Triangle Transit Bus History Part 1

 

The Early Years (1993-99) There were three routes in the beginning: • The Green Line operated from RTP to Chapel Hill to Durham and vice versa. • The Red Line operated from Durham to RTP to Raleigh and vice versa. • The Gold Line operated between RTP and Raleigh via Cary. • The Orange Line was added in 1996 as a one-way commuter route where it traveled from North Raleigh to RTP in the mornings and from RTP to North Raleigh in the afternoons. The first two routes operated every 30 minutes during peak hours and every hour off-peak while the Gold Line only operated during peak hours. The Red and Green Lines interlined (i.e. the Red Line would change to the Green Line once the bus got to downtown Durham and vice versa) with each other. Regional pricing was implemented and started out as $1 and went up to $2.50 the further away you traveled. In September 1999, major changes began with the TTA system as night and Saturday services were added to the Green and Red Lines. Unlike the weekday version, the Saturday version of the Red Line would express its way to downtown Raleigh via I-40 before resuming its regular route once it left Moore Square Station. Another thing that changed was that the RTP-Durham portion was shifted to the Green Line. Expansion (2000-02) In September 2000, the TTA began expanding to other areas of the Triangle and ditched colors for numbers. • The Green Line became Route 401A (counterclockwise)/B (clockwise) • The Red Line became Route 101A/B • The Gold Line split into two routes—301A/B and 302A/B • The Orange Line became Route 201A/B • New peak hour route to Garner introduced as 102A (to Garner)/B (to Raleigh) Route 302A/B used Davis Drive and Western Boulevard. Route 101A/B interlined with 102A/B during peak hours while it continued to interline with 401A/B at all times. All “A” segments except 102 were headed to RTP while the “B” segments were headed to the main cities. • The Orange Line became Route 201A/B • New peak hour route to Garner introduced as 102A (to Garner)/B (to Raleigh) Route 302A/B used Davis Drive and Western Boulevard. Route 101A/B interlined with 102A/B during peak hours while it continued to interline with 401A/B at all times. All “A” segments except 102 were headed to RTP while the “B” segments were headed to the main cities. In August 2001, the following changes took place: Route 101A/B was rerouted to serve Prime Outlets in Morrisville during peak hours Route 102 A/B was extended to serve the area around the Garner Town Hall and became a 45-minute route instead of a 30-minute one.Route 102 A/B was extended to serve the area around the Garner Town Hall and became a 45-minute route instead of a 30-minute one. Interlining between Routes 101 and 102 ended due to the latter’s longer route structure.Route 102 A/B was extended to serve the area around the Garner Town Hall and became a 45-minute route instead of a 30-minute one. New Routes • 311A/B: RTP-Apex-RTP • 410A Hillsborough-Duke Hospital (AM peak) • 410B Duke Hospital-Hillsborough (PM peak) Restructuring (2002) In the spring of 2002, regional pricing was replaced by a one size fits all price. Interlining and the confusing A/B route designations were eliminated. Frequencies for all day routes were doubled to every 15 minutes with alternating routes Existing Routes • 101 & 401: Became Saturday-only routes • 410: Express service implemented on AM peak routes to Hillsborough and PM peak routes to Duke Hospital Restructured Routes • 105: RTP-Raleigh-RTP via Prime Outlets • 107: RTP-Raleigh-RTP via Corporate Center • 402: RTP-Durham-Chapel Hill-RTP via NC Central & Woodcroft • 403: RTP-Chapel Hill-Durham-RTP via Woodcroft & NC Central • 412: RTP-Durham-Chapel Hill-RTP via New Hope Commons & Southpoint • 413: RTP-Chapel Hill-Durham-RTP via Southpoint & New Hope Commons Night service was operated by Routes 105, 412 and 413. Night Time 105 operated as an express route between RTP and Moore Square in both directions. Cutbacks and Modifications (2002-03) In the fall of 2002, TTA expansion was halted. While Route 202 was added to serve the Leesville Road and Fairbanks Drive areas in North Raleigh during peak hours, Route 410 was eliminated. Route 301 was rerouted to serve NC State via Western Boulevard. In 2003, Route 105’s midday routing resembled its nighttime version and Route 151 served Hillsborough Street between the State Fairgrounds and Moore Square. Wake County Expansion and Second Restructuring (2005-10) Part 1: 2005-08 Express service was introduced in January 2005 for commuters in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. These buses ran nonstop between the endpoints, skipping the RTP station. Express Routes • 500: Chapel Hill-Raleigh AM peak, Raleigh-Chapel Hill PM peak • 550: Raleigh-Chapel Hill AM peak, Chapel Hill-Raleigh PM peak • 600: Durham-Raleigh AM peak, Raleigh-Durham PM peak • 650: Raleigh-Durham AM peak, Durham-Raleigh PM peak Also, in 2005, all peak-only routes except 102 were moved out of Moore Square Station and served a separate stop on Wilmington Street just north of the Martin Street intersection and Route 401 was replaced by Routes 412 and 413 on Saturdays. In 2006, Midday Route 105 absorbed Route 151 as passengers were once again able to directly utilize bus service between Hillsborough Street and RTP without having to transfer at Moore Square. Route 202 was eliminated and Route 302 was replaced by two separate, nonintersecting routes. New Routes • 248: RTP-Brier Creek-RTP • 305: Apex-Raleigh-Apex • 310: RTP-Apex via Davis Drive • 420: Takeover of Orange Public Transit’s Hillsborough-Chapel Hill route In 2007, the three night routes were replaced by express routes that bypass the RTP station. • 470: Durham-Chapel Hill Night • 570: Chapel Hill-RDU-Raleigh Night • 670: Durham-RDU-Raleigh Night These changes also took place as well: • 107: Eliminated • 248: Reverted back to Shuttle 48 • 303: New midday Cary-Raleigh-Cary route • 310: Cut back to RTP area and changed to Shuttle 49 In August 2008, the Wake Forest area was served for the first time as Capital Area Transit supplied the buses. • WFX: Wake Forest-Raleigh Express. Midday service only serves between Wake Forest and Triangle Town Center. Peak service extends to Moore Square. • WFL: Wake Forest Loop. Clockwise loop between Forest Pines Drive at Kroger and downtown Wake Forest Restructured Routes • 105 & 301: New RTP Transit Center prevented routes from serving stops west of the Slater Road at Emperor Road intersection • 201: Bus to stay on the Outer Loop to access new Transit Center. Serves existing stops on Emperor Boulevard • 311: Continues on N54 to access Transit Center. Replaced Shuttle 49’s stops along Davis Drive • 402, 403, 412 & 413: Service on T.W. Alexander Drive shifted to new Shuttle 47. Buses use I-40, NC 147, Davis Drive, Cornwallis Road, Fayetteville Road and/or Slater Road to and from RTP • 420: Midday frequencies added and Chapel Hill Transit buses used during that timeframe to alleviate overcrowding • 570 & 670: Stopped at Transit Center Weekend frequencies reduced to every 70 minutes in an effort to improve on time performance. In January 2009, the WFL route became a part of the CAT system. Within the next 10-12 months, two Express routes were provided from Moore Square to Eastern Wake County. Both routes are operated by CAT.