Better Transportation

What is a Better Plan? Bus Rapid Transit on All our Major Corridors

A cost effective technology is available! Chapel Hill proactively planned for a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) on the MLK corridor between Eubanks Rd near I-40 and Southern Village. On Nov. 21, 2016, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) admitted this proposed project into Small Starts Project Development. Watch this video to imagine how bus rapid transit would help move people in our community. It would be the first phase of a much larger system that would extent to Hillborough and south to Chatham. This technology costs a fraction of the Durham Orange Light Rail, moves the people along our major corridors, is more flexible, but faces a funding gap. See how it works here:

Frequent Bus Service: The Wake County Transit Plan wisely  pulled out of light rail and decided to invest in frequent bus service.

Comfortable Bus Shelters: It makes a big difference to the quality of the transit experience when clean attractive bus shelters are available.

What kinds of transit do we expect in the next decade? A decade ago we could not have imagined the use of Uber, Lyft, and Electric Scooters. How will transportation options change, and does this plan account for those developments?

What we need from our Transit Dollars (that we are not getting)

  • Annual operations funding for fixed route services provided by CHT and OPT including:
    • Commuter service to White Cross (NC54 Extension)
    • Hillsborough Reverse Circulator
    • Many others 
  • Annual operations funding for demand and para-transit services for seniors and disabled residents including medical appointments to Mebane and Durham
  • Local funding for MLK BRT corridor (CHT $12.5 million)
  • Bus shelters and information systems for CHT and OPT ($15 mm) plus additional improvements to meet changing demand (not estimated)
  • Replacement Buses (CHT and OPT 65 buses projected through 2040)
  • Annual maintenance costs for light rail and light rail stations (Town of Chapel Hill )

Source Materials:

  • Report from Chapel Hill Transit response to council questions on MLK Bus Rapid Transit (link/date)
  • Orange Public Transit Short term Plan (link/date)
  • Orange County Transit Plan (April 2017, pages 41-43)
  • Interviews with SALT, OCRA, OCIM, Department on Aging, and Northern Orange NAACP leaders

Orange County Transit Plan April 2017

Unfunded Transit Needs

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