, some changes. But really going in and looking at the service and how it's working for people today and how it's serving the land use versus when the service was implemented several decades ago, that hasn't happened," Inman said.
According to Inman, the city and HRT can now move forward with implementing the re-designed bus system, and the redesign could shape by early 2023.
"It means something. Frequency and service matter to people."
More information can be found on the city's Multimodal Transportation Master Plan, helping define the future of the city's transportation system.