That has nothing to do with this.

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Left in ‘94, moved back in ‘98.

May your sauce drip down someone's chin!

The Fan or the Museum District are super doable without a car, especially if you're a bike enthusiast. But there's lots you can get to on foot or by bus.

It’s not great. There aren’t a ton of supermarkets you’ll be able to walk to, most bus routes run very infrequently, and good luck if you have to get out to the suburbs for anything

So my budget is definitely not $1m. I simply meant that I've lived in places where a $1m house is considered 'affordable' so Richmond does not seem very expensive in comparison.

It is doable, but just understand that Richmond is not DC or New York. We have the pulse bus line, uber/lyft, and those scooter things. The main thing your going to run into is of the most great things about Richmond are the surrounding areas which public transit specifically doesn’t go to. For Some stupid reason people in the suburbs believe that having public transit into the city will cause the rifraf to invade, so only the city itself has decent public transport. Also, btw, the buses like to hit people here, so never cross a street when a GTRC bus is around. Finally the ebike sounds great, but bike theft is definitely a thing here, so just make sure you have a go way to store it. You mentioned your budget is a million dollars in some comments, which great for you, but understand the locals don’t really appreciate out of towner coming in and driving up real estate price, so maybe don’t mention that if your trying to make friends. Best of luck, hope you like Richmond!

Exactly! I'm not literally looking to spend $1m on a house. It's just that my definition of expensive is far higher that a lot of people outside of big coastal cities.

I think this is a fair take on it. I could pull off a car free option downtown and have a friend who does currently (I could do it in the MD if I made a little more effort). Grocery/post office options exist on the 5 and Pulse routes which is what makes it possible and otherwise getting around via the rest of the system for stuff is doable.

Haha yes but the goal is to not spend the millions.

I was exaggerating the monetary amount.

Lol @ people downvoting you. $1mm is a reasonable home budget for a lot of people. Richmond isn’t “very expensive”, it’s just more expensive than it was like 5-10 years ago. Or more expensive than like, somewhere in rural Tennessee. I bought my house here for $230k — this is laughable to friends of mine who live in actual “very expensive” cities and have $5-8k per month mortgages. Richmond isn’t expensive, but it will be.

11 years

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Rva transit is fine enough. There are cities either just as affordable or slightly more expensive with much better transit though, but one perk is that the buses are currently free here.

If your work situation is going to be permanently remote and you have no reason to believe you’ll have to commute, rva can be a solid choice car free. The job market here is very unimpressive in case something changes though, as an fyi.

I’ve never owned a car in Richmond and would say it’s very doable. I think the Museum District is the best neighborhood to live in without a car. You have everything you need within walking distance and multiple grocery store options.

I currently live in Church Hill and find it more difficult than the Museum District, but still doable. Getting groceries is harder because I have to ride a bike or take the bus.

I would continue to live without a car in any of these neighborhoods: Scott’s Addition, The Fan, Jackson Ward, Downtown, or Shockoe Bottom.

it depends on where you live in RVA. The more expensive the area the more bus stops there are. I believe by express GRTC you mean pulse. That goes up + down broad only.

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GRTC is by far better than the NOVA bus system. It's also free. If you need to be somewhere at a specific time then GRTC isn't great. Also you gotta know where you going, and there are times when its faster to walk. Especially if you have to take multiple.

You can but you'd be very limited to where you can live. Like living in DC (dc is better to be carless in because at least there's robust public transportation)

No… educating children and giving teachers the resources to do it well matter. That is all.

Not if they served shitty food in a neighborhood nobody goes to.

If your housing budget is a million dollars I’m sure you’re able to live a “comfortable” life pretty much anywhere, car or no car.

Why do you find that interesting?

Cheaper to buy upfront, but much more expensive to maintain. And lifespan of a bus is only a decade or two before it needs replacing while trolley cars from before WW2 are still running in SF, New Orleans, and Rome.

Teachers in wealthy well funded districts buy classroom decorations and things like that. RPS does have paper basics like that

It's possible, provided you live near a pulse stop. Our bus routes leave a lot to be desired, but the Pulse is pretty regular and as a bonus stops at Willow Lawn (shopping and groceries and some restaurants), Scott's addition (breweries and some nightlife), downtown (arts and restaurants), and Church Hill (some stuff). Your problem would be when you want to do anything else, like go somewhere specific not on that route. It's gonna suck.