Town of Cary Comprehensive Transportation Pllan Chapter 6 – Introduction At the time of the 2001 Comprehensive Transportation Plan, the Town of Cary had no bus service other than Route 301 operated by the Triangle Transit Authority (TTA). Since then, Cary has expanded its transit Transit services considerably, with a new local fixed-route service for the public and demand-responsive paratransit for seniors and persons with disabilities. TTA has added routes as well. As the Town’s Element population continues rising and travel demand increases, the Town plans to expand its local service, capturing riders coming from and going to planned residential and commercial developments. Situated amidst the Research Triangle of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, Cary is served today by multiple transit providers. Fixed route bus services within Cary are provided by C-Tran and TTA. C-Tran, Wake Coordinated Transportation Services (WCTS), and the Center for Volunteer Caregiving provide demand-responsive paratransit services. WCTS also provides rural general public transit via its TRACS service program; however, services are not provided for urban trips within Cary. Amtrak operates daily train service. This chapter describes current fixed-route transit and paratransit conditions, projected growth in the Town, and proposed future service changes. C-Tran Overview C-Tran is the Town of Cary’s sponsored transit service which originated as a door-to-door service for seniors and disabled residents in 2001. In July 2002, door-to-door services were expanded to include the general public, which made the Town eligible for federal and state transit operating funds. Due to the growing demand for this premium level of paratransit service and high cost of door-to-door service, the Town Council approved fixed route service for the general public in December 2005 (three routes named East-West, North-South, and Maynard Loop) and concurrently limited its on-call service to registered disabled or senior riders for in-town trips, to senior riders for medical out-of-town trips, and to disabled riders for out-of-town employment trips. In July 2006, the Town Council approved the addition of a counter-clockwise route on the Maynard Loop. C-Tran’s mission is to provide clean, safe, reliable, and efficient transit service to the community by being responsive to changing needs and focusing on customer service as the highest priority. Chapter 6 - Transit 6-1 Town of Cary Comprehensive Transportation Pllan CTP Goals and Objectives: Transit Objectives Create a safe, convenient, and efficient multimodal transportation system. Objectives: Design a thoroughfare system that comprehensively incorporates a variety of transportation modes for adequate access, flow, connectivity, safety, and mobility. Proactively plan, in conjunction with other agencies, for public transportation for travel within Cary and between Cary and other Triangle locations. Increase share of non-single occupancy vehicle (SOV) trips by providing and promoting opportunities for travel by transit, cycling, and walking. Reduce rates of injuries and fatalities for each mode and ensure that transit riders, pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists feel safe and comfortable at all times when waiting for and riding transit, walking, bicycling, or driving. Coordinate transportation and land use planning. Objectives: Plan and support transportation improvements that enhance developments and neighborhoods that are providing alternative transportation choices. Encourage transportation improvements that increase access to jobs, services, and affordable housing and reduce reliance on SOV travel. Provide safe and convenient facilities and service for people who choose not to use an automobile. Objectives: Ensure all streets are “complete streets,” safe and comfortable for pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, motorists, and other users. Ensure serviceable operation of existing facilities and services. Objectives: Establish and achieve multimodal quality of service goals that focus on minimizing person delay across modes rather than vehicle delay. Proactively plan in conjunction with other agencies to improve intermodal travel and transportation linkages to other parts of the Triangle region and beyond. Objectives: Integrate local transportation facilities and transit services with those of neighboring jurisdictions to enhance regional connections. Facilitate regional intermodal travel by air and rail with transit connections to services at Raleigh-Durham International Airport via TTA and transit, private for-hire, and parking options at the Cary Train Station. Chapter 6 - Transit 6-2 Town of Cary Comprehensive Transportation Pllan Community Views Residents provided input on their goals and vision for Cary’s transit system via a telephone survey of 405 people