Category / Transit/Transportation

by Leo Suarez

Try Transit, Win Prizes

This week is Try Transit Week. Jump into the event website or read the cliffnotes below:

Try Transit Week is an annual campaign sponsored by Durham Area Transit Authority (DATA), Cary Transit (C-Tran), Capital Area Transit (CAT), NCSU Wolfline and Triangle Transit. The goal of the campaign is to encourage Triangle Commuters to try an alternative mode of transportation in an effort to help save our environment, reduce the stress of traffic congestion and save money on expensive gas prices.

This year, each of the sponsors is hosting events across the Triangle area including a Fare FREE Day, a “Stuff the Bus” food drive and various give-aways to show appreciation to our bus riders and operators.

If you are on Twitter, you should be following these accounts

Go here is you want to participate in the scavenger hunt and win free stuff.

by Leo Suarez

Raleigh’s Transit Could Use An Upgrade

I’m sure everyone will agree with that title. The good news is new buses are being purchased and put into the fleet thanks to some stimulus money. The baby steps are better then nothing or perhaps much better then the cuts in transit that other cities are making around the country. The cost to upgrade a transit system is expensive. If you follow the local and national transit scene like I do then you are quite familiar with seeing prices in the hundreds of millions and even in the billions of dollars to bring big time mass transit to a city and state.

We could go on and on about how the bus services in the triangle do not adequately provide an alternative to driving. But is it possible to take our current system and make it more efficient? Rather then add new routes to serve more customers at a higher cost, should the powers that be explore ways to fill our current routes for much less? Here is a list of suggestions that may motivate more people to leave the car at home and travel by bus around the triangle. Should Raleigh adopt any of these?

  1. Smart cards

    The use of transit smart cards in larger cities make it easier to manage paying for any kind of transit. I recently had a chance to experience the first ever such system that was implemented in 1997 in Hong Kong. The Octopus Card is used to pay for all transit and can even be used to make purchases in grocery stores and vending machines. You just swipe the RFID card across the receiver and money is deducted from your account. Money can be added at pay stations without ever replacing your card. It would be cheaper to get in on this system early and expand it over time with our transit network. Currently, the “Acorn Pass” could be used to pay for bus fares and parking meters.

  2. GPS Tracking

    Just like the Transloc System that the NCSU Wolfline already has, a real time GPS tracking system would help people plan their trips if they knew where the bus was at any moment in time. This is especially helpful for those routes that stop only once an hour and would prevent major headaches. The maps could be online and accessed by computer, phone, or monitors at major bus stops.

  3. Shelters and Benches

    This one is easy. More shelters and benches at stops would make it much more pleasant for people waiting for their ride. To take it one step further, the shelters could harvest solar power and use it to run lights to keep the area well lit at night. While controversial, I think advertisements on the shelters could be used to counter the cost.

  4. Subscribable Information

    Information goes a long way and we need to make it easy for people to get information about routes and changes to that route. Riders should be able to subscribe, by phone, e-mail, home address, anything, to information updates to any route that they choose. New subscribers should be mailed brochures with bus riding information, route maps, and schedules. They should even be given magnets for people to put up on their fridges so the information is easily accessible. Little things like this could make people more confident and comfortable with leaving their car at home for the day.

  5. Wifi

    Wifi on buses would be a huge incentive for the tech crowd in the area. A lot of work, and internet browsing, is done on laptops or smart phones so that added access is very valuable to those that can work on the go. I’m right here with this one and would love to start doing my work on my laptop when I sit down on the bus rather then when I arrive at work. It is a much more efficient use of my time.

Number 2 may be on the way, as the N&O post mentions that the stimulus money will be used for “a real-time bus arrival system”.

by Leo Suarez

Fayetteville Street’s Road Diet

This video by Streetfilms talks about the results of New York City’s closing of parts of Broadway to vehicular traffic. Pedestrians have taken over and created a space for themselves. There is also no increase in traffic problems after two months of the streets being limited to cars.

Fayetteville Street was once a pedestrian mall from 1977 to 2006. Five blocks from the capitol to the old civic center were pedestrian only. Streetfilms brings up the term, Road Diet described as:

A road diet is a technique in transportation planning whereby a road is reduced in number of travel lanes and/or effective width in order to achieve systemic improvements.

Was the Fayetteville Street pedestrian mall too much of a diet or did it come at too early of a time for Raleigh?

If you look at a picture of Fayetteville Street before the 1977 makeover, you can see that it was much wider then it is today. Actually, the original width of all four roads leading from the capitol, those being Hillsborough, Halifax, New Bern, and Fayetteville, were at one point 99 feet wide, according to the original plan by William Christmas. I’m pretty sure Hillsborough Street still retains the original planned width so you can use it as a reference.

