And, of course, all the online GoPass options are “Coming Soon!”.
Doubt I could even get one in person at the GoRaleigh transit center at this point. Maybe I can flash my GoTriangle senior card until the initial chaos subsides.
At least it appears that all buses have tap-to-pay.
Surprised about fares for the R-Line though
now just time for them to adopt your proposed promotional program!
I would love to see and ride the RLine from North Hills to Downtown as a connecting route, # 8 Six Forks is a fairly busy route to and from Downtown. It will still be a circular route around Downtown, then on towards North Hills and back. Over time I think that people will ride the RLine again.
R-Line is going to die.
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We rode the full route of the R line on Thursday. I can see multiple ways that it would work for me to use if I can just remember and plan it a little ahead. 6 different people got on and off during our time on the bus and they seemed to be downtown workers. I wonder if getting artists to paint the buses would make them stand out more and make them more popular?
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I’ve thought that, while it’s cheesy, just change the vehicle to a trolley. That sort of thing just speaks for itself.
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If possible I agree that having it look different from the GoRaleigh busses and better convey its purpose as being a shuttle would encourage use.
Also lots of glass for two-way visibility would be desirable. Make it look safe and friendly.
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Agree. Even windows that come down when the weather is warm. Honestly, we should try to make it a touristy thing, just to see if it sticks. Locals will hate it probably. 
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MiamiDade communities use trolleys that look like, well, trolleys. They are all free and widely used.
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I honestly think it would be a good idea to implement a service of small “trolley” buses (like if you put the San Francisco cable cars on rubber tires) which use the same or similar alignments to the old streetcar system in Raleigh.
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Agreed, they could also be moving museums if they imitate the designs of old trolley cars. San Fran has two moving trolly museums and the day pass is $5, which includes all-day tram and bus service.
Greensboro has one of those now, called The Hopper. It seems to be doing well.
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First time seeing this. Saw this in the reddit post on the subject. Thoughts?
Hoping they hand out warnings initially, but seems like they’re really attacking the loitering issue that was prevalent last summer.
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I’m all for it but I hope this starts 60-80 days after July 1 given the “soft implementation” phase. If not, this will lead to some issues.
Also, will “I’ll pay on the bus” be an acceptable response?
Perhaps the bus stations will be implementing an option to prepay? If that’s the case, I assume that wouldn’t fly at a central bus station. I can see how the city would want to go after this in a lot of directions after what happened last summer.
But, that being said, this is just a random reddit comment and the first I’d heard of it. So, it could be BS. I’d expect to see Octavia going hard at the city council if this isn’t done properly.
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This seems hard to enforce because we’re offering an app-based system where the fare is deducted from your account, which you can preload with money I believe. We’re moving away from physical tickets.
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Would need to do a wall with payment turnstiles. Even with turnstiles, it would be hard to enforce given fare evaders. I wouldn’t see a way to enforce otherwise. I also would wonder where they would actually be able to enforce as well. If we use the GoRaleigh bus station for example, then I don’t see how you can really kick people off public benches. I can see if you notice someone sitting there for hours at the actual bus benches. If you see someone setting up a tent, then putting up a tent is something that can be enforced. I don’t think that’s really happening here. Someone sitting at a bench would be a different story; Even for a few hours if it’s not a bench that is right in front of the stop.
If you don’t want people loitering, you need to get rid of the benches or put in ones that are barely comfortable.
I’ll add I did look through public comment on the recent council meeting to see what Octavia Rainey was planning on staying about the fares being added.
She was more concerned about the fact that there isn’t any details on how seniors are going to get the free bus pass and didn’t criticize the fares being added back.
Just makes me more convinced that the people who use or want to use the buses in Raleigh are in favor of adding fares back.
