Molly Manning, Managing Editor
Heciel Nieves Bonilla, News Editor
Andrew Kerley, Executive Editor
The RamsXpress saw an average of five riders at a time last semester — as city buses are operating at capacity, and the Greater Richmond Transit Company continues its search to fund the fare free operation VCU divested from.
VCU introduced the RamsXpress, a shuttle between the Monroe Park and MCV campuses, in August, as their contract to fund GRTC expired, according to a previous report by the CT.
During the fall 2025 semester, RamsXpress had 18,317 total riders — faculty and students — with about 1,000 riders per week, or roughly 200 per day, according to VCU Parking & Transportation director Josh Stone.
The RamsXpress does not duplicate GRTC routes, and currently has 2 buses running from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. between the Monroe Park and MCV campuses. Depending on traffic, each bus reaches both campuses 40-48 times per day, according to Stone. Though that number is subject to change based on how long the bus waits for riders at each stop.
Using the 200 riders per day and 40-48 stops at each campus per day estimates, the average number of RamsXpress riders at any given time is five or fewer. Though the majority of people ride between 8-9 a.m. and 11 a.m.-2 p.m.
“Overall, we are pleased with the program. The buses should be wrapped soon with the ‘RamsXpress’ brand so they will have a fun, new look,” Stone stated.
In contrast, GRTC Pulse buses, which share a similar route between VCU’s campuses, are nearly always full or at max capacity.
Between August and December 2025 — roughly the Fall 2025 Semester — GRTC’s Pulse had 876,148 total riders, an average of 175,230 per month or 43,807 per week, according to GRTC spokesperson Ashley Potter.
Potter said the buses are “pretty consistently standing room only.” In the current schedule, the Pulse makes about 188 trips every weekday and has approximately 312 passenger boardings every hour.
Though GRTC buses serve the Richmond community as a whole, not VCU students exclusively, many students rely on the public option for transportation.
Creative advertising student Dru Sweet has heard of but never used RamsXpress. She rides the public bus regularly.
Sweet said she would choose GRTC buses over the RamsXpress service to visit the MCV campus, and generally rides it when she feels the need to leave campus for elsewhere in the city.
“You’re able to get more with the public bus than you can with the shuttle — that’s just mostly for either this campus or the medical campus, but with the bus you can go way farther in Richmond,” Sweet said.
Third-year radiation sciences student Anthony Ramirez takes the shuttle every day. He has used the Pulse to get to classes in the past, and still uses it when the shuttle is unavailable.
“Last semester I was either by myself, or max like five people, usually,” Ramirez said of his time on the RamsXpress.
Ramirez contrasted this with a Pulse service that is usually “very full,” and said the shuttle is more convenient in light of safety concerns from students.
The previous contract between VCU and GRTC allotted $1.2 million annually to support fare-free service — the running cost of the shuttle for Fiscal Year 26 is $917,925 and goes up 3% annually, according to Stone.
GRTC fundraises through their Transit Access Partnership program, launched in 2023 in anticipation of finding new partners to help continue the “Zero Fare” program, according to Potter. TAP aims to raise $2 million from the community out of the annual $6.8 million it takes to operate fare-free.
Zero Fare is currently slated to continue through FY26, ending in July. Though Potter said it is too early to comment on the status for FY27, she said they are still seeking funding partners.
“We are still looking for anybody who wants to come along and be a part of that funding effort — that is still open to the community, the public as a whole, organizations,” Potter said. “We also have our advertising aspect of it that we’re also hoping will start generating some major revenue toward Zero Fare. And so that’s being built up, and we’re rolling out new ways to advertise just to, again, collect those funds to keep the buses free.”