The State of Transit in Virginia Beach
HRBT Bus on Virginia Beach Boulevard. Photo by Pooja Mahesh.
Virginia Beach is a major resort city famous for its beaches and tourist attractions, with miles of beaches packed with hotels, motels, and restaurants. In 2024, the city welcomed over 13 million tourists, generating $3.8 billion for the local economy and demand continues to grow.
Making attractions easily accessible to all Virginians will bolster this massive influx of tourism revenue. However, much of the city’s transit infrastructure is geared towards tourists and does not address local transportation needs.
What Public Transit Services Are Available?
Despite having the largest population and land area in Virginia, Virginia Beach has a lower population density due to decades of suburban sprawl and swaths of undeveloped land. This doesn’t mean the need for public transit isn’t there. In fact, many residents travel from the same densely populated neighborhoods to the same dense nodes for work, shopping, and recreation, like Town Center and Pembroke.
The public transit options available in Virginia Beach today include:
| Service: | Type: |
|---|---|
| Hampton Roads Transit (HRT) Bus Service | A year-round bus network serving major hubs like the Oceanfront and Town Center. $2 per ride. |
| HRT Wave Trolley (Route 30) | A seasonal trolley (May–Sept) running every 15 minutes between tourist hotspots. $2 per ride. |
| Seasonal Shuttles (Routes 31 and 35) | Connecting the Oceanfront to First Landing State Park and the Aquarium, $2 single fare. |
| HRT OnDemand | A pilot ride-share service using Chrysler minivans in a 15-square-mile zone in NW VB. Weekdays, $2 per ride. |
| Freebee | A free, eco-friendly rideshare service limited to a small area near the Oceanfront. |
While there is a variety of services, they are largely seasonal and restricted to tourist areas. The city’s public transit priorities seem to focus on easy access for vacationers in the summer months.
Virginia Beach also falls short when compared to other major cities in Virginia, such as Richmond. The Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC) offers a wide variety of fairly comprehensive and relatively frequent bus routes and transit services to residents free of cost year-round. Amenities like these can improve quality-of-life in cities greatly.
What About Residents?
HRBT Bus Stop on Virginia Beach Boulevard. Photo by Pooja Mahesh.
Virginia Beach residents who do not own cars, especially those outside the Oceanfront area, are often left without clean, equitable transportation. With transportation being Virginia’s largest source of carbon pollution, people will continue to face increased road traffic and release more harmful air pollutants each year unless something changes.
Many riders face long wait times and infrequent service. A graduate student who grew up in the area explained that he owns a car out of necessity because “the bus only runs every hour,” and the nearest stop is over a mile away. In using the city’s bus system, he said, “they don’t run frequently enough,” and it wasn’t useful unless your origin and destination just happened to line up perfectly with the limited routes. Another life-long Virginia Beach resident said, “When I was 18 and didn’t have a car to get to work… To even get to an evening shift, I’d have to leave two to three hours early.”
Many residents noted that bus stops often lack basic infrastructure like shelters or benches, leaving riders exposed to the elements. In a city with hot summers and unpredictable weather, inadequate bus shelters make wait times uncomfortable and even unsafe. An elderly resident, who has only used the bus a few times, said her experience using it to get to the Oceanfront was so disorienting and unpleasant that she gave up. “One reason was because I was at an uncovered bus shelter, and I didn’t know that the bus wasn’t going to go all the way down to the beach,” she said, “I ended up still having to walk several blocks to the beach.”
One woman shared, “There are things I wish I could do without driving, like going to the Oceanfront without packing up my car and paying for parking.” But in the absence of reliable buses or rails, she, and many others, opt for Uber, paying more just to avoid the confusion and inconvenience of public options. She said, “I wanted to get from here to somewhere like Town Center, I’d probably just call an Uber. Even if it costs more, it’s easier than figuring out the bus system for a trip that should be simple.”
When asked about the benefits of the current transit system, one resident said, “Something is better than nothing, but it really feels like we’re doing the bare minimum.” That observation is reflected in the city’s broader investment strategy. While millions are poured into other projects, basic services like public transit and other infrastructure are ignored. Another resident pointed out, “There are potholes that have gone untouched for decades and basic transit access is lacking.”
What’s the Real Cost of Driving?
