The Moore Square bus station is scheduled for a facelift, but the city officials can’t move forward until plans for a new bus station near the future Union Station are figured out.
Union Station will replace the city’s Cabarrus Street Amtrak train station. Transit staff and city officials hope and plan for future commuter, light and high-speed rail to come through Union Station as well.
The study will say for sure, but the proposed new bus station will likely become Raleigh’s main transit hub, offering connections to and from Union Station. Meanwhile, the Moore Square bus station will become a major stop, much like Crabtree Valley Mall is today.
Karen Tam / Raleigh Public Record
Eatman said even with a planned facelift there’s, “not enough capacity,” at Moore Square for it to continue to serve as Raleigh’s major transit center.
The new bus station will be located within a five-minute walk of Union Station, but the exact site has yet to be determined. Transit Administrator David Eatman said the location will depend on which services are offered.
Provided by City of Raleigh
City transit staff has identified these sites as possible locations for a central bus station within five minutes of Union Station. This bus station would likely take the brunt of the traffic from Moore Square Station.
The city is only a few months into an expected 18-month-long study of the area around Union Station. Eatman expects to know where they are headed in about a year.
Moore Square Station’s renovations hinge on the outcome of that study and will begin afterward.
“As long as we know the programming at the new facility, we can proceed with the renovation of Moore Square, even if we are not completely certain about a location,” Eatman wrote in an email.
The earliest those renovations would start is in about a year and a half, he said.
Karen Tam / Raleigh Public Record
The 2011 transportation bond allocates $3.5 million for the Moore Square station renovations. Eatman said the city has an additional $750,000 in federal money lined up as well.
Though the city is studying the location and doing the design work for the new central bus station, no funding has been set aside for its eventual construction. The study is also still determining the estimated cost of that project.
