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The Rline bus has driven around downtown Raleigh for almost 10 years. But with ridership numbers declining, city officials are wondering if it’s time for a change. David Eatman talks to us about the possibilities for a city-provided mobility solution and the process for figuring out what that might be and how it fits in with the Wake Transit plan, scooters, and Uber/Lyft.
LINKS
Uber for buses? How some Canadian cities are using technology to tackle transit troubles – CBC News, September 29, 2018
Ep. 6 – The Rline – Inbound Raleigh, November 2016
An excerpt from that episode:
The R-line was started in 2009. It’s a circulator bus that does a one-way, counter-clockwise loop through downtown. The whole idea is to get visitors from the Convention Center to other parts of downtown. Right now, the Rline operates seven days a week. Most days it starts at 7 a.m. It’s available until 11 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and stays out late until 2:15 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. Sunday it runs a shorter schedule from 1 to 8 p.m.
Two buses run the loop simultaneously. In general, they arrive at each stop every 15 minutes. But just a heads up if you have not ridden it, the bus takes a five-minute break at the Convention Center to make sure the two buses running don’t bunch up. It’s also important to note that some of those 20 stops only operate during certain hours.
Understanding the variety and complexity of choices, the lack of any change to the R-Line service that continues to experience a 50% decline in customers starting 5 years ago is unfortunate. More studies, more meetings, and more waiting is all that we learned from David Eatman.