This one would have taken 10 years until completion. Raleigh is not even on the drawing board as of now. We will be old when that happens 
Totally agree. I have been working at Duke for the last five years and commute from Raleigh. The parking options are a disaster and traffic coming from Raleigh is insane. I make the 20 minute walk from my house to the GoRaleigh bus station, catch the bus, and then walk to my office from the bus stop making my commute an hour and a half to travel 30 miles. Duke does provide a Go Pass for a small yearly fee, but they need to work on providing other transportation options for their employees.
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As you may recall, Wake was years behind Dorange, due to the fact that the Republican County Commission would not allow a vote on the sales tax increase to fund transit. Once that obstacle was removed, the voters put the funding source in place (years of planning & construction wasted & the Feds are not as forthcoming with funding as they once were). When Charlotte light rail was approved, Senator Elizabeth Dole supported Charlotte, but not Raleigh. Just the facts.
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Again, Wake County made a conscious decision to not take part in light rail. GoTriangle moved on to the counties that had their āactā together in terms of approving the transit tax early. You canāt say regional planners ignored Raleigh when Wake County commissioners (and the public at the time) wanted nothing to do with it. The Wake Transit Plan was approved by voters without light rail as a component.
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As much as I hate to admit it, Iām glad the Wake plan excludes light rail so itās more likely to actually be implemented.
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The new commuter rail plan should include mandatory train horn hocking continuously when within Dukeās property. Just for safety reasonsā¦
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Of course. Safety first. 
And rumble strips. If they have those for trains. strong text
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Iām very in favor of BRT right now and I think it was a smart decision. If it takes off like it should then the mass transit corridors are established and you get many advantages of the Light Rail without the budget and extended construction timelines.
If itās efficient and convenient people will use it. If they donāt use it then it probably means weāre too spread out for rail to be effective.
My best case scenario is that the BRT is a big hit and eventually justifies the conversion of those corridors to light rail. Then the BRT could get expanded with connections to NH, Crabtree and RDU.
I supported the concept but I never really believed in the Chapel Hill to Durham light rail.
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Something Iāve thought about for a while, but really only became clear to me from this light rail dramaā¦
Is the Triangle actually an unusually nasty 21st century-style political environment?
Besides DC (duh), California (see San Franciscoās housing crisis), New York, Phoenix, and Nashville are known to be difficult places to get anything done thanks to really petty local power players. But now Iām starting to wonder if the Triangle should also be on this list, and if thatās something we need to be chronically concerned about when we try to push for urban development/transit.
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We definitely have one of the most reactionary, anti-urban state legislatures. Local politics arenāt as bad, fortunately.
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Are there any cities that utilize BRT heavily though, without a rail system supplementing that?
The Triangle is average-ish for an american metro area. You could look at it one way and say, that means itās really awful in terms of urban planning and transit support. Or you could look at it another way and sayā¦ wellā¦ it could be worse. I feel like in terms of municipal policy, weāre pretty good. Unlike some cities though, there seems to be a lack of support for urbanism among a lot of core businesses in the region, which has always held us back.
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True, the United States, in general, is fourth-rate when it comes to public transit and supporting urbanism/pro-development policies. Itās like we, as constituents, want to have all the perks of nice jobs and good economies, but we donāt want to do any of the work to get thereā¦
That was not a typo, by the way. Nairobi, Kenya (eastern Africa) has us beat for embracing BRT as a solid part of their transit network, as do other third-world cities like Lagos (Nigeria) and Jakarta (Indonesia). The US is officially falling behind them.
https://medium.com/transit-app/hello-nairobi-cc27bb5a73b7
To be fair, though, it seems like BRT as a mode of transit separate from normal buses is an idea thatās only been around for like thirty years. Kinda hard to find a city big enough to have an extensive mass transit network but young enough to not be preceded by rail.
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Most third world cities have BRT now since they canāt afford metro yet like Bogota and Quito. That makes Raleigh comparable to third world cities.
Interesting article about what happens next in the wake of the DOLRT failure: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article228524759.html
They are correct in noting it takes a long time to develop a transit plan, doubly so now that the linchpin of the Durham-Orange plans is no more. One free piece of advice I will give their consultantsā¦do not bank on state money for anything. For BRT in Raleigh, Iām 99% sure we are operating under the assumption that we will get zero dollars from the state.
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What role does (or does not) NCDOT play in all of this? Seems like they are mainly for highways and such. Do they get involved in any way in mass transit? They are the Department of Transportation. not the Department of Roads afterall.
I think state involvement could cut through some of the BS NIMBYs like Duke if they get behind it. Though with the current make-up of the state legislature I doubt it happens. But it should.
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They are supposed to get involved in mass transit, but most of what they do is superficial and itās obvious transit is treated as an afterthought. Thatās not just the legislature doing it, itās the purview of the DOT secretary and appointees.
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The NCDOT has a Division of Public Transportation, but as @Kevin said it seems to be a bit of an afterthought. I read a number awhile back that stated the DOT can only use 6% of its budget for public transport, rail, bicycling, pedestrian, ferry, and airport projects combined, so theyāre not working with much. Their budget allocations are set by the NCGA, and for right now the focus is still on building new highways.
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All you have to do is look at what Tim Moore said after DOLRT diedā¦he said they could take that money and expand I-40. With leadership like that, expect nothing and be pleasantly surprised when you get peanuts.
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I will give credit and say that the āRā party that changed the formula in regards to monies no longer being able to take out of the NCDOT budget was a very good thing. 
With that being said, the āRā party should change the 6% requirementā¦the state of NC is changing and if they want to truly stay relevant, I believe that could help make them look even betterā¦? 
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