VCU needs to put the ‘public’ back in public transportation

Alex White, Contributing Writer

The beginning of the semester at VCU means new students, new departmental changes and apparently a new desire to divest from one of the best public transit services in the nation: GRTC. 

The university has rolled out a new shuttle service, RamsXpress, to run between the Monroe Park and MCV campuses — and it’s exclusive to VCU students, staff and faculty. Amidst mounting student and community outcry, these changes add yet another layer of insulation between VCU and the broader Richmond community.

But why? 

I am not asking why VCU divested — that much is clear. The funding, which amounted to a little over $1.2 million in 2025, was only ever intended to assist individuals associated with VCU, according to VPM News. Other Richmonders enjoying the same privilege was an incidental benefit.

The contract struck between VCU and the GRTC, first signed in 2018 and renewed through July 2025, gave affiliated students and faculty access to GRTC buses at no cost. In 2020, a combination of state and federal grants, in addition to VCU funding, allowed the transit service to offer fare-free rides to the whole city. 

With the new RamsXpress route bridging the gap between campuses this year, continued funding for the GRTC was just not worth it for VCU anymore. 

It should not be surprising that a university prioritizes its students over the surrounding population. It is even less shocking that an institution driven by revenue would go for the cheapest option to solve a problem.

The “why” for VCU is pretty well understood, so here is my actual question — why do we, as members of this community, accept unreliable settlements to fund an essential resource like the GRTC? Why don’t we fight harder to put the “public” back in public services?

The money is there. VCU would not even necessarily have to contribute, but I would argue it should — not in donations of convenience and goodwill, but by paying its fair share in taxes.

VCU and VCU Health are two of the most prominent institutions in the Richmond area, and combined, they employed over 21,000 people in 2024. They are also tax-exempt on the federal and state levels. In their 2024 financial statement, VCU reported an unrestricted net position of a little under $120 million, a whopping 8% of the total $1.5 billion held by VCU. Essentially, this $120 million is available for whatever the university wants to spend it on, including a hypothetical GRTC fund. 

We could sit here and do the math on exactly how minuscule $1.2 million is to the enormity of VCU’s finances. We would need scientific notation for that, though, and even then that number would not really mean anything. Not to VCU, not to GRTC and certainly not to the rest of Richmond. 

The fact that this funding was up to revenue discretion in the first place is the real issue underlying all of this — to make public transportation dependable, it needs to be publicly funded. 

Despite operating as a not-for-profit public entity, VCU rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue annually. If Richmond taxed VCU at the same 6% rate they do for other corporations then the city would have more than enough to keep the GRTC’s zero-fare initiative alive. 

With the taxes Richmond is not receiving from VCU, not only could we be funding a bus service, we could also be funding other beautification and infrastructure renovations to make a net improvement in the lives of all Richmonders. This would obviously not be a one-and-done solution — the government at any level is not exempt from corruption or poor decision-making, but a step in the right direction is still progress.

Right now, the future of bus fares in Richmond is still up in the air, but according to the 2026 GRTC budget, zero-fare buses will continue through July of next year. By then, the transit service hopes to secure new funding from other donors to fill the hole VCU left.

Even if another private donor steps in, the problem will only be kicked down the road. At some point, it is time to stop praying for the benevolence of a profit-motivated organization and instead start working to find a more sustainable, reliable and most importantly public option.