Beginning the week of September 14, the Wake Forest Loop, a fare-free bus service for residents traveling within Wake Forest and a portion of Wakefield, will expand its route to include six new all-day stops along Heritage Lake Road. The first pair of stops will be located near Gateway Commons, while the next two will be situated at opposite corners of the Heritage Lake Road/Heritage Club Avenue intersection. The final two stops will be located at the intersection of Heritage Lake Road and Rogers Road.
The expanded service into Heritage will become part of the Wake Forest Loop’s permanent route effectively introducing all-day service into an area that had previously enjoyed mid-day service only. As a result of the expanded route, current stops along South Main Street/US 1A in front of The Lodge and near Forbes Road will be removed.
The new all-day stops in Heritage, along with other enhancements introduced over the past several months, are designed to make public transportation more accessible to larger numbers of residents.
In January, after more than 10 years of operating with one bus five-days-a-week, the Wake Forest Loop introduced Saturday service and added a second bus to run a reverse route. Now operating six days-a-week, the loop bus enables riders to travel both clockwise and counter-clockwise along the existing route effectively cutting wait times in half from one hour to 30 minutes.
In late 2019, the WFL began offering an early/late extension along North Main Street and the mid-day extension into Heritage. At 6:32 a.m., 7:32 a.m., 8:32 a.m. and 9:32 a.m., the Wake Forest Loop bus departs Wake Forest Crossing, 12536 Capital Boulevard, and makes stops at the intersections of North Main Street/East Oak Avenue and North Wingate Street/West Oak Avenue before proceeding to the CVS Pharmacy stop at the intersection of North White Street/Roosevelt Avenue. The late extension repeats the sequence hourly from 4:32 p.m. to 7:32 p.m.
Again, Heritage’s mid-day service is being replaced by all-day service.
Since 2008, Wake Forest Bus Service has included the Wake Forest Loop bus(es) and the Wake Forest-Raleigh Express, a weekday rush-hour express to Triangle Town Center and downtown Raleigh. The result of a 2008 partnership between the Town of Wake Forest, GoTriangle, GoRaleigh and the City of Raleigh, both the local circulator and express routes are operated using GoRaleigh vehicles.
While the local loop buses are free, the Wake Forest Express fare is $3 each way for adults. Daily passes and a variety of other passes are available at the Wake Forest Town Hall, 301 S. Brooks St., and GoTriangle Regional Transit Center, 901 Slater Road, Durham. Passes may also be purchased online at www.GoTriangle.org.
For complete information about Wake Forest Bus Service, including route schedules, maps, brochures and holiday schedules, visit wakeforestnc.gov and search “Bus Service” or contact Planner II Dylan Bruchhaus at 919-435-9512 or dbruchhaus@wakeforestnc.gov.
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