Orange County NC Website
3 <br /> 2. Transportation and Transit — Infrastructure Planning <br /> Orange County Transit Plan Update <br /> The Orange County Transit Plan is in the process of being updated. The updated plan is <br /> intended to identify priorities for investments through the year 2040. The planning <br /> process is being guided by a Policy Steering Committee composed of elected officials <br /> representing each jurisdiction in the County. <br /> The plan is being developed in coordination with Durham County, Go Triangle, Chapel Hill <br /> Transit and Orange County Public Transportation; the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro <br /> Metropolitan Planning Organization; the Triangle-J Council of Governments; the <br /> University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and its hospitals; and municipalities. <br /> All meeting materials including a recording of the Policy Steering Committee's retreat can <br /> be found at https://octransit2020.com. <br /> During its retreat, the Policy Steering Committee identified core values to use in <br /> evaluating investments recommended in the Plan. Those values were equity, <br /> environmental sustainability, economic prosperity, affordability, and transit access for all. <br /> Although transit revenues are programmed in the short term with little available funding <br /> for new projects, the Steering Committee also requested that some longer term visionary <br /> projects be referenced as future opportunities for transit investment. <br /> The consulting team has developed a draft menu of projects and has evaluated each of <br /> them against these values. The Policy Steering Committee reviewed and discussed <br /> these recommendations on January 14, 2022. During this meeting, the Committee <br /> authorized staff to present transit improvement options to the public for community <br /> engagement. The results of this engagement will be used to create a final update to the <br /> Transit Plan for approval in the Spring of 2022. <br /> A full project schedule and detailed next steps are included in Attachment 4. <br /> Orange County and Durham County are also leading an effort to study how the Transit <br /> Plans are governed and implemented through interlocal agreements such as the one <br /> created in 2012 between Orange County, DCHC MPO and GoTriangle. These <br /> agreements operationalize the future Transit Plan as it is executed on an annual basis. <br /> The governance study is reviewing authorizing legislation and requirements, corollary <br /> agreements, funding system, reporting requirements, implementation committee(s), <br /> budget processes, benchmarks, and material change thresholds that affect the financial <br /> model. <br /> Chapel Hill Transit (CHT) Update <br /> Over the past two years CHT's focus has been the safety of Team Members and <br /> customers during the COVID pandemic. During this time, CHT has worked closely with <br /> Public Health and Emergency Management officials and continue to follow <br /> cleaning/sanitizing and safety protocols consistent with industry best practices, <br /> OSHA/CDC requirements and from practices recommended by the European <br /> Commission. CHT was one of the first systems in the State to implement shields for <br /> Operators and UV and air purification systems on all public vehicles. The COVID <br />