Agenda 09-19-23; 6-a - Orange County NC 54 Multimodal Corridor Study

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MPO Board 10/9/2019 Item 8 Ref: 38587.01 October 1, 2019 Page 10 above suggest that many of these employees actually use 1-40, and that some use NC 87. Between 750 and 1450 employee residences are estimated to fall within the travelshed depicted in Figure 1, with most the uncertainty concentrated in the easternmost end of the travelshed. The potential market for a UNC-oriented transit service along the NC 54 west corridor falls somewhere in this range. Park-and-ride lots serving UNC Chapel Hill have long helped reduce demand for on-campus parking, as well as providing an alternative to reduce personal vehicle use.To help support their fare-free transit system, Chapel Hill Transit began charging for the use of their park-and-ride lots in 2013. Chapel Hill Transit Park-and-Ride Permits are available at a daily rate of$2, a monthly rate of$21, or an annual rate of$250. Chapel Hill Transit operates four park-and-ride locations serving commuters coming from the western portion of the region to campus.Table 1 (below) details the Chapel Hill Transit Park-and-Ride lots, which are also depicted in Figure 18. While parking demand has fallen for the westernmost park-and-ride lots (Jones Ferry and Carrboro Plaza), demand has risen for the northern park-and-ride along NC 86 (Eubanks Road) and the southern park-and-ride lot along US 15-501 (Southern Village). While the percent of commuters within each respective corridor is similar, utilization is not. One key reason appears to be the enhanced service level provided by the NS route compared to those routes serving the Jones Ferry and Carrboro Plaza.The NS Route operates all day with headways as little as ten minutes during the peak.This level of service frees commuters from having to plan their journey around a bus schedule. Commuters have the flexibility to arrive at a park-and-ride at a time of their choosing, knowing the next bus will be coming shortly.This pattern suggests commuters coming from the west pass by the Carrboro Plaza and Jones Ferry Park-and-Ride lots in favor of the Southern Village Park-and-Ride (and to a lesser extent,the Eubanks Park-and-Ride) to take advantage of enhanced transit service. Table 1: Chapel Hill Transit Park and Ride (data from UNC Chapel Hill Development Plan—TIA Update) Park-and-Ride Routes Number of Fall 2013 Fall 2015 Fall 2017 %of Total Lot Served Spaces Utilization Utilization Utilization Commuters in Corridor Eubanks Road NS, CRX 400 185 188 216 12.1% (GoTriangle) Jones Ferry CM, CW and JFX 443 132 102 86 11.4 Carrboro Plaza CPX and CW 145 52 30 24 Southern Village NS and V 400 272 260 325 11.7% Page 10 of 12