Norfolk celebrates The Tide’s first birthday on Friday

By: Staff; WVEC.com

8/14/12

The Tide turns a year old Sunday, but the City of Norfolk is celebrating Friday and riders are getting the birthday present.  Taking light rail will be free for the day.

The City of Norfolk is planning an 11:00 a.m. celebration of the state’s first light rail system, complete with cake, at the MacArthur Square Station in downtown.

The Tide runs 7.4 miles from the Eastern Virginia Medical Center complex east through downtown Norfolk and adjacent to I-264 to Newtown Road.

Hampton Roads Transit figures shows the Newtown Road station is the busiest, accounting for 22% of daily ridership, followed by MacArthur Square’s stop with 16%.  The least busy stops are York and Ingleside, according to the statistics.

The Tide opened for service on August 19, 2011.