View I-40 Bus on Shoulder System in a larger map

The overhead sign on eastbound I-40 this morning said something like this: I-540 7 MILES. EST TIME 40 - 50 MINS. Fortunately, it didn't take me quite that long to creep past the snow-related accidents that had clogged the freeway.

And then I noticed the big green Triangle Transit bus cruising past the rest of us, on the freeway shoulder. It was the Chapel Hill-Raleigh Express (CRX). And I wondered how this bus-on-shoulder program is working out for folks who commute by bus on I-40 each day.

So tell me. Are you one of those bus commuters -- mostly but not only I think on the CRX route -- who have used the bus-on-shoulder option in recent weeks, or this morning? I'd like to get your impressions. Please email me or call me TODAY at 919-829-4527. Don't forget to provide your complete daytime contact info, so I can call you back.

Wib Gulley says he’ll retire this summer after nine years as the in-house lawyer for Triangle Transit, and 24 years as one of the region’s chief advocates for public transportation.

“It’s really great to look back and reflect how far this has come in terms of creating a vital organization that serves an important service in the region,” Gulley, who turns 65 in July, said Friday.

As Durham mayor from 1985 to 1989, Gulley helped launch the three-county transit agency and became its first board chairman in 1989. He was Triangle Transit’s primary legislative champion during six terms in the state Senate, where he chaired a subcommittee that oversees transportation spending.

In 2004 Gulley was embarrassed when the Triangle Transit board refused in a split vote to hire him as its general counsel. Some board members said his Senate duties would divert too much of his attention away from the job. But he got the job two months later after he resigned his legislative seat. ... [MORE]

If you work for state government in downtown Raleigh, you had the option for the past few years to ride Capital Area Transit and Triangle Transit buses for free. All you had to do was show your GoPass and your government ID.

State government has ended this benefit as of Dec. 31, 2012. Now, you've got to pay for your bus rides like anybody else. (The change does not affect UNC and NCSU employees.)

I'm reporting on this today. If you're a state government worker who made use of the GoPass benefit, I'd like to hear from you. Please email me with your daytime contact info, or call me at 919-829-4527.

My Facebook post this week on the upcoming tax referendum and our trip to Triangle Transit got out of control (63 comments and not all on topic, Terri Tyson).

We met with CEO David King, planner Patrick McDonough (indefatigable), attorney (and former Durham mayor) Wib Gulley and communications director Brad Schulz. They gave us two hours and would have given us more if we asked. 

One point the meeting drove home is that this light rail plan (and bus) plan is really a growth plan: a way to accommodate this region's expected growth without turning every patch of green into a subdivision or strip center parking lot. Sure, some say the light rail plan has always been about growth -- economic growth -- and more about protecting the local economy than about protecting the planet. But we didn't get that vibe off the folks around the table. (Reporters get vibes; we're people too.)

Orange County is expected to grow from 133,801 people in 2010 to 173,000 by 2030. We can send more cars down the road, a 29-member transit panel reckoned,  or we can provide options that include upgraded buses in dedicated lanes and a 17 mile electric commuter train running between UNC and Duke, our two biggest job and potential rider locations.

The staff of the Chapel Hill News and Durham News meets today with Triangle Transit to discuss the bus and light rail plan and the November sales tax referendum in Orange County to help pay for it.

I asked our facebook Friends a few minutes ago what questions they would ask. Here is what's come in so far. Please add your questions on my FB page or below.

Will they expand into Carrboro? to Cary?

Why are we going to be asked to pay for this via a tax at a time when there is rampant unemployment?

Wasn't there significant federal funding for this project?

Please explain why there is no direct bus to the airport.

How will we possibly be able to provide for economic vitality, environmental sustainability, and social equity for our region if the transit referendum does not pass?

Triangle Transit and GoTriangle have won the American Public Transportation Association's AdWheel Award for social media marketing and communications -- for their first stab at the youth market in "It's Easy, Baby," a transit-promo video featuring three cute toddlers who play grown-up bus commuters.

This is easily the second-best video on GoTriangle's YouTube page -- after the terrific #flipfortransit production that features older youngsters exercising their extraordinary passion for bus travel at various Triangle locales. (See 2/24/12 Road Worrier column.)

David King, the Triangle Transit general manager, is working up the answers to two lists of probing questions about the Wake County transit plan – one from a business group that likes the proposal for new trains and more buses, and one from county commissioners who don’t like it.

Durham County voters have approved a half-cent sales tax to pay for more buses, commuter trains and light rail trains.  Orange County voters are expected to vote likewise in November for buses and light rail.  But the Wake commissioners have not said when or whether they will approve Wake’s transit plan and schedule a referendum on the proposed sales tax that would help pay for it.  

“We believe that a half-cent sales tax increase and associated fee increase during high unemployment and poor economic conditions must be approached with extreme caution,” Paul Coble and Phil Matthews, the chairman and vice-chairman of the Wake commissioners, said in an Aug. 6 letter (see PDF attached to this blog post, below) to King.  ... [MORE]

View I-40 Bus on Shoulder System in a larger map

Interstate 40 commuters should not be surprised next week to see the occasional Triangle Transit bus rolling past them on the freeway shoulder  - while cars and trucks are stuck in the latest traffic jam.

North Carolina's "bus-on-shoulder" pilot program gets under way Monday on I-40 in Durham County. It will give bus riders a new advantage over other commuters.

Whenever the traffic stops or crawls as slowly as 35mph, transit bus drivers will have the option to drive slowly on the shoulder -- something that will continue to be illegal for other vehicles.  Bus drivers will be allowed on the shoulder to drive no faster than 35mph, and no more than 15mph faster than I-40 traffic. ... [MORE]

View I-40 Bus on Shoulder System in a larger map

North Carolina's "bus-on-shoulder" pilot program is scheduled to start July 16, giving commuters on a few Triangle Transit routes the option to bypass rush-hour congestion by rolling on the Interstate 40 shoulder.

When traffic stops or crawls as slowly as 35mph, bus drivers on I-40 will be able to drive slowly on the shoulder, something that will continue to be illegal for other drivers.  The initial program will be in effect for a 10-mile section of I-40 in both directions between U.S. 15-501 and N.C. 147 (the Durham Freeway and Triangle Expressway), and in the eastbound direction for two miles from N.C. 147 to Page Road.

That stretch of I-40 is traversed only by a handful of Triangle Transit routes: ... [MORE]

Orange County commissioners were briefed on benefits of the regional light rail transit and bus plan during a work session Tuesday night. Commissioners heard from county and Triangle Transit staff and Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt about the plan, including the preferred route of a light rail train, called the "locally preferred alternative" and how Chapel Hill has included transit in its land use plans.

Commissioners said they hope to put a half-cent transit tax referendum on the ballot in the November. They did not set a date for a vote, but it would have to be by May, to put it on a November ballot, said Commissioner Chairwoman Bernadette Pelissier. Commissioners also plan to hold public hearings in the two ends of the county.