Category / Transit/Transportation

by Leo Suarez

Raleigh Union Station Public Workshop, March 6

The first of a few public information sessions about Raleigh’s train station upgrade, Union station, is coming up. On March 6, come down to the session to see renderings and plans for the new station in the warehouse district. Citizens will be given the opportunity to comment and give feedback towards the future design steps.

The workshop will also go over the West Street extension, a project that proposes to extend West Street to the south to West Cabarrus Street. This extension is a major compliment to Union Station and the greenway system.

Union Station will be Raleigh’s new train station at West and Martin Street. The project will be a complete renovation of the Dillon Supply Company Warehouse. See previous posts on the topic for background information.

Raleigh Union Station Public Workshop

Date/Time: Wed., March 6 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Meymandi Concert Hall Lobby
2 East South Street
Raleigh, NC 27601
919-996-8700

Raleigh Union Station Public Workshop

by Leo Suarez

Transit for a Better Wake County

Transit for a Better Wake County from CAFT on Vimeo.

The video above is from the good people at Capital Area Friends of Transit. They are gearing up for another push to get transit moving forward and if that’s something you are into, take 20 seconds and sign their petition.

2012 saw heated debates on the subject and if you are new to the conversation, jump over to the Raleigh Public Record for more reading on the topic.

Talk of public transit, or at least of the elusive commuter rail, in Raleigh and Wake County has almost gotten to the level of a bad joke. But there is more to public transit than just commuter trains. There are more busses, bicycles, car-share programs and more up for discussion on the city, county and regional levels.

*Talk of Transit Never Quits

Supporters are hoping this is the year for it to happen. What was missing before and is now in the debate is local business. The video above features Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst supporting transit for the county. The county commission may not be listening to citizens. Maybe they will listen to big business.

by Leo Suarez

Pic of the Week

Zipcar in Glenwood South

Last week, the City of Raleigh announced that they are partnering with Zipcar, the popular car-sharing service. The first cars in Raleigh will be located in downtown, in the Glenwood South district near the intersection of Lane Street and Glenwood Avenue.

This isn’t the city’s first experience with car-sharing. In the summer of 2010, WeCar, owned by Enterprise Rent-A-Car, rolled out two vehicles in downtown. The service didn’t last and about two years later was pulled.

I’m hoping for success with Zipcar in downtown Raleigh as WeCar really lacked the backing and experience that Zipcar has. They must be doing something right if Zipcar has about 80% of the car-share market.

by Leo Suarez

Talk of a Midtown Raleigh Bus Circulator, The M-Line, Begins

R-Line Bus in downtown Raleigh

We’re in a lull when it comes to transit news in downtown Raleigh. It feels like the plans are made but the funding of a half-cent sales tax increase to go towards transit improvements is stuck at the county level.

While politicians on the County Commission continue to debate the possible tax increase, one of the most successful transit stories in Raleigh recently has been the R-Line. This fare-less service that circles downtown has been increasing its ridership every year since it was launched in 2009.

So it’s only natural that others around Raleigh want to get in on the great service.

I recently heard of the Midtown Raleigh Alliance’s (MRA) idea of pitching a service called the M-Line, a bus circulator between midtown Raleigh and downtown Raleigh. There’s not much behind this idea really, just talk and a blog post. [UPDATE: Broken link]

Either way, let’s speculate and see if this idea is at all feasible.

According to the MRA, midtown Raleigh is the “area within a 2-mile radius surrounding North Hills.” The about page on their website claims the area has a “Distinctive skyline and 24/7 walkable urban center.”

Whether that’s actually true or not, the most likely place for the M-Line to arrive and depart would be from a spot in North Hills, the most urban area in midtown.

A park and ride situation could work but with parking so plentiful in downtown, once people are in their cars then it’s likely they will just go straight to downtown rather than transfer to a bus.

Using Google Maps, the quickest way from North Hills, the Renaissance Hotel to be more specific, to downtown, the state Capitol, is along Lassiter Mill Road, St. Mary’s Street, and Glenwood Avenue. Google also estimates the trip to take 13 minutes.

The trip could take longer if the route is changed to make more stops around midtown. So to keep the numbers easy, let’s say the trip takes 15 minutes. With one bus running the route, a round-trip takes 30 minutes with an average wait time of 15 minutes.

