Good morning, Mayor and Council.

Uh HEPATEL Transportation Transit.

I'll be providing an update on the Go Raleigh system.

At the April 7th council meeting, Council requested an update on the overall system, some of the misinformation that may be out there, our financial picture, as well as some of the services that we have implemented through the Wake Transit Plan.

And then ultimately the larger part of the conversation today is around safety and security and the Go Raleigh station, the Hub and Spoke model that the transit uh operates within for Go Raleigh, as well as uh the long-term considerations for for that system.

So we operate 34 routes uh within the municipality as well as some partnering jurisdictions within Wake County, uh a total of 120 buses with just over 1400 bus stops.

Last year, our annual ridership was at 7.5 million, and our ridership has increased as we've increased the frequency in the routes uh through the Wake Transit Plan.

Our annual budget for next year is 94.7 million.

That incorporates the fixed route services as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act Go Raleigh Access Program that we provide as well.

So that's our all-encompassing budget for next year.

Uh we do have contracted operations through RATP dev.

We have 2257 bus operators.

Uh we're operating 363 days of the year, so we take two holidays off, uh, as well as we have Sunday level service on five major holidays.

Could you just RAM RATP dev.

TP dev.

Is that does that stand for something RATP?

That is the contractor's uh name.

Okay.

I just wondered if it was an acronym or whether that is their name.

That is the name.

All right.

Um the City of Raleigh took over uh public transportation services in 1975 from a private provider under the Capital Area Transit brand.

Uh we operated as Capital Area Transit till 2015, and again, more recently last year we celebrated that 50th year anniversary of Capital Area Transit.

Uh in 2016, the regional partners went through a rebranding effort for transit.

Uh Capital Area Transit got rebranded to Go Raleigh, Go Triangle, Go Durham, GoCarry.

So the overall Go umbrella was implemented in 2016 for the region.

That is the uh brand that we operate under now.

Uh I do want to cover at the front end of the presentation sort of the origins of the Hub and Spoke model.

Really, as the City of Raleigh's transportation network built out in the 70s and 80s, the the radial transportation network, uh, your key corridors, Capitol, Glenwood, Newburn, South Saunders, you know, were the primary corridors that were bringing in traffic into downtown.

And that's where public transit services also went because of the services that were provided, as well as some of the topography challenges that related to how that network was built out.

So even now you see within our comprehensive transportation plan, we're trying to grid out the city's transportation system, but there are challenges with floodplains or environmental considerations where a direct connection can't always be made to make that direct uh uh gridded network.

We do operate uh again high uh 11 high frequency routes.

Those those are routes running at every 15 minutes or less, with Capital uh corridor being the highest frequency at every 10 minutes.

We have two express routes and two microtransit zones uh continue to evaluate additional microtransit zones as we do long-range planning exercises uh and working with partners like via via mobility provides our current uh microtransit services out in Rollsville and FICWARENA.

We have some resources for trip planning that are available to our riders.

Uh again, if you prefer hard paper maps, we have a system map, route maps available at various locations, uh digital apps.

We have three different providers that all have trip planning functions that can be used to plan a trip within the system.

And then Go Triangle being the regional provider has a regional call center that's also available for customer experience users uh trying to plan a trip or getting uh real-time arrival information about the bus system.

We went back to fairs in fall of 2024.

So, from a financial picture uh council made the decision to return to fairs post-pandemic.

Uh prior to the pandemic, uh, about 32 percent of our ridership rode free through existing programs.

So that would be uh seniors or children under 18 under the youth pass or GoPasses that were paid by through uh employment partners.

Uh in fiscal year 25 after we went back to fairs, that number has increased to 61% of our annual ridership riding free.

That is due to again those existing programs as well as the addition of the transit assistance program that we worked with Go Triangle to implement for considerations for a low-income fare program.

And certainly we are continuing to work with Go Triangle to look at uh the eligibility criteria for that program and how that is managed uh year in and year out.

So look shifting focus to the Wake Transit plan and really how that has uh increased the growth that the Go Raleigh system has observed.

Uh in 2016, Wake County voters approved that half sense dedicated sales tax, provided four big moves, connecting the region, connecting all Wake County communities, providing frequent reliable urban mobility, and enhancing access to transit.

Really, Go Raleigh as a system within this program has benefited probably the most with the most amount of money on the Wake Transit Plan side coming to the City of Raleigh.

Uh and that can be seen in the amount of those high frequent corridors that we have been able to implement in the recent years.

So we went from 40 miles to 80 miles of that 15-minute service in 2024, and as of March of 2026, we're now at a 13 37 miles.

So between 2025 and 2026, we've added an additional 40 miles more of that high-frequence corridor.

From a governance perspective, uh the Wake Transit Plan is guided by the Transit Planning Advisory Committee that lives within the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization.

It has representation from the different transit providers as well as the Wake County municipalities that make up uh the committee.

And then the committee plans and implements the overall budget for Wake Transit Plan as well as the uh proposed annual work plan each year that identifies funding for the different project sponsors for operational projects, capital projects, uh, as well as some long-term, long-term considerations.

So uh the overall uh Wake Transit Plan umbrella also does vision plan updates to make sure that the long-range planning uh activities for transit from a regional perspective are captured.

They do a 10-year bus plan and a 10-year financial model just to make sure that there's a balance between operational funding and capital funding needs throughout the entire program and there are other funded programs that are also within the the Wake Transit Plan that have some needs.

I wanted to share uh overall picture of how much the Wake Transit Plan has contributed to the city's transit budget over the years.

Uh in fiscal year 23, right before we went back to Fairs, Wake Transit Plan was contributing about 30 percent of the city's transit budget, City of Raleigh's contribution was at about 60 percent.

Uh this fiscal year 2027, Wake Transit Plan contribution has jumped up to about 49 percent with the City of Raleigh contribution staying consistent with 50 percent.

Uh and then the Wake Transit plan contribution for the out years fiscal year 2030, again, given the number of frequency improvements, route improvements that are coming for our system under that plan, that projected budget is 60 percent wake transit plan and city of Raleigh contributions being 39 percent.