In November, Wake County voters approved a half-cent sales tax dedicated to paying for transit initiatives. The tax, which started April 1, is expected to generate $94.3 million in revenues in its first fiscal year. About $10.6 million of that will go into the operating fund and pay for improvements to bus service, among other things. About $83.7 million is headed to the capital fund, with $63.5 million going into savings for future projects and $20.2 million paying for current projects. Here is a look at some of the projects slated for Fiscal Year 2018.
Expanded bus service
IN CARY
- $476,182 Increase Sunday service all routes
- $362,340 Increase specific midday routes
- $100,000 Lease expansion vehicles
IN RALEIGH
- $1.3 million Increase Sunday service spans
- $193,875 Increase South Saunders Street route frequency to 15 minutes all day
IN EASTERN WAKE
- $43,000 Continue Knightdale express route service
- $5,516 Lease Zebulon park-and-ride lot
- $4,200 Lease Wendell park-and-ride lot
AT GOTRIANGLE
- $910,290 Add midday, evening and weekend service to Route 300 (Raleigh-Cary) and continue peak-hour service previously funded by NCDOT Fortify project
- $433,080 Increase frequency of Route 100
- $406,220 Continue Fuquay-Varina express route
IN WAKE COUNTY
- $175,000 Continue TRACS operations for rural residents
- $1.9 million into reserves, with the remainder of the $10.6 million paying for salaries and administration
New projects
- $4.3 million A Major Investment Study to aid development of high-capacity transit corridors for both the bus rapid transit projects and the rail corridor. About $2.3 million of that will be used to refine the concepts once the MIS is complete.
- $4 million Eight buses for GoRaleigh, which hopes to buy compressed natural gas models
- $4 million Eight low-floor buses for GoTriangle
- $2.7 million First phase of designing the Raleigh Union Station bus facility
- $1.5 million Construction of compressed natural gas refueling station at GoRaleigh bus operations facility
- $1.3 million Multi-Year Service Implementation Plan that will take the transit plan vision and create procedures for prioritizing and managing bus projects, standards for designing and evaluating bus routes and 10-year service plans for each operating agency
- $1.1 million Construction and implementation of GoRaleigh park-and-ride facility on Poole Road
- $1 million Design of GoCary operations and maintenance facility
- $875,000 Comprehensive operations plan for downtown Raleigh to evaluate best multimodal network
- $500,000 15 ADA-compliant bus shelters, including the engineering and design work and right-of-way acquisition, for GoRaleigh
- $495,000 New infrastructure for GoCary to make bus stops ADA-compliant and to improve benches, bike racks and sidewalks
- $300,000 Downtown Cary Multimodal Facility Feasibility Study on providing a local and regional bus transfer hub, bus rapid transit terminus/station, commuter rail station, Amtrak station and park-and-ride lot/garage
- $200,000 Conceptual design for GoTriangle bus maintenance facility
- $175,000 Community Funding Area plan that sets up processes for Wake County municipalities to apply for transit funding
- $35,000 Web-based customer feedback system
For a printable PDF of this information, click here.
