FARE-FREE Bus system in Chapel Hill, NC receives federal funds

Woo-hoo!!! Gotta toot our horn in Chapel Hill. This is from a recent Town of Chapel Hill e-mail
announcing grant funds to support the FARE-FREE (yes, you read that correctly)bus system in Chapel Hill.

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

:applause: :applause: :applause:



Chapel Hill Transit Receives Transit Grant

Chapel Hill Transit, the second-largest transit system in North Carolina with more than 6 million passengers per year, has received a $2.3 million allocation of federal funds from the NC Department of Transportation.

The grant funds will be used to purchase buses for Chapel Hill's popular fare-free system, which provides transportation services within the towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro, and on the campus of the University of North Carolina. The funding comes from the Federal Highway Administration's Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program and the Federal Transit Administration's Section 5309 statewide earmarks.

Chapel Hill Transit will use the funds to purchase eight replacement diesel and hybrid buses for its fleet. It fleet of buses currently features 98 buses, including 35-foot diesel buses, 40-foot low-floor diesel buses, 40-foot, low-floor hybrid buses, and 60-foot articulated buses.

The articulated buses have the seating capacity of two existing buses and are used on routes that experience high ridership. This is the first bus of this type operated in the Triangle. Low floor buses feature a stepless entry that makes passenger boarding more convenient and efficient.

The hybrid buses rely on hybrid electric powered engines to reduce fuel consumption and help provide cleaner air. The Town continues to actively pursue the acquisition of alternatively fueled vehicles and the use of alternative fuels in support of Town Council's environmental sustainability goal.


:woohoo: :applause: :woohoo: :applause: :woohoo: :applause: :woohoo: :applause:




Who else lives in a town that provides this kind of service? This is what our taxes should be supporting--not endless war in Iraq!

to neighborhoods that don't have that bus service.

If you are not familiar with the Chapel Hill Transit system, you should check it out at www.chtransit.org. The shared ride system gets you to the nearest bus stop or to a location in another shared-ride neighborhood; it is also no-fare. That site includes maps, schedules, and real-time maps showing the current location of many of the buses. Best viewed on a weekday, rather than in the middle of the night.

Evening and weekend shared ride requires that you have already bought tickets (about $0.75/each in a book of twenty). It helps fill the gaps caused by the more-limited routes that run on weekends.

In all, a remarkable system that gets better all the time. On weekdays, service starts up between about 5:00 or 5:30 each morning and provides pretty good service until late evening. Overlapping routes begin dropping off after about 8:00 and last runs on most routes are between 10:00pm and midnight. As I post this nearing 2:00am, service is down to the last runs on 4-5 routes designed to get the drunks home safely.

Next door Durham (Durham Area Transit Authority) is seriously considering switching to fare-free on its routes. The Authority has recommended the change to the local governments for approval. They expect it will take 18-24 months to get the approvals, complete the detailed planning, and implement the switchover. I hope they make it.

At least it did when I was there in school '86-'89.

Too bad the rest of the state is still stuck in Mayberry.

There are some world class restaurants in the Triangle area. RTP has a lot of BIG employers
in hi tech and bioscience.

The state has changed.

I drive a bus in Snohomish County though. God it's such a pain collecting fares. I would seriously love for it to be free, think of the time it would save when people are standing there counting out their friggin' fare. And the people who would get out of their cars. It should be free in the whole damn country, and service should be expanded to more areas and should be more frequent.

Think of all the roadwork and expansion that would be unnecessary. Just shift the tax dollars from expanding roads to transit - problem solved (and more high-ish paying jobs created at the same time).

i think i'll look into whether there's a viable way for me to public transport from raleigh to chapel hill.

though it is neither square nor just in downtown.

It is nice to be able to hop on a bus or the light rail and ride across downtown without plunking money down.