Corporate Time-Line
NOTE: This section begins with the introduction of rubber-tired buses to the transit operations in Hampton and Newport News, following many years of public transit service performed earlier and during the transition by horse-drawn and electrically powered streetcars utlilizing rails imbedded in the streets and roads of the area.
| Year | Activity | Cities served |
| 1944 | The Virginia Transit Company begins operating rubber-wheeled bus service in Hampton Roads. | Norfolk, VA |
| 1945 | The Citizens Rapid Transit Company begins operating rubber-wheeled bus service on the Virginia Peninsula, thus ending an era of streetcar service in Hampton Roads. | Newport News, VA and Hampton, VA |
| January 1973 | Tidewater Regional Transit (TRT) service begins, with the creation of the Tidewater Transportation District Commission (TTDC); and acquires the Virginia Transit Company, Norfolk Division | TRT service begins in Norfolk and Virginia Beach |
| January 1974 | Peninsula Transportation District Commission (PTDC) created | |
| April 1975 | PENTRAN service begins, as the PTDC acquires the Citizens Rapid Transit Company | PENTRAN service begins in Newport News and Hampton |
| May 1975 | The TTDC acquires the Community Motor Bus Company of Portsmouth | TTDC expands, with TRT service to Portsmouth, VA |
| 1977 | James City County Transit begins service within Colonial Williamsburg and James City County, Virginia | Williamsburg, VA not yet served by PENTRAN, nor TRT until 2004. |
| late-1970s/early-1980s | Service expansion to Chesapeake, VA, including communities such as South Norfolk, Great Bridge, Western Branch, Deep Creek and to the newly opened Greenbrier Mall | Chesapeake, VA |
| early-1990s | Service expansion to Suffolk, VA, exclusively to Tidewater Community College and downtown Suffolk | Suffolk, VA |
| 1997 | Crossroads service begins, linking the Virginia Peninsula cities with South Hampton Roads with local bus service for the first time in the region since special tunnel buses were discontinued many years earlier. | |
| October 1, 1999 | TRT merges with PENTRAN and forms Hampton Roads Transit (HRT). | HRT begins with bus service already existing in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Newport News, Hampton, and Suffolk. |
| June 2008 | The MAX (Metro Area Express) began service with eight routes linking all six Hampton Roads Cities. | Norfolk (Norfolk Naval Base, Downtown Norfolk), Virginia Beach (Silverleaf, Oceanfront), Chesapeake (Greenbrier Mall, Chesapeake Square Mall), Portsmouth (Downtown, Victory Crossing, Newport News (Transit Center, Northrop Grumman), and Hampton (Transit Center). |
| August 2011 | Virginia's first light rail line Tide Light Rail opens to the public. Passengers were offered free rides from the August 19th grand opening until August 28. More than 30,000 people rode the Tide the first day. | EVMC/Ft. Norfolk, York St./Freemason, Monticello Avenue, MacArthur Square, Harbor Park, Norfolk State University, Ballentine/Broad Creek, Ingleside, Military Highway, and Newtown Road. |
| January 2012 | City of Suffolk withdrew contract with HRT to operate public transit in Suffolk. |
Read more about this topic: Hampton Roads Transit
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