they are from july 2011.

(7)

11/10/2011 10:06:06 AM

But they decided on a different plan. So, they're old.

11/10/2011 11:49:05 AM

well then post the new plans tuff guy.

[Edited on November 10, 2011 at 11:51 AM. Reason : ]

11/10/2011 11:50:50 AM

Are you sure you're 31? That can't be right.

[Edited on November 10, 2011 at 1:03 PM. Reason : V haha, I couldn't find it for the life of me]

11/10/2011 12:58:43 PM

So tuff.

Here's the plan they chose since everyone else is too lazy to Google it

http://www.indyweek.com/citizen/archives/2011/08/02/d6-it-is-raleigh-council-chooses-a-downtown-light-rail-route

11/10/2011 1:01:43 PM

11/10/2011 1:11:28 PM

6 years later and we still have nothing

typical

11/10/2011 1:13:21 PM

Well we did get the rug taken from under us when the federal government didn't give us funding. Now they've been working on getting state and local funding approved so they can successfully reapply for the federal funding.

11/10/2011 1:15:05 PM

it's a shame they didn't pick the route that actually included downtown.

11/10/2011 1:23:04 PM

yeah, i agree. but hopefully the route they picked will allow for increased development in that part of town. Then, when I'm 50 years old I'll be able to enjoy all of these improvements.

11/10/2011 1:24:40 PM

^^ Did you read why they didn't choose D5? It's not like they just said, "Fuck that plan!" It was the one initially they were going to go with until it came out that there was going to be craploads of problems with getting the state government to cooperate, traffic problems, etc. Now the idea is to have the R-Line sync up with the R6 stop near Glenwood South so people can seamlessly go from the train to the free bus.

11/10/2011 1:32:55 PM

Regarding ^, Wasn't the problem that almost all of that land(around D6a) is owned by the government and would therefore be unavailable for further development around the tracks? Also, the length of a light rail train would take up too much space and possibly hang out into intersections to block traffic (since that plan called for some portion of the tracks to be at street level)? I'm not sure if I'm remembering any of this correctly but it sucks that plan couldn't work out.

[Edited on November 10, 2011 at 1:39 PM. Reason : ]

11/10/2011 1:38:32 PM

^ The issue was that the state government just didn't want to compromise on having some of their land used for light rail development. And yeah, trains hanging out in intersections and not having right of way on streets like McDowell had a lot to do with it as well.

11/10/2011 1:54:29 PM

Quote :

"R-Line sync up with the R6 stop near Glenwood South so people can seamlessly go from the train to the free bus."

Riding the bus is for poor people.

11/11/2011 12:31:28 PM

I'm surprised that it so blatantly goes straight to Cary and North Raleigh. I like light rail, but we have to admit that it's true, light rail is a project talked about like it's for the poor and co-opted by the middle class.

And paying for it with a sales tax is levying the burden on the lower class disproportionately.

Not saying it's all bad, but that's reality.

11/13/2011 10:59:39 PM

True on both points, but I've never heard light rail pitched as something for the poor. It should also be kept in mind that massive bus service increases and improvements are a major part of the plan.

11/13/2011 11:12:57 PM

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/11/14/1642721/triangles-transit-prospects-in.html

Guh Paul Coble is so damn short sighted it's killing me. At the very least get me some Amtrak trains that actually run during rush hour so I can stop driving to Durham.

11/16/2011 9:48:06 AM

i have a friend who takes a bus to chapel hill every day to work from raleigh

11/16/2011 11:10:02 AM

I'm betting he takes the commuter express bus that goes from Raleigh to Chapel Hill. Why the hell they don't have commuter express buses that run from the Cary Amtrak is beyond me. All the TTA buses that leave from there are regular route buses.

11/16/2011 11:11:23 AM

The Wake County transit plan has been released: http://www.wakeupwakecounty.org/cms/sites/default/files/WakeCountyTransitPlan_3.ppt

Wake County Transit Plan would be implemented over two phases. Phase I could be paid for entirely with a local ½ sales tax and increased vehicle registration fee. Phase II would require federal and state funding as well:

Phase I: Core Transit Plan

Expand and Improve Bus Service
· Doubling of bus service to 322,000 hours annually
· Implemented first 2-5 years
· Expand bus routes and increase frequency of buses to 15 minutes during peak hours
· Add bus shelters and benches
· Connect all Wake municipalities to Raleigh, job centers, universities, airport
· Costs approximately $138.3 million – to be paid for with local ½ sales tax and vehicle registration fee

