RICHMOND, Va. — A free shuttle trolley service will help connect Church Hill to Willow Lawn this Christmas shopping season. The holiday service, made possible in part by a partnership between the Ford Motor Company and VCU, is part of a test run to check the effectiveness of the trolley service. If successful, an ongoing trolley service program could start in early 2015.
The holiday service is scheduled to run Friday, November 28, Sunday, November 30, Friday, December 5, and Sunday, December 7 from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.
“While a similar route using GRTC typically takes over an hour and a half to travel from Church Hill to Willow Lawn, the Green Ride RVA Trolley will be an express route and each transit should last just over 25 minutes. The Green Ride RVA Trolley will arrive in either Church Hill or at Willow Lawn approximately every hour,” Federal Realty Investment Trust Senior Marketing Manager Sarah North wrote in a press release.
Pickup locations in Church Hill are:
31st Street Baptist Church
823 N. 31st Street
Richmond, VA 23223
New Light Baptist Church
2000 East Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23223
Mount Carmel Baptist Church
3200 E. Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23223
Route schedules will be posted at pickup locations and updated in real time via Twitter using the hashtag #greenriderva.
“Given Richmond, Virginia was the site of the very first successful trolley system in the world demonstrated originally in May 1888, it is only fitting the trolleys return to service in their birthplace,” Buck Ward, President of RVA Trolley, said. “We are very pleased and privileged to support VCU and its partners in such an important community project.”
