The concept of the RLine is great. In my opinion, the busses are “too much”. A trolley-like solution would make it so much easier to navigate in downtown. But they need to be enclosed for rain / cold. Also, The biggest drawback I have in using the current system is timing. I am not a queuing engineer, but I have always thought if they went in opposing directions then it would be more dependable and efficient. If I were going from Seaboard to Raleigh Times, I have to ride all the way around downtown to get there. If the vehicle was smaller, and less expensive to run, maybe we could have more of them going in different directions?
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I agree with the clockwise/counter-clockwie comment. I use a system like this and it’s much better to have both directions. It’s also a trolley system, so you’re two for two on your comment!
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I went back and looked at this thread and noticed that I said 2015, when I meant to say 2025. Unfortunately, the system wouldn’t let me edit that post, hence the quote of my own former post.
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They could run a trolley like the one in Miami beach. Not a true “trolley,” but a van designed to look like one.
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This one is actually a trolley in Miami proper, but the Miami Beach ones are pretty much the same. The trolleys have a variety of routes that overlap with each other, and they overlap with other transportation options like bike share, standard bus routes, Metromover & Metrorail. These trolleys look like an inexpensive and fun option that will allow movement into tighter spaces than the large buses used by the RLine.
At the end of the day, neither is significanlty different from the Raleigh Trolley you already see running around downtown from time to time.
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That is exactly what I had in mind.
The main reason they can’t go clockwise is that they operate on a number of one way streets which, in my opinion, all should be converted to two way in downtown.
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That seems like a silly reason.
Wilmington St heads north, there’s Blount St heading south one block over. Dawson and Salisbury go south, McDowell goes north one block between them.
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For me, the R-Line is just too slow. Unless it’s a night out where I’ve got a little time to “enjoy the ride” or “stop and smell the roses”, I generally have avoided the R-Line. There are plenty of opportunities that exist today compared to 10 years ago when the R-Line was first introduced. Scooters, Bikeshare (someday!) and Lyft are all at my disposal and since a quick ride within downtown is a buck or two, my time is worth it these days.
The city has proven to itself that the R-Line is not meeting their initial goal of 15-minute headways. Backed with data, I’m not sure why this couldn’t be something that’s worked on immediately. I’d love for them to just TRY something minor to see if it improves perception. For example, remove the loop around Moore Square and the loop through the warehouse district.
I think I like the idea of using Raleigh Trolleys instead of hybrid buses but I’d like to see 3 of them running the loop instead of 2 buses. I’d be interested to see if that can be done at the same cost. I’d also be open to sacrificing service time if we could get more buses running.
Speed is my big thing here and you can’t compete with the on-demand services of bikeshare and e-scooters these days. The R-Line has become a service for those without means and accessibility-challenged, and that’s ok if the community agrees to support that service.
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The routes don’t have to follow exact paths, both clockwise and counterclockwise.
They can deviate from each other.
I will use the R-Line when it’s raining, but the schedule is poor (as mentioned). Also, with one running in the opposite direction, that doesn’t necessarily mean it has to run on all the same streets. I don’t want to see the R-Line go away but I think it can be more effective.
Whoops, seeing John just said the same thing about exact paths. Great minds!
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2-3 Trollies running EACH direction (slightly different routes) would solve most of the issues.
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R-line needs a vastly simplified and shorter route to be successful. If the BRT downtown were made into a loop (as suggested by myself and others on here) the R-line could share that infrastructure. My favorite is a Lane-West-Martin-Wilmington counter-clockwise loop. 2 buses running that loop with proper BRT infrastructure could probably maintain 5 minute headways.
That loop doesn’t hit the convention center though, if that is considered a must-have.
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This is how extensive the trolley service is in Miami Beach.
https://www.miamibeachfl.gov/city-hall/transportation/trolley/
Got out of the R-Line Stakeholder Meeting, which I’m on, today and we’re nearing the end. I wanted to share the options that members voted on today. (anonymously) Remember that these still need to be polished and presented to the public and probably council.
To level set, the current R-Line is estimated to take 27-28 minutes round trip.
Option 1
This is a modified R-Line service with a “slimmer” route. (“the slim plan”) Estimated to reduce the round trip time to 23-24 min.
Option 2
This is the “candy cane” route. This offers a bidirectional route while servicing all the highest rider areas. It’s also the fastest with a bus being able to make the round trip in 18-20 minutes. (Salisbury and Wilmington run fast)
Option 3
This is nothing new (the “original” route) as it resembles the originally planned R-Line route. (before council asked for changes) It’s also similar to the one recommended by Kimley-Horn during the whole planning efforts done by Jarrett Walker and associates a few years ago. 23-25 minutes round trip.
I’ll just drop them here and add more through conversation. If all goes well, one of these could be the routes as early as this Summer or Fall. Changes may still come based on future public feedback so we’ll see.
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I’m not sure I like any of these better than the current route. The route could be faster if it didn’t stop at the convention center for 5 minutes.
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Has no one ever proposed running the current route in clockwise/counterclockwise routes?
None of these seem like much of an improvement. As @OakCityDylan said, not stopping at the convention center would be an improvement on the existing route.
Are the types of vehicles used part of your group conversation or just the route of the existing vehicles?
@OakCityDylan @Tenkai Don’t quote me on this, I have the same complaint, but I was told that the drivers are told to stop in order to space themselves apart a bit as well as take a break. They’re not robots so should take a driving break. Having never driven a bus myself, I imagine non-stop bus driving for hours can be stressful or tiring.
@R-Dub We did discuss vehicle type but only from a cost POV. And a different vehicle type will not allow any real change in proposal. We should see those details in the final report.
Then I propose this, and an article from my hometown (Orlando): https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2019/03/04/8-7m-driverless-shuttle-project-proposed-for.html
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