Durham's transit survey is not a sign that they're abandoning commuter rail. (Click me!)
That is the exact goal of Durham’s transit plan survey. The 3 alternatives are not supposed to be isolated options. Instead, they’re supposed to represent different ways to invest (local bus operations, local infrastructure, and regional infrastructure) that should be balanced.
…so there is nothing preventing Durham County from investing in local bus operations and commuter rail, for example. Last May, Durham County’s transportation manager Ellen Beckman clarified to a GoTriangle committee that about their study approach:
I’m not worried about the survey being an anti-commuter rail sign. But I guess there’s this:
I don’t think performance politics has to be a death sentence for long-term investments. You can break political headlocks like that with quick, visible, cheap, and effective upgrades like GoDurham Access improvements or sidewalk connections in neglected parts of Durham.
But GoTriangle Board chair Michael Parker pointed out something more damning: “[Durham’s] half cent sales tax is inadequate to meet the legitimate transit needs both counties have.” They need to invest in local and regional capital projects alike, but can’t do both without cutting corners. Unlike Wake, Durham County needs to fund critical transit connections to two counties -even though they had less than 1/3 of Wake’s expected transit tax revenue last fiscal year.
TL/DR: We’re expecting Durham County to do more for the Triangle with less resources. If Durhamites also see it that way, we’d be stuck in a surprised Pikachu situation.