conducted in spring 2007. Citizens offered their opinions on many transportation issues, including walking and bicycling habits, street design, and quality of transit service. Respondents were asked a series of questions rating bothsystem quality and the importance of specific issues on a scale of 1 to 9; a rating of 9 represented the most pressing or highest quality rating. The overall quality of C-Tran service ranked as a 5, with 58 percent of respondents answering the question. Respondents were also asked to rate the applicability of certain transportation problems in Cary. Responses ranged from a ranking of 7.1 for unsafe driving to a ranking of 5.7 for limited public transportation options. This indicates that the provision of more varied transit service is of medium-level urgency to the public. One question focused solely on how often respondents use C-Tran. A large percentage of respondents have never used C-Tran fixed-route service. Of the 2.7 percent of respondents who have, more than half ride monthly, with the remaining respondents split between weekly and daily riders. This indicates that C-Tran primarily serves occasional uses and does not function as a daily commuter service. C-Tran customer surveys and system drivers, however, indicate that half of all trips are employment-related, meaning C-Tran does support the Town’s commuting population. Trends in door-to-door service were similar, with riders who use the system approximately once a month making up more than half of the total C-Tran riders. In the case of paratransit, weekly riders make up a much larger share than daily riders. Questions also focused on how improvements to the transportation system could encourage more transit use. The issues that received the highest rankings in terms of importance were on-time performance, more print and online transit information, and links to RDU airport. Interestingly, responses were polarized on both the “least important” and “most important” rankings. For example, 126 people felt that on-time performance is the most important thing that can get more people to ride transit, yet 139 respondents said that was the least important issue. Across the board, the range of responses are polarized, with a large number of people finding improvements both the least and most effective way to improve ridership (Figure 6.1 on following page). Thus, opinions of residents do not clearly point out factors that decisively keep them from using transit. Finally, the survey asked respondents to rank the importance of transportation issues like sidewalks, greenways, and streetscaping. Results clearly show that street maintenance, neighborhood traffic safety, and streets occupy the highest importance in the public’s minds, with responses generally in the 9 and 8 ranges. In terms of transit service, respondents showed mixed feelings, with responses spread fairly evenly from the “not important” to “most important” range. Chapter 6 - Transit 6-3 Town of Cary Comprehensive Transportation Pllan Importance of Improvements to Encourage Transit Use 1 - Least important 2 3 4 5 - Neutral 6 7 8 9 - Very Important 100% 62 59 90% 79 91 88 91 84 97 102 97 93 111 125 126 130 19 80% 20 19 24 33 34 29 36 31 21 12 13 70% 30 25 26 17 33 28 21 26 21 16 22 24 29 7 33 26 26 11 7 60 60 60% 18 23 23 11 17 12 17 12 20 19 58 47 7 13 10 45 7 5 11 44 8 9 50% 52 52 48 34 50 50 1 3 2 13 10 44 42 6 7 2 7 41 12 10 7 3 4 5 17 4 6 9 9 8 4 10 10 7 6 10 12 40% 6 2 3 9 9 10 8 11 7 3 4 12 5 30% Cumulative % of Survey Respondents 179 180 166 175 154 20% 146 147 146 134 139 137 137 138 143 139 10% 0% RDU Airport Lower cost Higher fuel costs On-time performance More frequent service More Park & Ride locations Later service in the evening Benches/shelters at bus stops Environmental considerations Earlier service in the morning More print or online information More areas served by fixedAll-day route service to/from RaleighOne transit pass for C-Tran/TTA Employer-sponsored transit passes Figure 6.1. Cary residents have split opinions on the importance of ways meant to encourage increased transit use Chapter 6 - Transit 6-4 Town of Cary Comprehensive Transportation Pllan Existing Conditions Table 6.1. C-Tran Ridership, March 2008 Ridership on C-Tran’s routes has steadily C-Tran Fixed Route increased over the years, from 16,517 trips in FY Average Daily Ridership 264 2002 to 61,779 trips on C-Tran’s fixed routes in FY 2006-2007. C-Tran estimates continue to Average Weekday 250 increase. For FY 2008, C-Tran budgeted 45,000 Average Saturday 190 door-to-door trips and 69,000 fixed route trips for a total of 114,000 trips. Table 6.1 presents a C-Tran Door-to-Door summary of ridership on C-Tran fixed route and Average Daily Ridership 138 door-to-door services for March 2008. Figure 6.2 Average Weekday 159 presents the upward trend in total trips on C- Average Saturday 51 Figure 6.2.