All fair points. Thing is, as has been my observation riding GoTriangle since 2015, service has generally become worse (although I do hope they can start turning this around like GoRaleigh did in the last year). If we compare GoTriangle in 2025 to the TTA from 2005, yes, service today is much better, back then it was hot garbage off-peak (from what I’ve heard, I may be wrong). Has it been all doom and gloom? No. The 305, for example, has been a legit improvement.
However, there have been several major service cuts over the last 10 years: a connection to RTP from Brier Creek (how is this still not a thing?), the 201 and the NRX letting people go from North Raleigh to RTP bypassing DT Raleigh, the 311, and a direct bus from DT Raleigh to the airport (the old 100). That last one drives me nuts because you see all these urbanists go “bus bad, light rail good, we need light rail to the airport or I’m out!” There was a daily, all-day, one-seat transit connection to the airport until COVID. Did anybody use that? With the service we have now, the answer is either “No” or “Yes, but the people at GoTriangle are morons to have airport passengers change buses and backtrack to the airport.” And with regards to improvements, they have been frankly slow to come and few.
I do hope I’m wrong and GoTriangle turns around. The plans they have for routes come the opening of RUSBus station doesn’t make me hopeful, though.
I do like that GoRaleigh, while having problems of its own, has beefed up 15-minute bus service, making the system useful even outside of commuting to work.
This is why I harp on the 747. It used to do that.
I agree with you on the fixation on rail being unproductive but I also think the fixation on the airport is misguided. Airport transit should be more fixated on the airport as a job center than some people who take a flight out of there a few times a year.
I’m okay with the RDU Shuttle. Especially for a regional agency, as I don’t think a bus from every downtown in the triangle makes sense, nor does making RDU the regional transit center but for the first trip of the day to be around 8am on a Saturday isn’t doing justice for it as a job center. Many people who work there need to be there early, and GoTriangle should be there to support them.
I wholeheartedly agree, RUSBus doesn’t make me optimistic and I feel like it’s just kind of in a shitty spot given what routes GoTriangle operates. It also doesn’t have the capacity to handle GoTriangle and GoRaleigh, so it’s basically mostly going to be a place for bus operators to use the bathroom and rest after a trip, which is still a good thing but kinda sad.
The 747 that covered RDU and Brier Creek was awful and unproductive. Prone to delays and traffic. Long end to end trip times. Pining specifically for the 747 is IMO barking up the wrong tree.
Covering the center of the triangle effectively is a really hard problem. There is no good answer. All the destinations are splattered haphazardly all over the map Jackson Pollock style, never in a convenient line along a corridor that makes for a sensible transit route. The destinations themselves are all so disconnected (even internally) and impossibly unwalkable.
Good service will be really expensive, and even then, will generate pathetic ridership.
I’m not saying I love that routing, just that there’s presidence. I tend to crayon a stop on International Drive with pedestrian improvements for terminal access. Then left on Commerce, left on Lumley, right on Brier Creek Pkwy, and then around Brier Leaf Ln have a transfer between GoDurham 2, GoRaleigh 70L, and an extended GoRaleigh Route 6.
I’m much more concerned with providing alternate routes east west than providing a north south route that’s compelling. I think that you’re right that providing good service in the center isn’t exactly where I want to spend limited transit dollars but east west service is hampered by the lack of a north south connection.
Right now, if I miss the 100, I basically have no other options until the next 100. If the 100 isn’t running, I’m stuck at GoRaleigh station until it starts running again.
I saw it pass by on Davie Street but couldn’t get my phone out in time to snap a pic. It was a glorious sight to behold, though. Certainly eye catching.
Right now, GoRaleigh runs the Wake Forest-Raleigh Express (WRX) just five times a day. But GoTriangle is asking for feedback about taking over this service this November, running buses all-day on weekdays every hour from 6am to 9pm - but only between Triangle Town Center and downtown Wake Forest (as opposed to a direct service to downtown Raleigh).
While we’re at it, GoTriangle is also thinking of making the ZWX (Zebulon/Wendell express) run all day, too - though this one will keep serving downtown, stopping a block north of GoRaleigh Station on its way to/from Union Station:
I like both of these ideas. I also think it makes more sense for GoTriangle to operate these routes (always thought it was weird they didn’t).
Now I just wish GoTriangle would invest in some commuter-style buses instead of regular “local” ones. Don’t need to be full coaches, but typically double rear axels ride better on the highways. And sometimes, when going to the airport, I really struggle to fit my luggage on the 100!
I do think that getting all-day service out to Wake Forest and Zebulon is good, a step in the right direction.
Let me just add that the 25L looks like a really awful route. Not sure if the people using it like it that way, but man that looks terrible. I would be pissed if I had to ride that bus to wakemed north. The Route 2 extension can’t come soon enough.
25L is a weird route indeed. I think there was plan a few years ago to redo the routes in this area. Extend the 2 to WakeMed North (I’m curious to try the temporary extension to Lafayette Village they just started) and make it 15-minute frequency. Have a 2L bus go from there up Falls of (the) Neuse to Wake Forest. Have a new 14 bus along Atlantic Avenue. I think for 25L, the plan was to shorten it to TTC and have it just run through Wake Tech and then along Perry Creek and Durant to WakeMed North. The part west of TTC would be the 32L and run all the way to Glenwood along Spring Forest and Lynn.
Once they get that implemented, the deal with the WRX and connecting to the 25L would be pretty good. Thoughts?
I like this when factoring in the future GoRaleigh Route 14 on Atlantic, and North BRT. When I ride the 1 it is often standing room only, so I don’t love the idea of driving more riders into it but with those two other investments I think that will help spread the load enough that this makes more sense. I also really like the addition of all day service. I keep meaning to explore Wake Forest, but it feels weird to drive there. I also think this could integrate in interesting ways with the future Piedmont extension to Wake Forest as part of the S-Line project.
I do feel a little weird with how much service we’re providing to Triangle Town Center, considering it’s kind of a nothing burger as far as a destination is concerned but it is convenient on the street/road network, so maybe it will redevelop into a destination that makes more sense given the service pattern.
Finally, a route that makes sense to serve RUSBUS! Also, a route that I would enjoy exploring at some point, since I know some people that live out in Zebulon.
I know sending the ZWX down 64 BUS/Knightdale Boulevard would probably add a lot of time, but an express bus that stopped in or near Knightdale Station Park would have been very welcome when I lived near there a few years ago. Having to transfer from the 33 to the 15 in order to get to downtown made the otherwise 20 minute drive a no-brainer, even though I would have immediately jumped on an even close to viable transit option.
