Downtown Danville, VA by Miguel Gereda licensed under Creative Commons.
This article was first published on January 10, 2020. As DC, Maryland, and Virginia grapple with how to create better transit systems, especially during and after the pandemic, we wanted to share this article with you again.
Headlines of doom and gloom have long plagued Danville. For the two thirds of Virginians residing in the state’s “Urban Crescent” stretching from Northern Virginia through Richmond to Hampton Roads, Southern and Southwest Virginia can seem like irredeemable boondocks.
The relatively recent heralding of Danville as the “Comeback City” shows there’s more nuance to the region. Either despite or because of its past hardships, Danville has pioneered a model of resilient transit service other cities across the nation could reproduce.