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10 <br /> Second, there is no data to suggest that a bus from the Gateway station to UNC <br /> Hospital will be faster than the train in the future, especially when congestion has <br /> grown in the region. The travel time for Light Rail from Gateway Station to UNC <br /> Hospital in the AA documents is 13.2 minutes. (Durham-Orange Docs:Volume 3, <br /> page C2) The travel time on today's Chapel Hill Transit D bus, which follows <br /> Franklin St and the NC 86 corridor to UNC Hospital is 28 minutes from Sage Rd, <br /> which is even closer to campus than the Gateway area. Future congestion <br /> projected along Fordham Blvd suggests that the Franklin St-Columbia St path is <br /> likely to remain the better option into the long-term future, so even with a bus <br /> transfer and a 7-10 minute bus ride from the UNC Hospital station, the passenger <br /> will experience faster travel times and less trip time variability by riding the train <br /> all the way to UNC Hospital and transferring to the bus there. <br /> Third, this question asserts that using 15-501 is "less expensive." It is not clear <br /> from the question whether this means that a bus/rail combo fare is assumed to be <br /> lower than a rail-only fare, or whether the question refers to the capital cost of <br /> infrastructure, or something else. <br /> 3. Is the decrease in park and ride spaces at Leigh Village from 3,000 originally, to <br /> 1,000, and now to 500 spaces in the NC 54 Corridor Study addressed in the AA <br /> as it could affect ridership volumes? What are the consequences in ridership? <br /> Demand for use of the Leigh Village station is driven by several large scale <br /> fundamentals in terms of travel patterns and the lack of alternate routes to UNC <br /> from South Durham due to the presence of Jordan Lake. Changing the number of <br /> parking spaces at the station will not significantly alter the ridership projections <br /> as long as a parking option of any number is assumed. <br /> If a station area has demand for 2000 parking spaces and only 500 spaces are <br /> provided, there will likely be spillover effects in terms of illegal parking in <br /> adjacent areas, people switching to buses, etc. <br /> Furthermore, there has never been any "official" number of parking spaces for <br /> any rail station in any of the three corridors in the region because the numbers <br /> used are all for preliminary planning estimates, and are further refined in the <br /> Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process. So there is no "decrease" or <br /> "Increase" in spaces at any station, including Leigh Village, since those numbers <br /> are years away from being finalized. <br /> Finally, this question assumes that the draft recommendations of a study (NC 54 <br /> Corridor Study) that has not been adopted by any of the governments that <br /> commissioned it—are FINAL. This is not the case. <br /> Page 2 of 13 <br />