That’s great!
Even better news, IMO, is the regional technology plan to be implemented by all the agencies. Seems like they’re pretty serious about enabling tap-to-pay payments for credit cards/cell phones.
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The ability to pay with your phone/credit card would be huge!
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would be so much better than the stupid QR code camera thing they have now. compared to tap its soo finicky and takes forever
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It’s genuinely so terrible
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could you imagine trying to use it in a subway turnstile or something? just laughable
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Apparently in addition to route 100 gaining 15 minute service all day beginning next week, in the draft FY27 transit plan, the all route 100 trips will again serve the airport, giving RDU all day 15 minute service connecting to downtown Raleigh and the RTC (very much a welcome change). I know some have previously disliked that deviation because the airport has never had good ridership, but maybe that’s because bus service to the airport has historically always been bad? They’re also proposing to implement all day 30 minute service on the DRX, giving passengers to Durham a direct route.
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I hope my relentless complaining help bring back the good bus service to RDU. Now if they only ran advertisements to make people consider a $2.50 bus trip vs $40 Uber that takes the same amount of time.
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I think my route will be a $5 uber to Union Station to catch the bus! (I could take the 6 bus and transfer at Moore Square, but I don’t really want to be there with luggage.)
I walk from my condo in Glenwood South to the station across the street from Alpaca on Hillsborough St. to catch the 100 to the airport.
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I live probably about a 10 minute walk further from that stop, which is just a little bit longer than I’m willing to do with luggage 
. I definitely could change buses somewhere around Hillsborough St/Glenwood though, it would probably just depend how much of a rush I’m in vs. ubering to Union station.
It’s not a big deal with rolling luggage. That is of course if it’s not raining.
I’ve always felt the span was bigger hamper to RDU service than the frequency. Boarding a flight often happens early in the morning or late at night and if the bus doesn’t start running until 7 or 8, it’s hard to wait for that instead of taking a Taxi, if you are wanting to be mobile at 4 or 5.
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I mean I’m not going to argue that span improvements aren’t also necessary (particularly on weekends); but infrequent, indirect service was a huge problem. Hopefully they’ll add late night and early morning trips to the 100 soon after.
When I’m purchasing a flight ticket, I usually balance the flight schedule vis-a-vis the bus schedule and the price of the flight. If a round trip ticket is less than 40 bucks more than the cheapest flight, but I know that I can take the bus, I’ll book it.
I also hope they get rid of the deviation. The 100 should be Raleigh to RTC, not Raleigh to RTC via RDU, sometimes. I think the RDU shuttle creates a better connection for more people to RDU when compared with the 100 and I like consistency of route.
Thinking at a regional level, I don’t like the time penalty when going to Durham, when I need to trundle through RDU for maybe 1-2 one or offs.
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Yeah, that requires a lot more focus and doesn’t work for airport employees. I firmly believe that airport employees are a bigger market for transit riders, than people catching flights. Airports are decently large employers and the people working there are more likely to need/want transit service.
Eh I think all day 30 minute DRX service more than makes up for the deviation on the 100.
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What about for Chapel Hill trips? My personal belief overlapping express and local services doesn’t make sense on the same corridor in most situations. Both need to run very frequently, so that people don’t take whatever comes first but instead wait for an express for an otherwise express capable journey.
We should get rid of the DRX and CRX, and run the 800/100/400, every 15 minutes to provide good service to Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, with a good connection to RDU from the Triangle Mobility Hub, through to Brier Creek to provide more alternatives and to have RDU be a well connected member of the region.
We should work to start building out a regional grid. So then you have a lot of different ways to get to RDU, and a lot of ways to get anywhere you need to go from RDU.
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Yeah, sorry, I only speak for my own experiences.
I don’t think I disagree with you in terms of long-term network strategy, but comparing current service to the proposed FY27 changes I do think they are an improvement for most riders. I think that serving the airport on the 100 (now frequent all day) is an improvement for just about everyone in the region seeking to reach the airport, not just those coming from Raleigh, now if the RDU shuttle ran every 15 minutes instead of 30, that might not be the case; and I would also argue that frequent service to the airport is also probably a bigger deal for airport shift workers than travelers, and I agree with you that airport employees are a more important demographic to serve than tourists and travelers!
Looking even longer-term I think the 100 should be replaced as the spine of the network by the proposed I-40 BRT, with branches throughout the region, and the airport shuttle (or possibly a Cary-Brier Creek via RDU BRT line?) can make a return connecting the elevated I-40 BRT station to the airport, hopefully with bus lanes constructed as part of the John Brantley Boulevard rebuild (maybe a single station could be constructed to serve both terminals in the existing parking garage/future ground transportation center?).
Edit: also want to say that I really respect your advocacy for transit in the Triangle even if we don’t see 100% eye to eye on this issue.
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