Does GoTriangle deserve our trust?

[StuckovertheAtlantic]

Have him start by actually listening to riders who ride the buses, not a photo-op. Because, right now, GoTriangle is pathetic. Buses are consistently late, and all service improvements over the last several years have been too little, too late. The drivers are absolutely the worst I’ve seen in the 10 years I’ve been riding the buses here: rude to riders, not following the schedule, taking their sweet time getting to stops and causing passengers to miss their connections. Honestly, GoRaleigh drivers aren’t even that bad; I might get a bad driver on GoRaleigh once every dozen or so rides. With GoTriangle, EVERY SINGLE RIDE had a mediocre driver at best, a rude prima-donna at worst.

Also, what has this agency done for the Triangle? Has it given a sprawling rail system it promised in the 90s? No. Has it given the light rail it promised back in 2011? No. Has it delivered on commuter rail? No. Has it at least started running frequent buses (every 15 minutes)? Oh, they’re just now starting 15-minute service on the 400? Which serves, let me see, Durham and Chapel Hill. Any improvements for the 100? Oh, we made it the only route that will serve GoRaleigh Station. THANK YOU!

We’ve had how many CEOs over the last ten years? Each time a new CEO has come on, GoTriangle promised change for the better, before dumping another hundred million on a rail study that lead nowhere. My impression of GoTriangle is it’s corrupt like a Russian oligarch, eating money away, while giving next to nothing in return, just like the Durham city government.

So here we go again. Look, new CEO! Now things will change, promise! Look, he’s riding the bus! Is he riding the bus every day? I bet he only rode it once for that Instagram photo-op, and it’s back to the cozy Lexus for him. My opinion of Ben Smith? Negative. I know, he hasn’t done anything. I don’t care, he’s probably yet another imbecile who in for the money. You know what would help improve my opinion of him? A: He actually improves bus service and puts us on track for rapid transit (at this point, I don’t care if it’s rail or not). Or B: Disbands GoTriangle, or at least let GoRaleigh or GoCary handle Wake County bus service.

Downvote and ban me if you want. An opinion of a GoTriangle rider here.

[core2idiot]

I don’t entirely disagree with you. GoTriangle has shown itself to be incompetent numerous times and focused on people who aren’t their riders. The fixation on rail they have had has repeatedly shown to be misguided and in the meantime their existing service has had pitiful investments at best.

They have done a few things for Wake County like add weekend service for the 305 but that ends at 7pm and they added off peak service for the 310, but there’s still no weekend service.

I would very much support Brian Smith doing listening sessions on buses and doing more personal public sessions. GoTriangle does have a trust deficit and the capital projects I see tend see them pursue, are flawed and misguided.

The feds aren’t going to want BRT on I-40, the state probably won’t either unless GoTriangle pays for it. Waiting for the Triangle Mobility Hub before Raleigh-RTC goes frequent, is misguided.

At this point I just want more service, not some capital project that will be in the development phase for another decade, publish an EIS, and then realize we don’t have the money for it anymore.

[keita]

@StuckovertheAtlantic

You know what would help improve my opinion of him? A: He actually improves bus service and puts us on track for rapid transit (at this point, I don’t care if it’s rail or not). Or B: Disbands GoTriangle, or at least let GoRaleigh or GoCary handle Wake County bus service.

Downvote and ban me if you want. An opinion of a GoTriangle rider here.

I mean, I think you’re preaching to the choir, here

@StuckovertheAtlantic

Oh, they’re just now starting 15-minute service on the 400? Which serves, let me see, Durham and Chapel Hill.

…maybe except for this part, but only because I think it’s easier to start with the 400/405 before moving onto the 100 versus the other way around.

First, the 15min service thing only technically true since the 400 and 405 individually are still 30-minute services. However, their departure times are offset so that each route’s bus starts halfway between the headway of the other. This lets GoTriangle buses run one of the buses out of downtown Durham at the top of the hour, the other route at :15, the next run of the first route at :30 etc., only diverging at Franklin St. (the main entrance of UNC). At that point, bus frequency doesn’t matter since Chapel Hill Transit’s frequent bus schedules can cover whatever gaps are still there.