Compared to CAT

If there is a truly interest in an M-Line, this again shows citizen support for transit and perhaps readiness for this area to increase transit effectiveness.

Capital Area Transit’s Route 8 – Northclift is the closest route that goes from downtown to midtown. It’s similar to the route suggested by Google Maps. Route 8 starts at the Moore Square bus station and goes through downtown, north on St. Mary’s and Lassiter Mill Road to North Hills.

The current operating schedule of Route 8 is:

  • 5:55 AM to 8:52 PM | Monday – Friday
  • 7:00 AM to 8:12 PM | Saturday

The route has frequencies of 30 minutes during rush hour and an hour outside and on Saturday. That makes wait times of being 15 minutes on average during rush hour and 30 minutes outside.

With a similar route already being offered by CAT, supporters of an M-Line have quite a bit of work to do in order to justify it.

Just like my post back in July 2011 about the petition to expand the R-Line to Cameron Village, this is an example where adding another bus circulator would provide redundant service to the current CAT system.

If anything, M-Line supporters should be interested in taking what money that could be put towards this new line and into making Route 8 much more effective through greater frequency and expanded operating schedules.

by Leo Suarez

Union Station Fully Funded, Could Be Open In 2016

Raleigh Union Station interior before renovation

This is a short one but a good one. Some great news out of the future Raleigh Union Station last week.

Mayor Nancy McFarlane welcomed Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo to Raleigh today for the announcement that the Union Station Project will receive the full $60 million in funding.

*Full Funding for Raleigh’s Union Station Project Is Announced

The video of the announcement can be seen below or on Youtube.

by Leo Suarez

Municipography: Union Station and R-Line Changes

Municipography is a summary of current issues going through the Raleigh City Council and other municipal departments in the city. The point is to try to deliver any video, photos, and text associated with the discussions happening at City Hall or elsewhere. Since this is a downtown Raleigh blog, the focus is on the center of the city.

I recommend email readers click through to the website to see the embedded video.

At the Raleigh City Council meeting on September 4, 2012, the council discussed funding for the Union Station project as well as approved some changes at the Moore Square Bus Station that will effect the R-Line.

Union Station


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During the meeting, council discussed a future commitment of $3 million towards the Union Station project. Comments were generally positive about the station and it really feels that Raleigh and NCDOT want this project to succeed. With a 6-1 vote, the council approved the additional funds.

The city also approved the allocation of funds towards development of a schematic design for the project.

Bus Traffic at Moore Square Station

We haven’t talked about it on this blog before but there have been grumblings about the bus and pedestrian traffic along Wilmington Street and the effect it has on nearby businesses. To catch readers up, I’ll point you to a few articles from the local news media:

Business owners and residents in the Moore Square area met with the City of Raleigh on Tuesday, trying to come up with ways to address loitering, panhandling and bus congestion in the Moore Square District.

*Downtown Raleigh residents decry loitering, panhandling, ‘riff-raff’

Business owners say the crowds, coupled with bus congestion along the street, create an uninviting atmosphere for customers.

*New merchants chafe at crowds from Moore Square bus terminal

Here’s an alternative viewpoint from Barry Saunders at the N&O.

Here’s my advice to the business owners who are so dismayed that a city’s downtown transit center has people occupying various rungs of the social ladder: go out and meet them and talk to them. You may find that they are just like you, except they don’t have a car.

*Saunders: Respect needed among Moore Square’s old and new

Now that you are caught up, at the city council meeting this week, the recommendations from the Law and Public Safety Committee were unanimously approved. Those include:

  • Expand the bus zone on Wilmington Street to relieve bus congestion.
  • Move the R-16 Moore Square Deck station south of Martin Street.
  • The R-Line will now always run along the nighttime route that rounds Moore Square.
  • Immediate upgrades to the Moore Square Station including better pedestrian access, lighting, and safety upgrades.

While this may or may not solve the bus traffic issue on Wilmington Street, the R-Line may be the victim. R-Line riders could potentially experience added wait time as the bus will always make the trip around Moore Square rather than driving straight up Wilmington Street during the daytime operating hours. However, this may be a temporary solution until the Moore Square Bus Station is significantly upgraded for more bus capacity.