The whole concept of 4, 6, 16, 23, 26 (now gone), 27, 36, and 70 at Crabtree Valley Mall as it was implemented several years ago never made sense, and it hasn’t gotten better since then. Multi-seat rides do not appeal to a lot of people. I remember that when 6 was extended to Towne North on what’s now the 36 route, the transit staff talked about how important it was to offer a single-seat ride. Well, that statement has become “inoperative”.
Crabtree has disadvantages as a minihub, not the least of which is the traffic congestion that adds considerably to end-to-end trip time – especially between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Ironically, the single thing that would make Crabtree a better minihub is service to RDU. But politically, the RDU Airport Authority doesn’t want free parking at Crabtree to compete with their own parking lots and the Crabtree owners don’t like the idea, either.
I used to use the 23L at times. The 23L route has increased by 68.8% (Nov 2019 YTD to Nov 2015 YTD page 5). #6 Glenwood has increased by 153.7%. This route has changed since 2019, but it looks to be a very successful route.
I would like to see an updated system map. If you go to https://goraleigh.org/ and click on “System-Wide Route Map”, you’ll see this is no longer a good map.
It would also be nice to see GoRaleigh (and GoTriangle) try to incorporate events into their routes. I had considered taking 27 to the Hurricanes game a few weeks ago. I held off because the bus drove right by me (route 27) even after using my light to show I was waiting at the stop back when I was trying to take it to the fair. It does seem that the 27 goes by the stadium, however it does have a long loop back north.
Based on what I learned earlier today, RUSBUS was supposed to be a GoTriangle and GoRaleigh station but the GoTriangle Board changed their minds sometime during the late design or construction process.
Why? I have no clue but it makes no sense why the station only houses GoTriangle service. It should not be under capacity given the potential for popular Westward GoRaleigh routes to be located there.
Westward GoRaleigh routes should absolutely not terminate at RUSBUS. Why give everybody traveling between the east and west halves of Raleigh a half-mile walk or a crappy shuttle bus to ride in order to make their transfer?
If anything, eastward routes are the ones that could possibly serve RUSBUS. The buses could travel by Moore Square on street, lay over at RUSBUS, and go back by Moore Square again on the outbound leg.
Westward GoRaleigh routes could be routed to pass by RUSBUS on-street in the same way, but they should lay over at GoRaleigh Station (Moore Square)
I think that both stations could use better on street stops. In reality I don’t really like transit centers, I prefer transit malls, except occasionally for Freeway Express Bus service. I had a fantasy for a while of turning Hargett Street into a transit mall, with dedicated bus lanes.
I would like it if we could move away from an all routes terminate in downtown mindset, as I think that leads to overloading the stations.
I’m not sure I see a great route from Crabtree to RDU that isn’t largely duplicative of the 100 and the 100 is already connected to Crabtree pretty directly by the 27L.
My argument is much more that Crabtree is already a mini hub, close to 2000 buses go in or out of it every day. Compared to 1300 at New Hope Commons Walmart and 1000 at Triangle Town Center. So we should take routes that go near it (like the 24L and 70L) and ensure that we connect them to it.
This is the answer, routes should be connecting places, not the hub and spoke model. Realistically, building a successful bus system starts with focusing on specific use cases rather than trying to serve everyone everywhere at once. When a system tries to do a little bit of everything, it often ends up doing nothing particularly well. Instead, the approach should be to begin with routes that have a clear purpose and can deliver immediate value, basically shuttles to replace car trips. It would take some research, but there are definitely areas of Raleigh where mass commuting occurs and bus lines would do well if they could get close to matching the car travel time.
100 isn’t an attractive option for the half of Raleigh that lives north of I-440.
The hub at Crabtree as it’s currently structured assumes that everyone will embrace a two-seat or three-seat ride to their destinations. The irony is that when your bus arrives inbound at Crabtree, frequently your outbound connection is the same bus – but you still have to get off and wait.
But the best I can offer when compared to the 100 is get on the freeway a little bit sooner, get on at 440/Glenwood, instead of Wade/Blue Ridge and I would still want to route to Regional Transit Center instead of RDU directly, so that I can maintain transfers to Chapel Hill and Durham.
I do think this is a trip that would be served well by extending the 70L to Crabtree and extending the RDU Shuttle to Brier Creek (which I’ve proposed previously) but I’ve since talked to some people and they’ve said that RDU isn’t open to GoTriangle routing through the tunnel on International Drive.
At many of the Wake Transit Plan meetings, they ask if I want “Mobility Hubs” and they were taken off guard when I said no. I want service, not a block with 4 bus bays, some sad bike racks, and some parking spaces. I think that our system is designed to encourage people to spend on capital, instead of operations, when as a rider, I would rather a 1950s school bus coming every 90 seconds, than a brand new train coming 4 times a day.
I was about to write a post about how a gridded system is a bad idea for Raleigh’s geography but then I looked at the numbers. Most of the actual crosstown routes perform well. The 23L is a high performer; 7L, 15L, 24L, 25L are all near or slightly above the system average. 11L, 36L and 70L are more radial extensions and not really crosstown routes. The only true crosstown route that’s an outright dud in terms of ridership is the 27L (Blue Ridge).
While I don’t think eliminating the timed pulse at the downtown station(s) is necessarily a good idea, perhaps there is potential for new crosstown routes, especially given that the platforms at Moore Square are pretty full.
I’m not in love with Martin Street, given that it dead-ends at Union Station. I also kind of like going past City Hall, on principle. Hargett provides a good transfer to RUSBUS, which I would at least consider continuing to serve using GoTriangle freeway buses.
Does anyone know how many sets of snow chains GoRaleigh has? They skipped operating service 4 days this week. I can understand them not operating service when it’s dangerous to do so, but I have ridden bus service in snow before, and it’s been okay. I would rather people take transit in the snow than drive themselves and we’re basically stranding people when we don’t operate service.
im guessing there is a cut-off time for 15 min frequency and weekend scale-back….but if you work not far off that corridor 15 min frequency is a joyride. i rode it many times.
Also worth noting is that, per the CAMPO executive meeting, GoRaleigh intends to purchase some additional 60’ articulated buses of their own, instead of relying on the ones waiting for the first BRT, I suppose.
