AMA: GoTriangle Commuter Rail Project - Sept 23 1-3pm

Transit and Transportation
13

  1. How is the GTCR project being managed differently from GoTriangle’s past rail projects? It seems like existing rail companies are more cooperative than a certain rail attempt in the past, but it’s clear that there are more stakeholders at play.

  2. The majority of proposed stations and track mileage in the GTCR proposal is in Wake County and Wake Co. has 3x the annual transit tax revenue as Durham Co. Still, it’s all but assumed that Durham Co. will have to pay a significant amount into this project. (See this discussion in the commuter rail thread for additional context.) Relatively, will Durham Co.'s transit budget be more burdened by this project than Wake Co.?

  3. Rail companies around the world use the land under/over/around train tracks and stations that they own, and use it to offset train operation costs. Since land needs to be bought to build stations and other facilities, anyways, does GoTriangle have any plans or ideas to perform land value capturing too? Put another way, have GTCR planners considered taking advantage of stations’ real estate to help pay for this project?

  4. On a similar note, is GoTriangle looking into alternative revenue sources like sponsorships and bus stop advertisements?

  5. What are the limitations to this study? For example, @orulz wondered here if Morrisville’s Park West Village development could support a train station. I’m wondering if this study’s methodology may obscure that possibility by, for example, using ridership models based on 2010 census data (when Morrisville has clearly grown since then).

  6. Can you talk more about how accessibility will be baked into GTCR’s design? I don’t mean this just in the ADA sense, but also for rider experience at large (e.g. easy, intuitive bus transfers; navigation and wayfinding; integration with other services like BRT and FAST buses).

And, since AMAs stand for “Ask Me Anything”, Reddit tradition dictates we have to have at least one fun question here, as well.

  1. Tell us your favorite transit travel story! This doesn’t have to be in the Triangle, as long as you used public transport to get there.

That’s exactly why @dtraleigh and I set this up! :smiley: I’m glad we’re getting questions now, finally :sweat_smile:

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