The Durham County Board of Commissioners voted Monday night to merge the Wake and Durham mental health agencies and to sign a letter of intent for the merged agency to lease 55,000 square feet in a Triangle Transit-owned building in the Imperial Center.

The new agency is expected to move into its new headquarters July 1.

A number of private landlords who were competing for the lease had complained about the deal.

Triangle Transit purchased the 75,000-square-foot building in December for nearly $3.8 million using money from its general fund, which comes from vehicle registration taxes paid by residents in Durham, Orange and Wake counties.
 

To ease overcrowding and offer more options for riders on its second-most popular route, Triangle Transit will add more buses to the schedule for Durham / Raleigh Express (DRX) passengers who live in Raleigh and commute to Durham -- starting Monday.

The DRX bus carries nearly 400 riders on some days, almost as many as Triangle Transit's popular Chapel Hill / Raleigh Express (CRX).  The DRX schedule will have buses every 30 minutes when it is expanded to add one morning departure from Raleigh at 7:30 a.m., and two afternoon depatures from Duke's West Campus at 4:32 p.m. and 5:32 p.m.

To accommodate the DRX need, Triangle Transit is eliminating trips or portions of trips that have lower passenger demand on Routes 49, 102, 301, 311, 700, 800 and 805.

Transit planners are nailing down details, including the locations of four Raleigh train stops, for a $655 million plan to run rush-hour commuter trains between Duke in West Durham and Garner. (See today's Road Worrier with reader comments).

You can read tons of details on the buses-commuter trains-light rail plans for Wake, Durham and Orange counties at the ourtransitfuture.com website.  It took some searching but I finally found the July 2011 Alternatives Analysis reports on this page.  (Note: When you see mention of the "Durham-Wake" corridor, that's the commuter trains.  There are separate light-rail studies for the "Durham-Orange" and "Wake" lines.)

The Wake County commissioners face a big vote in May (probably after the primary election) on whether to approve an ambitious plan for more buses, new commuter trains and new light rail trains in that chronological order. And whether to let voters decide in November ... [MORE].

The Durham Area Transit Authority will hold public information sessions Wednesday and next week to outline proposed changes that would affect every DATA bus route. [1/12/12 update: DATA would shorten routes to make buses run on time, but there would be tradeoffs.  See today's story.]

Triangle Transit, which took over management of the DATA system in 2010, is proposing the changes to boost service to several locations and to improve on-time performance for buses that frequently run behind schedule.

The meetings will take place upstairs at the Durham Station transit center, 515 W. Pettigrew St.

* Today: Open house 2-3 p.m. and 4:30-6:30 p.m., with presentations at 3-4:30 p.m. and 6:30-8:30 p.m.
* Jan. 17: Open house 12-3p.m.
* Jan. 18: Open house 7-10 a.m.

The Durham City Council will consider the proposed route changes this spring.  Details are online at http://dbbs.gotriangle.org.

The Bull City Connector buses haven't attracted quite as many riders as City Hall hoped for, according to a first-year report prepared for the City Council's Thursday work session.

Management has ideas for improvement, though.

According to the report, the free service between Duke West Campus and the Golden Belt complex in East Durham was averaging 1,636 riders a day in August, after a full year's operation. The city's target was 2,025 a day.

Ridership exceeded its target after the first three months, then its rate of increase slowed. Still, there was a steady increase in people taking the bus.

A rider survey showed that the Connector had had trouble making its stops on time, which may have discouraged use. One identified cause was street blocking by commercial vehicles loading and unloading; city authorities intend to be stricter enforcing the loading rules.

Other improvements, possible in 2012, include more buses, route extensions – including one to NCCU – and traffic signals that give buses priority at getting through intersections.

Commuter trains and light-rail trains eventually -- and lots more buses right away. That's the heart of newly detailed 25-year plans for building up public transportation across the Triangle. (See today's story with reader comments.)

You can learn more and express your opinion at public information sessions planned in Orange and Durham counties this week, and a public hearing in Durham tonight.

Wake County's plan is running a few months behind, but it will share the emphasis laid out in the new Orange and Durham transit finance plans: If voters approve a half-cent transit sales tax, they will see a quick increase in service with more frequent buses, new bus routes to outlying towns, more service to major job centers, longer bus hours on evenings and weekends, and nicer bus stop amenities. ... [MORE]

Triangle residents are invited to a third round of seven public workshops, scheduled Tuesday through March 31, to learn the latest details about plans for regional bus and rail transit improvements.

New information will include the recommended routes through downtown Raleigh and between Chapel Hill and Durham, and locations for train stops.

Triangle Transit planners and consultants will provide information displays and videos, with engineers on hand to answer questions. All sessions run from 4 to 7 p.m., except the session Monday in Raleigh scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m.

* Tuesday. Triangle Town Center, Space 1001, first floor (next to Dillard’s), Raleigh

Details are available at www.ourtransitfuture.com.... [MORE]

Come to one of seven public workshops around the Triangle, scheduled March 22 - 31, to learn the latest details about plans for regional bus and rail transit improvements.

New information will include the recommended routes through downtown Raleigh and between Chapel Hill and Durham, and locations for train stops.

The workshops will be run 'open house, drop in' style with information displays, staff to answer questions, and looping videos. ... [MORE]

Crude oil fell back to $97.53 a barrel this morning on the world market -- but Triangle drivers are still paying more for gas each day in the wake of last week's oil price spike above $100, blamed on  turmoil in Libya.

The Triangle average for regular reached $3.338 a gallon today, a jump of 20.5 cents in just the past week. 

That's just the average, of course, so some of us pay even more. The roving scouts at Raleighgasprices.com report lots of local stations selling regular for $3.40 and higher, with $3.50 the apparent ceiling.

Things were different three years ago in the spring of 2008, the last time we saw pump prices above $3 and rising.  Today the price is climbing faster. And with more people out of work, the price of gas is causing more pain this time. ... [MORE]