GoRaleigh

Early days

Electric street cars on Fayetteville Street, Raleigh, NC in 1910.

Previous to the GoRaleigh system, CP&L (Carolina Power & Light, now known as Progress Energy) provided public transit to the city, starting in 1886 with mule-drawn vehicles and covering routes in 1 square mile (3 km²) of central Raleigh. In 1891, the mule-drawn service came to an end, and the electric streetcar service began. The streetcars served several routes, covering about 2 square miles (5 km²) of the city. Due to rapid advances in automotive technology at that time, in 1933 all electric streetcar services ended, replaced by gasoline-powered buses. Ridership remained strong until the 1950s, when the popularity of private vehicles began to reduce transit ridership nationwide.

• 1881-1894 - Raleigh Street Railway
• 1894-1908 - Raleigh Electric Co.
• 1908-1921 - Carolina Power & Light Co.
• 1921-1925 - Carolina Power & Light Co. (Electric Bond & Shares Co.)
• 1925-1946 - Carolina Power & Light Co. (National Power & Light Co.), operating from 126 N. West Street, Raleigh
• 1930s - streetcars discontinued
• 1946-1950 - Carolina Power & Light Company (CP&L).
• 1950-1958 - White Transportation Co.
• 1958-1975 - Raleigh City Coach Lines (City Coach Lines, Inc.)
• 1975-2015 - City of Raleigh/Capital Area Transit
• 2015-present - City of Raleigh/GoRaleigh

A newly delivered bus, built by Twin Coach, is inspected in 1941 at the Carolina Power & Light Car Barn and Automotive Garage in downtown Raleigh. The building, located at 126 N. West Street, is now the home to Clouds Brewing.

In the mid- to late 20th century, CP&L ended its operation of transit services in the city, and the current publicly owned Capital Area Transit system was created. Capital Area Transit formerly rebranded its system to GoRaleigh in 2015.^[1]

Layout

GoRaleigh provides public transportation to areas known colloquially as inside the beltline and outside I-440, as well as contracted service to the Town of Wake Forest and to Wake Tech Community College. The system operates on a hub and spoke-style layout, with most routes beginning and ending at the newly renovated GoRaleigh Station, formerly known as Moore Square Station, in downtown Raleigh. The "L" routes circulate through an area or operate as a cross-town route and link with one or more "spoke" routes. The "X" routes are express routes which operate non-stop or with limited stops along the body of the route. Stops on these routes are generally available only at the beginning and end points of the route. Longer distance routes are operated by the intercounty GoTriangle system.

GoRaleigh publicly posts its General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) data so riders can easily plan their trips using services such as Google Transit in Google Maps. GoRaleigh also supports the Transloc Rider App that offers real-time bus location through its GPS equipped fleet.

Fleet

Standard GoRaleigh bus at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

GoRaleigh's current fleet consists largely of fairly new Gillig Standard Low Floor model 40 foot buses, several Orion V buses and three Gillig BRT Hybrid Low Floor buses (R-Line). GoRaleigh fuels its diesel powered vehicles with biodiesel. Its buses are maintained and cleaned in-house at the GoRaleigh Operations Facility. All GoRaleigh vehicles have exterior bike racks and can accommodate two or three bikes, depending on the type of rack. Customers can load and unload bikes at any bus stop. There is no charge for bringing a bicycle and many stops are near Raleigh's extensive greenways. The vast majority of GoRaleigh's vehicles have free WiFi for passenger use. All GoRaleigh vehicles are equipped with GPS and AVL systems to provide real time location and departure information. All GoRaleigh vehicles have lifts or ramps to accommodate wheelchairs and other mobility devices.

GoRaleigh Station

Renovations to GoRaleigh Station, formerly known as Moore Square Station, were completed May, 2017. What was once a cavernous tunnel that lacked informational signs was transformed into a spacious terminal with additional seating and LCD monitors that provide real time bus arrival information. The station is accessible to pedestrians from Blount Street, Hargett Street, Wilmington Street or Martin Street and features a centrally located information and ticket booth staffed by GoRaleigh employees.

The bus station was re-designed to accommodate more buses and more riders as a result of the Wake Transit Plan, which county voters approved in 2016. The station currently serves 35 bus routes per day and nearly 80 buses per hour during peak hours. The station is designed to support up to 150 buses per hour once the Wake County Transit Plan is fully implemented.

