Transportation has plans for a new bus system that will take students downtown on weekend nights, but it must wait until the completion of the city’s new Circulator system.
Director Tom Kendig said the city has planned a system downtown to coincide with the new convention center, but it does not have buses in place yet.
“As soon as they get some new buses on that, we’re ready to roll out downtown service as well,” he said.
Adam Compton, senior in agricultural business management and transportation consultant for Student Government, said he is expecting the circulator system to be complete by early February.
“It would connect with the downtown circulator service,” he said. “You would then hop on a downtown bus to go around downtown.”
The service would be a convenience and could “cut down on DWI cases, and offer transportation downtown,” according to Compton.
“Transportation is always willing to work with students, and will work hard to iron out the details,” he said.
But this bus line will not be a reality until the City establishes the circulator system, and Christine Klein, information and communication specialist for Transportation, said it buses would run as far as the Glenwood area.
Students can already take the Capital Area Transit buses downtown, but Student Body President Jay Dawkins said they are less accessible.
“It’s not very frequent and it doesn’t directly serve campus,” Dawkins, a junior in civil engineering, said. “This will give students access to some great Hillsborough Street and downtown entertainment venues without the risk for drunk driving or having to call a cab.”
Additionally the service would extend the Avent Ferry and Greek Village routes to 10 p.m., according to Transportation’s Night Service Proposal. The weekend hours of the Werewolf route would also be extend until 3 a.m.
The proposal states that the bus will run at a frequency of 30 minutes and the downtown circulator service will be available Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.
Weekday night services will also have some changes in the spring semester, according to the proposal.
Transportation will extend Avent Ferry Route 1 and Greek Village Route 9 until 10 p.m., which is two hours longer than their original times. And because of low numbers of riders on Engineering Route 3, Transportation will provide transit service to other areas. Route 8 Southeast Loop will be extended three hours to 10 p.m. and route 6 to Carter Finley will go until 10 p.m. also.
The city of Raleigh will host an open forum on the new circulator system to get feedback from the public on Nov. 20 from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Municipal Building, according to the city’s Web site.
