Quote:
Originally Posted by Kingofthehill
The inexplicable lack of serious mass transit in a city/metro region the size of Raleigh/Research Triangle is not only lamentable, it is a disgrace.
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Yeah. The problem with the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill) is trying to get three different cities in three different counties to work together. Orange and Durham counties' voters passed transit funding for which is funding the Durham-Orange light rail line that is being built between Chapel Hill and Durham. The environmental study will be completed by early 2016, followed by 3 years of engineering work and 4 or 5 years of construction so it isn't opening before 2023 or 2024.
Shorter term, there are plans in place for commuter rail on the existing line between Garner, Raleigh, Cary, RTP, and Durham but Wake county has been dragging its feet on voting for funding.
Bus transit is big in the area though. There's Triangle transit, which operates inter-city buses between Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill (and will operate the light rail lines). Raleigh, Durham, Cary, and Chapel Hill have their own bus systems, and does NC State university. CAT, DATA, C-Tran, CHT - it can be a lot to keep up with. Interestingly, Chapel Hill has the 2nd highest ridership in the state after Charlotte.
The Raleigh Amtrak station is served by the Silver Star and Carolinian lines as well as the state DOT run Piedmont which is a twice daily between Charlotte and Raleigh. Two more daily trips are scheduled to be added (for a total of 5 including the Carolinian) when the Raleigh Union station and additional track are completed in 2017, and travel time will be reduced from 3hr, 11m to 2hr, 58m, which isn't bad time considering it stops at Cary, Durham, Burlington, Greensboro, High Point, Salisbury and Kannapolis in between.