Commuter Rail Service
· Provides rush-hour rail between Durham-RTP-Cary-Raleigh-Garner-Greenfield Pkwy.
· Trains to run every 30 min. during peak hours and every 60 min. off-peak
· 12 stations, with 9 stations in Wake County, some with park and ride lots
· Implemented by 2019 or 2020
· Costs approximately $330 million - to be paid for with local ½ sales tax and vehicle registration fee

Phase II: Enhanced Transit Plan

Light Rail Service
· Electric trains on new track
· Runs 13.9 miles from downtown Cary, through downtown Raleigh, and up to Millbrook Rd.; eventually expanding to NW Cary/Morrisville and up to Triangle Town Center
· Trains every 10 min. during peak and 20 min. off-peak
· 16 stations, with some over-lapping with commuter rail stations
· Coordinates with local bus service
· Links neighborhoods to provide intra-city travel and new transit-oriented development
· Implemented by 2022
· Costs $1.1 billion for construction, $14 million for operation
· Requires federal and state funding as well as local revenue.

12/12/2011 12:20:52 PM

haha I just got this email as well

12/12/2011 12:39:15 PM

How long til the bums take over the rail?

12/12/2011 3:49:31 PM

Wake County Transit Plan - Choose How You Move!

Well, by the time the light rail is up and running I'll be moving with a damn walker.

12/12/2011 10:47:44 PM

Look like great routes to run a bus. No need for environmental impact studies, no need to raise vast sums of money from Congress, and the system would have already been up and running for years.

But no. Cheap reliable buses are for poor people and rail will bankrupt every level of government because it looks pretty.

12/13/2011 12:31:53 PM

The first map is about improving the bus service. The first phase of this project is going to increase bus service in the region and provide commuter rail on the already existing train line.

12/13/2011 1:27:45 PM

They should consider maglev . I would also love to see the Centennial Campus Monorail built.

12/13/2011 4:19:48 PM

I have never ever had good service riding the city bus in any city I have ever been in.

12/13/2011 9:35:47 PM

^ heh true, although the R-Line and the Bull City Connector are great

12/14/2011 8:35:18 AM

I ride the triangle transit bus to work 2 or 3 days most weeks (Southpoint area of Durham to the Vet School campus). Works well for me because there is a TTA stop on the main street my neighborhood connects to, so I can walk there in < 10 minutes, and there is one immediately across the street from my workplace, with a transfer at the RTC. Plus as NCSU staff I can get a gopass for free so it doesn't cost me anything, though even if it did, $3.33/day to ride is less than gas plus ancillary costs on the car.

The only complaint is that it takes me an hour to get to work rather than 25 minutes, but there's almost no circumstance where a bus will be faster than a car (save cities with dedicated bus or bus/hov lanes).

[Edited on December 14, 2011 at 9:14 AM. Reason : TTA no longer correct name]

12/14/2011 9:11:50 AM

Yeah I looked into riding TTA into work since I get a free Gopass but the timing is ridiculous. Driving it takes me 30 minutes to get to work. Using the buses it would take me an hour and 45 minutes. WTF. And it's not like I work in the boonies; I'm on freaking Duke's campus

12/14/2011 9:21:47 AM

^I think I'm just lucky how the time works out. It's not always practical though with any of the bus systems around here. My girlfriend was taking classes at Durham Tech this semester and looked at riding the DATA bus there, but to get there (about 8 miles away from the house) would have required 2 transfers and taken over an hour.

12/14/2011 10:32:26 AM

Well, look into how light rail works in other cities. 17 miles in just 78 minutes!
http://reason.com/blog/2011/12/09/17-miles-in-just-78-minutes-light-rail-v

There are features of a rail network that the bus network could really use. More independence from congestion through the use of isolated right-of-way, for example. But when you can buy ten buses for the price of one rail-car, the question is not rail or no rail. But instead of building the rail, we could run a dozen more bus lines through the city, pushing the network into new areas, adding express bus service to cut down the stop penalty, and reducing the transfer penalty of bus service, bringing down travel times to be more in line with car travel.

12/14/2011 10:59:18 AM

Quote :

"The only complaint is that it takes me an hour to get to work rather than 25 minutes"

It would take $10-15/gallon gasoline for me to willingly double my work commute by taking mass transit.

12/14/2011 11:24:39 AM

Quote :

"Well, look into how light rail works in other cities. 17 miles in just 78 minutes! "

That just sounds like utter idiocy on LA's part. Everywhere I've lived with rail service it's been much faster and more dependable than bus service. Oftentimes it was faster than driving.

12/14/2011 11:31:10 AM

Busses are useless except those who are cash constrained, lost their liscence, or just have a shit ton of free time.

