Agenda - 03-07-2017 - 6-a - Minutes

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14 1 2 Summary 3 • Durham-Orange corridor is already a large, robust transit market, in a high-growth 4 metropolitan area. 5 • LRT can provide capacity to meet current &future demand in a way BRT cannot 6 • LRT supports the compact growth & economic development strategies of 7 Durham/Orange that preserve farms/forests, reduce emissions 8 • LRT will provide faster service and more opportunity/social mobility than BRT over 17 9 miles 10 • LRT will provide lower cost per passenger trip 11 12 Review: 2011 AA Document vs Dec 2016 FEIS/ROD to NCCU 13 Review-2011 Documents vs Dec 2016 FEIS/ROD to NCCU 14 -LRT Vehicle Capacity: -180 passengers per car 15 -Standard Bus Capacity: -50 passengers per bus 16 17 What they have learned since 2011 AA 18 • GoPass use increased LRT ridership 19 by making transit feel free 20 • If BRT had been chosen, ridership 21 would have risen for BRT, too 22 • Lower bus capacity + Higher BRT ridership = 23 o More buses/higher operating cost 24 o Introduces new, significant traffic impacts 25 • Then, A Tough Choice: 26 o BRT in mixed traffic— slower, less reliable service 27 o Spending more on capital cost to add up to 40 bridges 28 • LRT remains a better fit for high-demand corridor 29 30 Discussion 31 32 Commissioner Marcoplos asked if the state wide economic benefits could be identified. 33 Patrick McDonough said there is a contractor in Granville or Person County that sells 34 concrete railroad ties nationally. He said this contractor would be a great bidder because they 35 would have a really short transportation cost to sell concrete ties one county away. He said this 36 would be a rural county selling to an urban project, which is a statewide impact beyond the 37 three core counties. 38 Commissioner Rich asked if the average age of riders could be identified. 39 Patrick McDonough said this information has been gathered, and he will send it to the 40 Board. 41 Commissioner Rich said her sons take public transportation everywhere, and do not 42 want to use their cars. She said 20-40 year olds do not want to be in the car, and she would 43 like to see if GoTriangle's research matches her experiences. 44 Commissioner Rich said there is a lot of talk about BRT versus Light rail, but a lot of 45 money has already been invested in light rail. She asked what would be lost if the plan were to 46 switch to BRT. 47 Patrick McDonough said the process is at 30% design stage, which is 30% completion 48 on the construction drawings to hand to a contractor to build. 49 Patrick McDonough said it would be a minimum of a 4-year loss of time.