The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), under its BRT Standard, has given the Pulse corridor a Bronze ranking.

The studies found that the lines would be moderately successful, but population in Richmond was not dense enough to demand either said service.

The decision to pursue BRT rather than LRT prompted mostly negative reactions from the community, who primarily preferred light rail over bus rapid transit.

In late 2014, GRTC unveiled the first set of bus rapid transit plans, which involved several stations stretching from Willow Lawn down to Rocketts Landing.

[4] The project had an estimated construction cost of $53 million to provide service from Willow Lawn in the west to Rocketts Landing in the east, including fourteen stations and over three miles of dedicated travel lanes.

[10] Within a year of its opening, the line was averaging around 7,000 daily riders – over double its initially projected ridership.

The North-South Pulse project aims to introduce 12 miles of high-capacity rapid transit, connecting northern and southern parts of the Richmond region via downtown.

Studies on this Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor began in 2022, and by October 2023, the GRTC Board of Directors approved the recommended route.