GoRaleigh

Early days

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.

Current system

In the mid- to late 20th century, CP&L ended its operation of transit services in the city, and the current publicly owned CAT system was created.

The Raleigh Trolley

The Raleigh Trolley was created to attract people to the restaurants and clubs in downtown Raleigh at night. Using trolley-replica buses, the service originally linked Moore Square/City Market area to the Glenwood South entertainment district, but the route was altered to link Moore Square with the Progress Energy Center for Performing Arts after Progress Energy became a sponsor of the trolley service. In 2005, CAT purchased 2 new hybrid trolleys (first hybrid public transit vehicles ever to be used in North Carolina) to serve the trolley route. The Raleigh Trolley was quietly phased out, first serviced with regular CAT buses rather the trolley-replica buses, and then completely ended when the R-Line began service on February 13, 2009. Raleigh Parks and Recreation has Historic Raleigh Trolley Tours every Saturday in March through December. These tours depart from Mordecai Historic Park http://www.raleighnc.gov/mordecai.

The R-Line

The R-Line - created to connect business in Downtown Raleigh with residents, employees, and visitors - began service on February 13, 2009. The route is served by three specially designed Hybrid-Electric buses, powered by bio-diesel fuel. The buses, operating in a counter-clockwise loop, stop at 20 specially designed bus-stops throughout Downtown Raleigh. Service frequency is every 12 minutes. In order to maximize frequency two buses operate on the circulator route at all times, while one bus serves as back-up in the event of mechanical failure.

Hours and levels of operation

GoRaleigh's current service level is based upon year 2 of the 5-year plan.

GoRaleigh currently operates 37 public transit routes (GoRaleigh also provides the vehicles for the Wake Forest Express, Zebulon - Wendell Express and Knightdale Express lines of GoTransit). During regular service hours (5:30 am – 7:00 pm Monday-Saturday) there are eighteen routes that serve GoRaleigh Station, seven link routes, which do not serve GoRaleigh Station, and two express routes, one of which serves GoRaleigh Station. GoRaleigh also operates the Wake Forest Loop route and the R-Line.

During the hours of 4:30 am – 5:30 am Monday-Saturday, 7:00 pm – midnight Monday-Saturday and 8:00 am – 8:00 pm Sunday, the number of routes serving the city is reduced to a total of five to eighteen routes depending on the day and time.

Three additional routes (one serving downtown and two express from Park and Ride Lots) operate from 7:00 am to midnight during all the dates of the NC State Fair.

+ Some bus routes operate more or less frequently during these times

++ Some bus routes operate more frequently during these times. Route 70e is designed as a job access route and operates from approximately 6:15 – 9:15 a.m., 3:10 – 6:10 p.m. and 7:30 – 10:30 p.m.

Only a portion of the local 28 bus routes operate during extended hours.

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 the City of Raleigh, NC. At that time, most bus schedules were 10 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 need for year two of the five-year plan (which took effect on bus routes in January, 2007).

Despite the city budget providing CAT 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, these changes were never implemented because tax revenues have been lower than expected and the funds were not available.

The current 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." 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.

Funding

For FY 2010, CAT's operating budget is $15,439,636, a 1% decrease from last fiscal years budget of $15,596,444. This ends a four-year streak in which CAT had seen an increase in funding to meet the demands of the five-year plan. Of CATs budget, $10,369,966 is from the city, with additional funding coming from the state, passenger Revenue (estimated farebox revenue for FY 2010 is $2,480,623, but it is unclear whether this includes bus pass sales or GoPass contracts, as in past city budgets this was seperted), and miscellaneous sources (such as grants and advertising).

Ridership

According to the Raleigh City budget for the fiscal year 2010 ridership levels average over 14,000 each business day, up from 13,000 for the fiscal year of 2008, 11,000 in September 2005 (when gas prices began to climb after Hurricane Katrina), and 8,000 in the year 2002.

Response to the threat of terrorism

There have been no serious terrorist threats or attacks on Raleigh public transit in the city's history, however, on May 4, 2007 a bomb threat was received at the CAT regional transit call center at about 9:00 am. Buses in the Triangle, including an estimated 55 CAT buses, were pulled over, evacuated, and searched. The caller indicated there was a bomb on an unspecified bus, although a Raleigh transit official said the caller mentioned numbers that did not match any CAT buses or routes. The bomb threat was cleared, but left buses operating after that time anywhere from 5 to 90 minutes behind schedule for the day.

Transit Watch is a new public awareness program launched by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The program encourages people to be vigilant and watch for and report safety (e.g. strange smells, smoke, or other potential hazards) and/or security threats (such as abandoned bags or suspicious behavior) on public transit vehicles or public transit properties. The motto of this program is "If You See Something...Say Something." In early 2006 CAT joined the campaign.

GoRaleigh Access

GoRaleigh Access, formerlyAccessible Raleigh Transportation (ART), is the City of Raleigh's transportation services 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 Para transit 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 (bus service, direct to China Town, NYC), Tornado (bus service, targeting primarily the Hispanic population), and Jacksonville Airporter, Inc(bus service, between RDU and Jacksonville, NC)