Regional Transit Service
Triangle Transit provides service across the Triangle to link municipalities and to bring commuters into RTP. Transit routes were updated following Triangle Transit’s move to their new Regional Transit Center (now located in Imperial Center in Durham) in December 2008. Triangle Transit adopted a new Short-Range Transit Plan (SRTP) in July 2008 that provides a guide for improvements in current services and the expansion of services to new locations through 2013.
Regional Rail History
An interest in regional transit planning spans multiple decades in the Triangle. Triangle Transit was introduced in 1989 to design a regional system and in 1995 the Triangle region affirmed an initial 36-mile project between downtown Durham and North Raleigh via RTP and Cary, and a future connection to Durham and Chapel Hill. The plan called for diesel multiple unit (DMU) trains operating on new tracks in an existing freight corridor west of Durham to Chapel Hill.
After it became apparent that Triangle Transit’s planned system would not be able to meet federal funding guidelines, Triangle Transit withdrew its application for federal funding in the fall of 2006. The region did not turn away from transit as a future option and moved forward with a sustained focus on the future of transit for the region.
Current Regional Transit Planning
A Special Transit Advisory Commission (STAC) was formed in the spring of 2007 by leaders in business and government to come up with a plan that could be financed by the region. STAC released their final recommendations in April of 2008 and these recommendations were used by the Durham Chapel-Hill Carrboro (DCHC) and Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) as they developed their 2035 Long Range Transportation Plans (LRTPs) which were approved in February of 2009. Each plan calls for a dramatic expansion of transit.