Another thing to keep in mind: the Chapel Hill-Durham axis is basically like Capital Blvd., with major clusters of apartments, shopping centers, and/or parts of major universities roughly spaced out every mile or so. I’d argue that this fundamentally makes this part of the Triangle much more transit-friendly. The 100 is more complicated since has to be synchronized with the RDU shuttle and it connects fewer major communities/developments as a share of its route (i.e. it’s RTP and RDU on one side, NC State and DTR on the other, and it’s just I-40 and a couple of minor stops in between). Plus, since the 105 got absorbed into the 100 as the cost of letting it run more often, you couldn’t do the same sort of sleight-of-hand in Raleigh.

Besides, with the 100 having received schedule changes recently, I think it’s fair to let the 400/405 get its turn in the spotlight this summer. …especially when both Orange and Durham counties have been redirecting county sales taxes from light rail to improvement of the 15-501 corridor for years, whereas Wake County’s transit plan is, just now, getting updated.

Full disclaimer: I take the 400 and 405 at all hours throughout the day for work - or at least, much more frequently than I do the 100.

[orulz]

IIRC They had 15 minute rush hour service on the core regional routes like the 100 and 400 years ago, it got rolled back for COVID

[StuckovertheAtlantic]

Can’t say about the 400 (and it’s 405 counterpart). If you’re referring to the 100/105 pair, I wouldn’t count that. The 100 deviated to the airport at all times, the 105 did what the 100 does most of the time now. The buses departed RTC (and I think GoRaleigh Station) at the same time, so it wasn’t 15-minute service as it was an extra bus. But, yes, compared to pre-COVID, current service is a downgrade.

[orulz]

Yes, I think you are right that I am thinking of the combination of 100 + 105 which (as I recall) amounted to 4 buses per hour between RTC and Moore Square.

The departures from RTC were simultaneous IIRC, but on Hillsborough and at Moore Square they alternated every 15 minutes (give or take). I guess they weren’t the same route so maybe it doesn’t count.

It’s been about 6.5 years now since I was a regular GoTriangle rider.

[NoRaAintAllBad]

“I Like Big Challenges”: Talking with GoTriangle’s New CEO

[dtraleigh]

This seems like the right call, short term.

His vision for the agency’s future—at least, its immediate future—is to improve upon the services it already provides, rather than undertake some grand new project. He wants to increase frequency along key routes, strengthen existing partnerships, and cultivate relationships with current, lapsed, and new riders.

[keita]

For the people who just want the shiny headlines, there’s this update (though it shouldn’t be new to you if you’ve kept an eye on previous Wake Transit Plan updates):

@Indy article

[W]e’re implementing a 15-minute service frequency on Route 400 […] Our plan is to continue to do more of that [next] spring. The Route 100 and the Route 700 are the next that we are planning to implement a 15-minute service frequency on. These are services that people are relying on every day already, but as we continue to make them easier to use and more convenient, hopefully we’ll see more people getting on board.

More broadly: I know this is a low bar, but it’s refreshing to see how he’s being clear about what he does and doesn’t know about our region and our graveyard of rail projects. At the very least, I don’t get the vibe that he ignored the scathing reviews and big expectations in GoTriangle’s new strategic plan and its accompanying slide deck.

[core2idiot]

Not many details but I still like what he’s saying and like that he’s saying it. Also like the reference to commuting on the 800, I wonder if he’ll keep that up.

[core2idiot]

I finally took some time to look over these documents and found the Triangle Mobility Hub Plans.

Why is the site planned to be a like 1/4 parking? Like if the TOD developer wants to build parking, that’s fine but why is GoTriangle planning to build parking? And like it’s using up most of the land convenient to the bus platform in the right alternative (which looks like the better alternative from a flow perspective). I can understand a kiss and ride, and a tiny lot for GoTriangle employees, but there’s already so much extra parking in the area it’s where I take my partner in order for her to learn to drive.

Yet it also looks like it’s designed for most of the routes to terminate at the hub. Especially the left alternative. I don’t have the data for what percentage of 100x riders are going to transfer, but I feel like we want the 100x to get in and out as quickly as possible, stopping at two traffic lights, making two left turns, trundling down two long-ish driveways, isn’t that.

I would honestly want the 100x to stop at an on street bay, before continuing straight on with the terminating bays on the other side of the sidewalk from the 100x platform, maybe that’s not practical but these plans don’t value the speed of getting through the transit center, as the operational plans should require. We should still design this investment to provide the least delay by stopping as possible.

I do think that both are better than the current Regional Transit Center roundabout before serving the platform but I feel like both contain more pavement than a better option.