Hours and levels of operation

GoRaleigh's current service level is based upon year 2 of the 5-year Wake County Transit Plan. GoRaleigh currently operates 37 public transit routes. As a whole, most GoRaleigh routes begin before 6am and end near 11pm or Midnight, Monday through Saturday. Sunday hours of operation are mostly the same as Saturday, with the exception of a few routes that end an hour earlier.

Five-year plan

In 2002, Capital Area Transit (CAT) spent $200,000 to hire consultants to come up with a five-year plan to improve public transit in Raleigh. At that time, most bus schedules were ten years out of date. It wasn't until fiscal year 2006 that the city council gave CAT the additional funding needed to begin implementing year one of a five-year plan. At the start of the fiscal year 2007, Raleigh City Council gave CAT the additional funding needed for year two of the five-year plan (which took effect on bus routes in January, 2007).

Despite the city budget providing CAT with additional funding for year three of the five-year plan for the fiscal year 2008 (July 2007-June 2008) and additional funding for year four of the five-year plan for the last quarter of the fiscal year 2009,^[2] these changes were never implemented because tax revenues had been lower than expected and the funds were not available.

The city budget for the fiscal year 2010 notes that "The FY 2010 budget represents the implementation of delayed transit services from last year... year three of the Transit Plan will begin January 2010 and will result in reduced headways on Route 15 Wake Med, a new route in Southeast Raleigh, and a series of other small service changes." ^[3] However, the implementation of these changes continues to be delayed due to budget shortfalls.

In May 2008, the North Carolina Board of Transportation awarded CAT with $3.5 million for 13 additional buses (which CAT received in June, 2009) and $2.8 million to purchase land and design a new administration building and garage, which is now located on 23 acres (93,000 m²) off of Poole Road. Additionally, $7.6 million of stimulus money has been awarded to CAT towards the garage. In May 2011, the new facility was opened.^[4]

On August 6, 2017, GoRaleigh expanded its Sunday service as described in the first round improvements of the Wake County Transit Plan.^[5]

Bus Rapid Transit

Future GoRaleigh BRT Routes.

The Wake County Transit Plan includes the future implementation of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) routes sometime between 2018 and 2023.^[6] BRT involves building dedicated bus lanes on local roads, so bus operators can bypass traffic and keep their routes on schedule. To implement BRT for the first time in Wake County, the plan will construct approximately 20 miles of BRT-related infrastructure improvements. About 20 miles of BRT infrastructure have been identified including New Bern Avenue between Raleigh Boulevard and WakeMed; Capital Boulevard between Peace Street and the Wake Forest Road intersection; South Wilmington Street towards Garner; and Western Boulevard between Raleigh and Cary. Along these corridors, buses would have priority treatment at traffic signals, BRT stops will feature raised platforms, making it easier for passengers with wheelchairs, strollers or bicycles to board the bus.

GoRaleigh Access

GoRaleigh Access, formerlyAccessible Raleigh Transportation (ART), is the City of Raleigh's transportation service for people with disabilities. GoRaleigh Access programs help ensure an outstanding quality of life for everyone in the City of Raleigh. GoRaleigh Access enables eligible persons to access public transportation. GoRaleigh Access trips are eligible for paratransit service only if the trip begins and ends within 3/4 miles of a GoRaleigh bus stop.

GoCary

GoCary, formerly C-Tran, provides one route that connects downtown Cary with western portions of Raleigh also served by a CAT bus route. Additionally, C-Tran provides paratransit service to residents of Cary traveling to Raleigh as well as public transit routes and paratransit in Cary.

GoDurham

GoDurham, formerly Durham Area Transit Authority (DATA), operates one route that extends to the Brier Creek area of northwest Raleigh, in addition to its many routes serving the city of Durham.

GoTriangle

GoTriangle (formerly Triangle Transit or the Triangle Transit Authority), is a regional transit service that connects Raleigh with neighboring cities, suburbs, Raleigh-Durham International Airport and Research Triangle Park. GoTriangle also organizes a vanpool program serving the Research Triangle metropolitan region.

Wolfline

The Wolfline operates nearly a dozen routes that serve the NCSU (North Carolina State University) community and surrounding areas in west Raleigh. In addition to serving NCSU students, faculty and staff, the Wolfline system is available for use by the general public.

Long distance transit services

The city of Raleigh is served by Amtrak (rail service), RDU international Airport (air service), Carolina Trailways (bus service), Greyhound (bus service), Sky Express^[8] (bus service direct to China Town, NYC), Tornado^[9] (bus service targeting primarily the Hispanic population), and Jacksonville Airporter, Inc^[10] (bus service between RDU and Jacksonville, NC).

References