In July 2025, the ribbon was cut on the new bus station at Raleigh Union Station. There’s a rumor, or hope, that it gets a better name in the future but at least the IRL stuff is very nice. In August, bus service started running out of the station and just this week, the signature piece of art was installed. All that’s left is for a blog post on this website to cap off this project (kidding) so let’s get into it with some photos to compliment the video from GoTriangle, embedded above. (YouTube link)

What’s most obvious is that the station is up and running but the area still looks like it’s under construction. That’s because the planned residential tower is still in the planning phase and should start in the near future. Fingers crossed on that because one of the best things we can do for transit is have residents living nearby.

The station is currently accessible from the existing plaza next to the train station. This walkway opens up for bikes and pedestrians. There’s plenty of bike parking as well as bike lockers for longer term bike parking, something I believe to be a first for downtown Raleigh.

The signature art piece is a metallic acorn and it looks very nice. It’ll be worth going by at night as it’s lit up from the inside, which is hard to see in this photo.

Now inside, you have six bus bays, plenty of electronic messaging and information, as well as seating. Of course, everything looks sparkling new and let’s hope it stays that way as there is on-site security, a help desk keeping an eye on things as well as security roll-up doors to “close” the station at night. This is different than GoRaleigh Station which is more open-air at all times of the day and night.

The buses come in and out, and you can too, from the other entrance along Hargett Street. With only six bays and infrequent service right now, it’s not too active so shouldn’t be that complicated to navigate. In the future, GoTriangle can run more buses to the station making easy connections to Union Station and some routes can even bring you close to GoRaleigh Station in case you want to get off there instead.

It’s anticipated that some future BRT route will drop off passengers here along West Street, providing additional connections in and around Raleigh. The future residential tower will also have a walkway from West Street into the station. Now it’s time for GoTriangle to use the thing and run some buses!

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