Agenda - 01-24-2013 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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Public Transportation and Rail W Public transportation and rail are vital modes of transportation that give alternative options for transporting people and goods from one place to another. Public Transportation North Carolina's public transportation systems serve more than 50 million passengers each year. Five categories define North Carolina's public transportation system: community, regional community, urban, regional urban and intercity. • Community Transportation - Local transportation efforts formerly centered on assisting clients of human service agencies. Today, the vast majority of rural systems serve the general public as well as those clients. • Regional Community Transportation - Regional community transportation systems are composed of two or more contiguous counties providing coordinated / consolidated service. Although such systems are not new, the NCDOT Board of Transportation is encouraging single - county systems to consider mergers to form more regional systems. • Urban Transportation — There are currently nineteen urban transit systems operating in North Carolina, from locations such as Asheville and Hendersonville in the west to Jacksonville and Wilmington in the east. In addition, small urban systems are at !work in three areas of the' state. Consolidated urban - community transportation exists in five areas of the state. In those systems, one transportation system provides both urban and rural transportation within the county. • Regional Urban Transportation - `Regional urban transit systems currently operate in 'three areas of the state. These systems connect multiple municipalities and counties. • Intercity Transportation - Intercity 'bus service is one of a few remaining examples of privately owned and operated public transportation in North Carolina. Intercity buses serve many cities and towns throughout the state and provide connections to locations in neighboring states and throughout the United States and Canada. Greyhound /Carolina Trailways operates in North Carolina. However, community, urban and regional transportation systems are providing increasing intercity service in North Carolina. An inventory of existing and planned fixed public transportation routes for the planning area is presented on Sheet 3 of Figure 1. Although the areas of Hillsborough and Chapel Hill have public transportation services in place, there are currently no fixed or scheduled services that serve the Orange County CTP area (the rural areas of the county). Orange Public Transit (OPT) offers transportation for the elderly or disabled to medical care, shopping, nutrition sites, and senior centers; however, these services are provided on the basis of individual qualifications and requests, so they were not included in the CTP inventory of existing routes. 1 -13