Agenda - 01-24-2005-9b - Laserfiche WebLink

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1.1.3. 1.1.4. CHANGING TRANSIT ENVIRONMENT SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION FINAL REPORT As one of the member communities in the Triangle region, OPT will be faced with a changing transit environment over the next few years, The Triangle Transit Authority (TTA) is in the process of designing the regional rail system While the first phase of this project will not serve Orange County, it will have a dramatic effect on transit systems throughout the area, If nothing else, the stations in Durham will provide an anchor point for OPT connections to the rest of the region. As TTA continues its rail planning activities, it continues to evaluate the regional bus service it provides. Recently, TTA discontinued the single route (410) it operated in the rural area of Orange County; a route connecting Hillsborough to Durham and Duke Hospital. Three morning trips were offered to Duke Hospital, and two express evening trips were offered to Duke Hospital. In the reverse direction, two morning express trips were offered from Duke Hospital, and three evening trips were offered from Duke Hospital. The service began in August 2001 and TTA's Board eliminated the service in July 2003 due to very low ridership. A parallel effort is underway to analyze the organization of transit in the region The mayors of Raleigh, Durham, Cary, and Chapel Hill commissioned a study to evaluate the potential of combining their separate systems into one consolidated system Ultimately, Chapel Hill elected not to consolidate its services at this time, but negotiations are underway among Raleigh, Durham, and TTA on merging their systems. Cary's C-Tran service is anticipated to be added into the merged organization as a second phase, along with potentially NC State's Wolfline service. OPT is not currently included in the transit consolidation analysis, but it could be added at a later phase depending upon the wishes of the Orange County Board of Commissioners and the new transit organization. This CTIP does not take a position on whether OPT should be included in the new organization. The CTIP, however, does explore the relationships to facilitate a regional transit service. OPT has already undertaken a number of such steps, including participating in the monthly regional transit pass program with TTA, Capital Area Transit (CAT), Durham Area Transit Authority (DATA). OPERATING STATISTICS Orange County's key operating statistics are shown in Exhibit 1-1. The total number of vehicle service hours, miles of service supplied, and passenger trips were used to develop the performance and efficiency statistics shown in the Exhibit The percent change for each statistic is shown, where applicable, to enable a better understanding of the trends over recent years. Orange County 1-3 COMMUNITY TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT PLAN r_ %%ill Smith