RTA members and partners,
Next month promises to be a “November to remember” when it comes to transit improvements, and our transit future.
The first BRT corridor in the Carolinas will likely go under construction this coming month, now that multiple package contracts have been approved for the New Bern Avenue corridor in Raleigh to jumpstart Wake BRT.
The updated Wake Transit plan is slated for approval by CAMPO and GoTriangle during this month. RTA is very pleased with the proposed improvements to our regional transit future.
Fortunately, we don’t have to wait for either imminent BRT construction or ongoing transit plan development to enjoy the fruits of our collective multimodal labor. Starting this month, some new bus routes will be added, and improvements to several existing routes will be activated, and these will be the primary focus of the rest of this week’s blog.
For example, the Wake Forest-Raleigh (WRX) express bus route, which will transition from a GoRaleigh-operated to a GoTriangle route in November, will incorporate some differences in bus stops to improve service efficiency. The service will include two am and two pm peak period runs between downtown Raleigh and Wake Forest; the remainder of the day linkages to downtown Raleigh will occur via a connection to high-frequency GoRaleigh route 1 (every 10 minutes) at Triangle Town Center. Click here for more information.
GoTriangle’s Zebulon-Wendell-Raleigh (ZWX) express bus route will also have bus stop changes to optimize operations, including service along Wendell Falls Parkway and new service in downtown Zebulon. In addition, GoTriangle is making other changes to improve operations and performance on several of their core regional services, including GoTriangle route 100, 300, 400 (which will still be every 15 minutes between Durham and Chapel Hill on weekdays), 700, and 800. Here is a link with more information.
GoCary is also expanding service operations with two new routes to add to their system. A new GoCary route 9 will be added, linking Downtown Cary with Downtown Apex. In addition, a new GoCary route 2 will be created, to link Downtown Cary and west Raleigh — including service to the Lenovo Center arena and Carter-Finley stadium complex as well as the NC State Vet School and the NC State Wolfline system. GoCary 2 will also activate a new transit pathway to Downtown Raleigh, via high-frequency Wolfline 60 (at the Vet School) to high-frequency GoRaleigh 9 (at Meredith College); GoGary 2 will also provide a connection to GoRaleigh 27L/Crabtree Valley. Both new GoCary routes will operate every 30 minutes from 6 am to 7 pm Monday through Saturday, and hourly service on evenings and Sundays, like other GoCary services.
GoDurham is increasing the frequency on several of its routes. Routes 12 and 16 will improve to 30 minute frequency; other routes will see improvements, including a rerouting of route 8, improvements to route 3, and the creation of a new route 13.
The summary is this — our community and region voted for our regional transit future in 2011 (Durham Co.), 2012 (Orange), and 2016 (Wake) with affirmative support of dedicated local option sales taxes. Each of our regional partners are making good on the promise of enhanced transit, and BRT is an important but not the only part of that vision. Kudos to our area transit agencies and elected and transportation officials for delivering on these needed mobility enhancements across our market.
