Dear DRX customers, 

We would like to express our appreciation to those who provided comments on the proposed schedule changes for the GoTriangle Durham-Raleigh Express (DRX) route. From February 11-22, we received over 190 comments on the proposed schedule changes through email, voice message, online survey, paper surveys and personal phone calls. 

GoTriangle regularly makes schedule changes in August and January. Due to the frequency of late buses on certain trips and customer complaints about the scheduled departure times, we looked into making schedule changes outside of our normal service change process. The schedule proposed to the public in February would improve the on-time performance of the route by adding travel time to the schedule, but would require changing some departure times. 

In the February outreach effort, there was some support for the proposed changes, but there were many concerns raised as well. Customers expressed concern that while the schedule may be more reliable with the additional travel time, it was causing the time in between trips to be longer and the service less appealing. We heard about the importance of ensuring transfers to GoRaleigh and GoDurham routes and that the proposed schedule would make transfers much more difficult.  We also heard concerns that the proposed changes would exacerbate already overcrowded buses. Finally, we received comments and requests for specific scheduled departure and arrivals times. 

After considering these issues, GoTriangle has decided not to change the DRX schedule until August 2019 when we can holistically address the on-time performance, crowding and frequency of the service at one time. As Route DRX is one of the most productive routes in the GoTriangle system serving approximately 470 customers per day, we are proposing to increase the number of buses on the route and add more trips during the busiest part of the day. All comments received in February will be considered along with any additional comments to develop the schedule for the fall.   

The additional service is being proposed for August 2019 to achieve the following goals: 

  1. Provide departures every 15-20 minutes between 7:30 - 8:30 a.m. and 4 - 5 p.m.
  2. Alleviate overcrowded buses
  3. Match bus schedule to work schedule (as much as possible)
  4. Ensure connections with GoRaleigh and GoDurham at the transit stations

We encourage customers to review the proposed services changes on the GoTriangle service changes website starting March 11th. Comments and feedback are always welcome in the continued effort to improve the customer experience, but any comments received by March 29th will assist staff in preparing for changes planned for the fall. The specific changes proposed for August include: 

  • New trips departing Raleigh at 7:30 a.m. and Durham at 8:15 a.m.
  • New trip departing Durham at 4:45 p.m.
  • Shift afternoon departures from Raleigh to better match ridership in order to provide 15-20 minute service between 4 - 5 p.m. Change the 4:50 p.m. departure to 4:40 p.m. Change the 5:10 p.m. departure to 4:55 p.m.
  • Other schedule changes to improve on-time performance

Thank you for choosing to ride GoTriangle!

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