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Status Update of the Chapel Hill Transit Short Range Transit Plan
PURPOSE AND BACKGROUND: The purpose of this agenda item is for the Town Council to receive a presentation of the Short Range Transit Plan (SRTP) for 2027 - 2035. The Short Range SRTP, titled “Blueprint 2035,” will help guide Chapel Hill Transit’s service and investment decisions for the next ten years. The last SRTP was endorsed by the Town Council and adopted in 2020. There are eight routes in the CHT system that directly support Carrboro residents (C, CM, CW, F, HS, JFX, J, and N)
Chapel Hill Transit (CHT) has engaged the engineering firm Nelson/Nygaard Consulting Associates to develop its Short Range Transit Plan. There have been two rounds of public review and revisions. Representatives from the Town of Carrboro, the Town of Chapel Hill, and UNC-Chapel Hill have reviewed changes intermittently with CHT and the consultant team.
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Department
DEPARTMENT: Planning
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Information
INFORMATION: This update of the 2020 plan will develop cost-constrained service improvements as well as recommend unfunded improvements for the future. The plan and the draft route changes proposed follow four main goals:
(1) Make Chapel Hill Transit the primary transportation choice
(2) Implement high-capacity transit corridors
(3) Expand equitable access for transit-reliant riders
(4) Ensure consistent and reliable service
Public input was received in two rounds (spring and summer 2026). Ridership data from 2025 has also been used by Nelson/Nygaard to inform the proposed changes. There will be another round of public engagement before Blueprint 2035 will return for consideration of endorsement by the Carrboro Town Council. Next steps include refinement of the final SRTP, updates to the implementation plan, and review by elected officials later this fiscal year.
Major route changes will be discussed in more detail as part of the presentation by Caroline Dwyer, Interim Assistant Director of Chapel Hill Transit. A copy of the presentation is provided as Attachment A, and the current route map can be found in Attachment B. Carrboro staff have denoted the most substantial potential changes that relate to Carrboro below:
Potential High Impact
• Larger transition away from “one-seat” rides (single bus rides from their origin to a destination), to transfers in downtown Chapel Hill near the university and hospital.
• Increasing frequency and weekend service where possible - for most routes this means 20 minutes between buses during peak travel areas and 40 minutes between buses off-peak.
• Rerouting of the J away from Smith Level & BPW Club (Carrboro High School) and rerouting the C route to fill the gap.
• Rerouting and reducing length of the F Route to become a North-South route in Carrboro, rather than a route from western Carrboro to eastern Chapel Hill.
Potential Medium Impact
• Removal of the segment of the F route that travels down Old Fayetteville Road to the Jones Ferry Park and Ride.
• Rerouting of the C away from Culbreth Middle onto NC-54 for schedule improvements.
• Mid-term (2030) consideration of rerouting HS bus away from Morris Grove Elementary to the Eubanks Park and Ride facility.
Potential Low or No Impact
• No change to JFX and CW.
• Adjust reported time between CM buses to be 20 min. (on peak) and 40 min (off peak) to reflect real route performance and improve reliability.
• Adjustments to the HS and N routes at their end-point in Chapel Hill (no change in access to Rogers Road or Estes Park).
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Fiscal and Staff Impact
FISCAL AND STAFF IMPACT: There are no fiscal or staffing impacts associated with the discussion of the Short Range Transit Plan.
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Community Impact
COMMUNITY IMPACT: The main impact on community members is the shift from single-bus trips to transfers between Chapel Hill Transit routes. Shorter routes are expected to improve service reliability and may reduce or maintain travel times, while transfers will require more waiting at downtown Chapel Hill stops as well as additional trip planning, mental load, and user familiarity with transit. This could discourage some riders and disproportionately affect transit-reliant users. The proposed changes would also reduce public transit access to McDougle and Culbreth middle schools and require residents south of NC-54 traveling downtown Carrboro on the weekend to transfer in downtown Chapel Hill for some trips. These potential impacts will likely be a focus of the third and final round of community engagement.
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Climate Impact
CLIMATE IMPACT: With the cost-constraint of the plan, the proposed changes seek to increase the reliability and efficiency of the system. No new buses or routes are planned at this time, which could result in increased emissions from diesel vehicles or manufacturing of electric vehicles. The STRP also relies on the 2030 build-out of the NS-Rapid bus-rapid transit line. These reliability improvements could result in more users replacing single occupancy vehicle trips with transit rides. As noted above, these changes could also result in behavioral changes away from transit due to the perception of, or experience, difficulty in transfers and route shifts away from longstanding routes.
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