The Town of Wake Forest is about to sign a three-year $2,420,245 contract with River North Transit LLC in which that company will provide what they call a “proprietary cloud-based dynamic vehicle routing and real-time passenger aggregation system.”
At some point after October 1 of this year, the town will cease using the Raleigh buses for the two bus routes and will depend on three vehicles, two wheelchair accessible and one equipped with a bike rack.
The ride service will be similar to Uber or Lyft. An app will be available for smart phone users to call a vehicle to their location and then ride to a destination within the town and the Wakefield service extension. A rider may also call into a call center and schedule a ride.
The three-year contract says River North will contract with a vehicle rental company and with the individual “driver partners,” providing overall management of the call-in service.
During last week’s three-hour marathon work session, Emma Linn, a long-range Wake Forest planner, described the future service. She said the new service “. . . is less costly than operating the two east and west loops” with the buses. During the regular town board meeting May 21 the town commissioners are expected to approve Town Manager Kip Padgett signing the contract.
Linn also said River North will add vehicles for events like the Fourth of July, and the area covered will not stop at Wake Forest but will extend into Wakefield as far south as the Wakefield schools.
The first year of the service will be a pilot phase. The two parties to the contract may end it at any time or extend it.
All rides will be free at first, although that could be changed. The service will be available Monday through Thursday from 6 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Friday 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and Saturday 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
The vehicles will be parked in a safe and lighted area inside town overnight.
There will be more information from the town and River North during the spring, summer and early fall.
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9 Responses
I’d see the buses drive by all day long, and every time I saw a bus drive by it was empty! All day long! How much did this idiot idea cost the Wake Forest taxpayers? Big Viv’s fiasco. We already have an on-demand service. It’s called Uber and Lyft.
It’s not the taxpayer’s responsibility when little junior needs a ride to and from work or to his friend’s house.
Supposedly saves money for the town. On demand service. Hopefully convenient app.
Let’s hope this first trial year goes well! If not, then I’m sure the complainers will propose better solutions next year.
Why are the Raleigh buses being abandoned? If it’s a matter of cost, give Raleigh the $2M
The current system works. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it
There are too many moving parts to the proposal. It will leave the people who use the current system ‘out’.
It’s broke. They’re trying something different to fix it.
Pay for your own bus, deadbeat!
No Disrespect to the Planners and approvers of how Wake Forest spends its money. However, this plan DOES mean that to use the service, the user MUST have a smart phone, have the APP installed and know how to use it. This is similar to having Voter ID, not everyone has one or a Smart Phone. Also, what is the wait time for this service? Currently, there is a published Bus Schedule, so riders know approximately when the Bus shows up. With an on-demand system, there is no telling when the calls will come and from where. Thankfully, it has an Escape Clause after an initial trial period.
Having a son who utilizes the current system to get to work (time sensitive), I often have to take him after he would wait 45 minutes or more for a CAT bus that would not arrive on time, late or otherwise. Riders certainly do not know approximately when the bus will show up. It is a random, haphazard service at best. I thought the reverse loop would help this situation. Nope.
I’m proud of the board for recognizing this and at least attempting a solution to fix the situation.
Great move!! I recall having this conversation in 2017 and it was thought not to be a good idea. Times they are a changing!!
I’ve only been saying this for fifteen years… Let’s see what happens!