For many of the residents of Virginia Beach, owning a car is non-negotiable. But owning a car isn’t cheap. According to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the average annual cost of operating a vehicle in 2024 exceeded $12,200. Transit provides access to resources such as employment, housing, and healthcare, and those that do not own a car often have limited access to them.
One of the residents interviewed noted that transit “enables people to get around who don’t have a car. Some people can’t drive, whether they’re too young, too old, or if they have a disability. It’s useful to make the community more inclusive.” But when the system runs every hour, misses major residential areas, and doesn’t operate on Sundays, it becomes a luxury that most can’t afford. “People don’t just stay home on Sundays,” one resident noted. “Especially in a city like this… The jobs that don’t take weekends off, often pay the least. A lot of workers can’t afford a car, so they need transit. But the system just doesn’t support them.”
Why Aren’t There More Transit Options in Virginia Beach?
In 2016, Virginia Beach residents voted against a proposed extension of the Tide Light Rail into the city. The rejection halted one of the only efforts at building high-capacity, regionally connected public transit in the city. Residents cited several reasons for the rejection. One resident stated, “There was this idea that if we extended the light rail from Norfolk, ‘those people’ would come in and ‘ruin’ the area. But that’s just coded language.” This resident is referring to the phenomenon of NIMBYism (“not in my backyard”), which is the apprehension towards local development due to fears of change and the negative impacts to property values, crime rates, and the community at large. One resident put it more bluntly, “I think one of the reasons public transit hasn’t been expanded is for racist reasons,” she said, recalling the discourse around the vote.
Another resident explained the rejection from the perspective of the budget. “Virginia Beach residents were not welcoming or used to the idea of taxpayer dollars being spent on it,” he said, suggesting that the rejection was a fiscal concern. Another long-time resident pointed to inconsistent values: “They call themselves friendly. Okay, here’s what they’re friendly about: tourism. But I don’t think Virginia Beach as a whole is actually a friendly city.”
“‘What are we going to do about the buses?’”
“The bus only runs every hour. They don’t run frequently enough.”
“When I was 18 and didn’t have a car to get to work… To even get to an evening shift, I’d have to leave two to three hours early.”
“One reason was because I was at an uncovered bus shelter, and I didn’t know that the bus wasn’t going to go all the way down to the beach. I ended up still having to walk several blocks to the beach.”
“There are things I wish I could do without driving, like going to the Oceanfront without packing up my car and paying for parking.”
“I wanted to get from here to somewhere like Town Center, I’d probably just call an Uber. Even if it costs more, it’s easier than figuring out the bus system for a trip that should be simple.”
“There are potholes that have gone untouched for decades and basic transit access is lacking.”
“Something is better than nothing, but it really feels like we’re doing the bare minimum.”
“Especially in a city like this… The jobs that don’t take weekends off, often pay the least. A lot of workers can’t afford a car, so they need transit. But the system just doesn’t support them.”
“There was this idea that if we extended the light rail from Norfolk, ‘those people’ would come in and ‘ruin’ the area. But that’s just coded language.”
“I haven’t really seen any change. The city’s current priorities just don’t align with residents’ day-to-day needs.”
“I’m not sure whether or not citizens are going to rise up enough and say, ‘Okay, we’re at city council again, what are we doing about the buses?’”
“They call themselves friendly. Okay, here’s what they’re friendly about: tourism. But I don’t think Virginia Beach as a whole is actually a friendly city.”
With a lack of public transit options, Virginia Beach fails to have an equitable transit system for all. “As long as I’ve been here, this has been an ongoing issue,” said one woman. “I haven’t really seen any change.” Another summed it up: “The city’s current priorities just don’t align with residents’ day-to-day needs.”
An equitable transit system will make people less reliant on cars and instead rely on cleaner modes of transportation. This leads to lower transportation costs, improved accessibility, and reduced carbon emissions. This could be achieved with an expanded and more frequent bus service or even a renewed attempt at expanding light rail into Virginia Beach.
Many residents feel that public transportation has been neglected in favor of projects that serve tourists or wealthier neighborhoods. For many residents, there is hope that if enough people speak up, things could improve. As one longtime resident put it, “I’m not sure whether or not citizens are going to rise up enough and say, ‘Okay, we’re at city council again, what are we doing about the buses?’”