There are lots of factors to consider here but I’ll try and keep it simple. Currently, Fayetteville Street’s road is thinner, compared to its original layout, resulting in wider sidewalks and a more pedestrian friendly environment. The balance between cars and pedestrians seems appropriate for the way Raleigh has developed over the last 30 years. The pedestrian mall never stood a chance with the way Raleigh sprawled out and forced people to buy cars and love highways. However, with green being so hot right now, people driving less, and mass transit being pushed, a long walkable area may slowly start to seem like a good idea.

by Leo Suarez

Raleigh’s Union Depot

I’ve recently been following The Infrastructurist blog [Update: broken link] and one of my favorite blog posts recently has been “Demolished! 11 Beautiful Train Stations That Fell To The Wrecking Ball (And The Crappy Stuff Built In Their Place)”. [Update: broken link] Check it out and look at the gorgeous train stations that cities once had but demolished because train travel use was heavily decreasing.

This led me to do some research to see what has happened to some of Raleigh’s old train stations. I’ll have to give a tip of the hat to the Piedmont and Western Railroad Club for this page listing all the train stations in Raleigh. Fortunately for us, most of them have survived and the website lists Union Depot, at the corner of Dawson and Martin Street, still standing today since 1890. Go to the page for more photos, past and present.

See a picture of Union Depot in 1928 on Flickr (via North Carolina State Archives)

by Leo Suarez

“More than 60 percent of 1,006 registered voters in Durham, Orange and Wake counties said they…”

“More than 60 percent of 1,006 registered voters in Durham, Orange and Wake counties said they support light rail, buses or a combination of the two, along with dedicated lanes for circulators in downtown areas.”

– Poll: More than half of voters support mass transit :: WRAL.com

“More than 60 percent of 1,006 registered voters in Durham, Orange and Wake counties said they support light rail, buses or a combination of the two, along with dedicated lanes for circulators in downtown areas.”

– Poll: More than half of voters support mass transit :: WRAL.com

by Leo Suarez

“Beginning this weekend, wayfinding signs will be installed in Downtown Raleigh. The signs will help…”

“Beginning this weekend, wayfinding signs will be installed in Downtown Raleigh. The signs will help direct visitors to downtown from Raleigh’s major entryways and direct them to locations within downtown, such as parking areas and attractions. Signs for both pedestrians and motorists will be used.”

– Raleigh Installing Wayfinding Signs Downtown – Wake County – MyNC.com

“Beginning this weekend, wayfinding signs will be installed in Downtown Raleigh.

The signs will help direct visitors to downtown from Raleigh’s major entryways and direct them to locations within downtown, such as parking areas and attractions. Signs for both pedestrians and motorists will be used.”

– Raleigh Installing Wayfinding Signs Downtown – Wake County – MyNC.com

by Leo Suarez

R-Line A Month Later

A month ago the R-Line started making its rounds in downtown. Today, yet another Friday the 13th, is time to look at the past month and discuss the new downtown service. RalCon’s page to rep the R-Line is here or through the link at the top.

Ridership

I have no hard numbers to show but from what I have seen and heard, the ridership is busier during the most obvious of hours. Lunch during the weekday and Friday/Saturday nightlife hours are the most popular times to see groups of people on the R-Line. I’m rarely in downtown during the lunch hours so I’ll trust the few people who have told me this, including one of the bus drivers. There were about 10-14 people riding on the few Friday and Saturday nights that I have been on. I’m not sure what the city expects but these seem like solid numbers in its first month of service. As with anything, it will take some time for people to absorb the R-Line and incorporate it into their routine. As for visitors and convention center mobs, they are steered toward using the R-Line with the Downtown Raleigh Alliance’s new marketing campaign, You R Here, which is a great looking website and I applaud them for re-designing the site.

Convenience

The R-Line is pretty convenient and it makes downtown seem a little smaller. Fayetteville St. and Glenwood South are now a short ride away. However, it is a game to see how long you will wait at a stop for a bus. I have not seen any times posted so I’m guessing the bus is not on a set schedule. There have been times when I have caught the R-Line the minute I walked up to a stop. Other times, I have seen it pull away as I turn the corner resulting in a ‘long’ wait. The 10-15 minute wait time has been accurate though and in my experience, I’ve rarely waited more then 15 minutes. While not necessary right now, a website similar to TranLoc could be created to show people the bus’s current location. A mobile version of this website would be even more powerful, especially now that the city is flirting with the idea of bringing free wifi all over downtown. Its just an idea but not needed right now as the bus is pretty convenient overall.

Signage

The R-Line stop signage may need a little upgrade. On a positive note, the signs are large and clear with the stop name and number at each location. The problem with the signs is that a casual pedestrian that does not know of the R-Line is not well informed. There is a number to call but I think it would be much more informative if a map and route were shown on the signs. Also, the extended route after 6:30pm needs to be highlighted so people are not confused by the change in route.

Hybrid Buses

Have you seen the buses? They stand out pretty well in the middle of traffic and draw attention to themselves. This should self promote the R-Line and get people talking. Also, the hybrid buses are noticeably quieter then the CAT buses coming out of Moore Square. Another thing I’ve noticed is that the buses sometimes look too big and making turns can be a little tight at times. In some instances, I’ve seen cars backing up to let it pass. This might take a slight tweaking of the lines on the street so that the R-Line can flow more smoothly.