News

On September 29, 2022 RTA’s first ever Regional Transit Awareness Day saw more than 80 elected officials, business leaders and interested community members embark together on a journey to experience existing regional transit options across the Triangle.

The day started at GoTriangle headquarters at the Regional Transit Center (RTC), where attendees listened to remarks from RTA chair Harold Hicks and chair-elect Jay Irby, GoTriangle CEO Chuck Lattuca and Sig Hutchinson, the chair of the Wake County board of Commissioners (and also chair of GoTriangle and the Capital Area MPO).

Attendees then emulated the existing bus route from the RTC to Raleigh Union Station where they were treated to further remarks from Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin and David Eatman from the City of Raleigh.

After the remarks, tour participants boarded the westbound Piedmont 75 train from Raleigh. We paused briefly in Cary for the stop in our region’s largest town, and then headed to Downtown Durham.

Shortly after arrival, Durham Mayor Elaine O’Neal, Durham County chair Brenda Howerton, Durham Director of Transportation Sean Egan and Ellen Beckman from Durham County all offered remarks.

After the remarks, the group once again boarded buses and generally followed GoTriangle and Chapel Hill Transit routes to Chapel Hill and Carrboro for lunch.

At lunch, Carrboro Mayor Damon Seils, Kelley Blazey from the Town of Cary, and Chapel Hill Transit Director Brian Litchfield spoke to the group before tour participants headed back to RTP for an after-tour reception.

Thank you to all of our public-sector partners, Town of Cary for providing breakfast, Chapel Hill, GoDurham and GoRaleigh for providing the buses, NCDOT for reserving train cars and tickets, the Raleigh and Greater Durham Chambers of Commerce for additional ground support throughout the event, and RTP for hosting the reception.

We also thank all of the tour attendees and guest speakers for coming together and making this tour happen. It was a truly unique experience and a true testament to what happens when we pull together as a community.

The conversations had on this day are already helping to shape how we view transit going forward in the Triangle.

To view the presentation and photos from the tour visit the RTA website, also check out this article about the tour from WRAL and CBS.

Joe Milazzo II, PE
RTA Executive Director

RTA is the voice of the regional business community on transportation

www.letsgetmoving.org