As a time-constrained professional, I see no reason to was an additional 30-45 minutes miniumum/day commuting via bia instead of driving.

The light rail would be a different story. That being said, I do not see how the wake county voting population would support a 1/2 cent sales tax increase to fund the bus improvement project. Perhaps the most fair way to fund this would be a 1% fat tax on fast food, sodas, and donuts.

12/14/2011 12:52:50 PM

I'll definitely be interested to see how that tax vote plays out. I think the fact that Durham passed it will help get the ball rolling in Orange and Wake.

12/14/2011 1:03:42 PM

Quote :

"It would take $10-15/gallon gasoline for me to willingly double my work commute by taking mass transit."

Don't worry, it'll happen eventually. Personally it's worth it to me to save the few dollars a day, but the inconvenience is a factor too (which is why I don't do it every day).

Quote :

"As a time-constrained professional, I see no reason to was an additional 30-45 minutes miniumum/day commuting via bia instead of driving."

For me, in the morning it's kind of zero sum. I wake up earlier but I tend to nap on the bus. No, it's not as restful as remaining asleep for another 45 minutes in bed, but it works. In the evening I read, or just use the time to de-stress from the day. Is it annoying that I get home 40 minute later than I would otherwise? Sometimes. But it's really not a big deal once you get used to it. Now, there is the catch that as a state government employee I work an actual 8 hour day. At about 5:15 I'm out the door. If I had to work 9 or 10 hour days as a matter of course I'd probably value my free time a bit more due to the relative scarcity.

[Edited on December 14, 2011 at 2:11 PM. Reason : s]

12/14/2011 2:07:49 PM

I don't consider bus time my time, and I value saving time more than anything else. If other people want to ride the bus, clearing the road of cars, that's fine. Bus will only make sense for me when it is faster than a car.

I have also been in cities where the train system was much faster than car or bus, but this tta light rail thing does not look like one of those systems.

12/14/2011 9:38:00 PM

Personally I'm more excited about the commuter rail option which should be done before light rail even breaks ground (so sooner than never? lol). Once that gets implemented, I can get from Cary to Durham in less time than driving and with a lot less aggravation.

12/15/2011 9:05:05 AM

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/12/15/fy2011_tiger.pdf
Charlotte got paid.

12/15/2011 9:41:16 PM

And the DOT doesn't want to give us squat. Screw you, feds

12/16/2011 10:15:30 AM

The passenger rail task force has submitted their plans to retrofit the Dillon Viaduct building for use as Union Station downtown.

A link to the plans and video of the discussion can be found here:

http://dtraleigh.com/

1/4/2012 10:56:07 AM

Not sure where else really to put this, but Charlotte mayor Anthony Foxx is being announced in a couple of hours as Obama's appointment to replace Ray LaHood as Secretary of Transportation.

4/29/2013 11:55:09 AM

Quote :

"Personally I'm more excited about the commuter rail option which should be done before light rail even breaks ground (so sooner than never? lol). Once that gets implemented, I can get from Cary to Durham in less time than driving and with a lot less aggravation."

This would make sense to me too.

4/30/2013 8:40:32 AM

I wish RTP wasn't setup as a suburban commuter campus. Even if they ran a rail through the middle of it, it would still be a pain for anyone not directly on the line. I'd love a train from Raleigh to Durham, but since there is almost no chance my office would be on the line it wouldn't be very useful for me.

4/30/2013 8:48:55 AM

I still don't think any rail solution works in this area. transportation experts agree.

4/30/2013 8:53:48 AM

I was under the impression that most people think it doesn't have much utility right now but it's definitely something the area will need in the not too distant future and it's a way to direct what areas city planners and whoever want the are to grow.

4/30/2013 9:09:03 AM

^^Nah, they don't

4/30/2013 9:46:04 AM

^^ that's true, it should impact future development. i was just pointing out that one of the area's large employment centers (that has certain incentives that makes it unlikely for many of the companies to get up and move), is already developed in a way that makes rail or other mass transit not a very good option for the workers.

4/30/2013 11:29:53 AM

I read something several months ago that said some new person got hired as the director(?) of RTP who wanted to focus more on developing some density within RTP. Adding more residential units, more stores and restaurants, citing a desire by young professionals who want to live and work in the close proximity. It was combined with something about Chinese developers taking over some big property in Morrisville, I think. Any rail line between Durham and Raleigh would probably have at least one stop for RTP. I don't know much about RTP but I imagine they could get some sort of shuttle service to link up with a train stop pretty easily.

4/30/2013 2:37:25 PM