capital area transit harrisburg . goraleigh formerly capital area transit headquarters 4104 poole rd. locale raleigh nc service type bus service alliance raleigh transit authority routes 37 stops 1300 total stops 186 stops with a shelter or a plan to add a shelter all shelters contain a bench 175 stops with a bench or a plan to add a bench number accounts only for stops with a bench without a shelter stations 1 goraleigh station fleet 99 daily ridership 17 500 average weekday fuel type biodiesel operator transdev chief executive marie parker website http goraleigh.org goraleigh formerly raleigh cat or capital area transit operates 28 public transit routes to serve the city of raleigh and also operates seven 7 regional express routes for gotriangle the regional provider . in addition goraleigh is contracted to operate two 2 additional routes an express route to wake tech community college campus south of town and a local circulator in wake forest . cat was rebranded to goraleigh in 2015 under the consolidated gotransit a joint branding of municipal and regional bus systems for the greater raleigh metropolitan region . contents 1 history 1.1 early days 1.2 current system 1.3 the raleigh trolley 1.4 the r line 2 routes and services 2.1 hours and levels of operation 2.2 five year plan 3 funding 3 4 ridership 5 response to the threat of terrorism 6 other transit services operating in raleigh 6.1 goraleigh access 6.2 gocary 6.3 godurham 6.4 gotriangle 6.5 wolfline 6.6 long distance transit services 7 sources 7.1 websites 7.2 documents 7.3 other 7.4 references history edit early days edit previous to the goraleigh system cp & l carolina power & light now known as progress energy provided public transit to the city starting in 1886 with mule drawn vehicles and covering routes in 1 square mile 3 km2 of central raleigh . in 1891 the mule drawn service came to an end and the electric streetcar service began . the streetcars served several routes covering about 2 square miles 5 km2 of the city . due to rapid advances in automotive technology at that time in 1933 all electric streetcar services ended replaced by gasoline powered buses . ridership remained strong until the 1950s when the popularity of private vehicles began to reduce transit ridership nationwide . 1881 1894 raleigh street railway 1894 1908 raleigh electric co. 1908 1921 carolina power & light co. 1921 1925 carolina power & light co. electric bond & shares co. 1925 1946 carolina power & light co. national power & light co. 1930s streetcars discontinued 1946 1950 carolina power & light company cp & l . 1950 1958 white transportation co. after 1958 raleigh city coach lines city coach lines inc. current system edit in the mid to late 20th century cp & l ended its operation of transit services in the city and the current publicly owned cat system was created . the raleigh trolley edit the raleigh trolley was created to attract people to the restaurants and clubs in downtown raleigh at night . using trolley replica buses the service originally linked moore square city market area to the glenwood south entertainment district but the route was altered to link moore square with the progress energy center for performing arts after progress energy became a sponsor of the trolley service . in 2005 cat purchased 2 new hybrid trolleys first hybrid public transit vehicles ever to be used in north carolina to serve the trolley route . the raleigh trolley was quietly phased out 1 first serviced with regular cat buses rather the trolley replica buses and then completely ended when the r line began service on february 13 2009 . raleigh parks and recreation has historic raleigh trolley tours every saturday in march through december . these tours depart from mordecai historic park http www.raleighnc.gov mordecai . the r line edit see main article r line capital area transit . the r line created to connect business in downtown raleigh with residents employees and visitors began service on february 13 2009 . the route is served by three specially designed hybrid electric buses powered by bio diesel fuel . the buses operating in a counter clockwise loop stop at 20 specially designed bus stops throughout downtown raleigh . service frequency is every 12 minutes . in order to maximize frequency two buses operate on the circulator route at all times while one bus serves as back up in the event of mechanical failure . routes and services edit see also list of capital area transit raleigh bus routes cat bus route 4 rex hospital at a bus stop on hillsborough street in downtown raleigh hours and levels of operation edit goraleigh s current service level is based upon year 2 of the 5 year plan . goraleigh currently operates 37 public transit routes goraleigh also provides the vehicles for the wake forest express zebulon wendell express and knightdale express lines of gotransit . during regular service hours 5 30 am 7 00 pm monday saturday there are eighteen routes that serve goraleigh station seven link routes which do not serve goraleigh station and two express routes one of which serves goraleigh station . goraleigh also operates the wake forest loop route and the r line . during the hours of 4 30 am 5 30 am monday saturday 7 00 pm midnight monday saturday and 8 00 am 8 00 pm sunday the number of routes serving the city is reduced to a total of five to eighteen routes depending on the day and time . three additional routes one serving downtown and two express from park and ride lots operate from 7 00 am to midnight during all the dates of the nc state fair . 4 30 a.m. 10 a.m. 10 a.m. 3 p.m. 3 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. midnight weekdays 30 minutes 60 minutes 30 minutes 60 minutes saturday 60 minutes 60 minutes 60 minutes 60 minutes 8 a.m. 8 p.m. sunday 60 minutes monday wednesday 7 a.m 11 p.m. thursday saturday 7 a.m. 2 15 am . sunday 1 p.m. 8 p.m. the r line 12 minutes 12 minutes 12 minutes 7 00 am midnight state fair 20 30 minutes some bus routes operate more or less frequently during these times some bus routes operate more frequently during these times . route 70e is designed as a job access route and operates from approximately 6 15 9 15 a.m. 3 10 6 10 p.m. and 7 30 10 30 p.m. only a portion of the local 28 bus routes operate during extended hours . five year plan edit in 2002 capital area transit cat spent 200 000 to hire consultants to come up with a five year plan to improve public transit in the city of raleigh nc . at that time most bus schedules were 10 years out of date . it wasn t until fiscal year 2006 that the city council gave cat the additional funding needed to begin implementing year one of a five year plan . at the start of the fiscal year 2007 raleigh city council gave cat the additional funding need for year two of the five year plan which took effect on bus routes in january 2007 . despite the city budget providing cat additional funding for year three of the five year plan for the fiscal year 2008 july 2007 june 2008 and additional funding for year four of the five year plan for the last quarter of the fiscal year 2009 2 these changes were never implemented because tax revenues have been lower than expected and the funds were not available . the current city budget for the fiscal year 2010 notes that the fy 2010 budget represents the implementation of delayed transit services from last year ... year three of the transit plan will begin january 2010 and will result in reduced headways on route 15 wake med a new route in southeast raleigh and a series of other small service changes . 3 however the implementation of these changes continues to be delayed due to budget shortfalls . in may 2008 the north carolina board of transportation awarded cat with 3.5 million for 13 additional buses which cat received in june 2009 and 2.8 million to purchase land and design a new administration building and garage which is now located on 23 acres 93 000 m2 off of poole road . additionally 7.6 million of stimulus money has been awarded to cat towards the garage . in may 2011 the new facility was opened . 4 funding 3 edit for fy 2010 cat s operating budget is 15 439 636 a 1 % decrease from last fiscal years budget of 15 596 444 . this ends a four year streak in which cat had seen an increase in funding to meet the demands of the five year plan . of cats budget 10 369 966 is from the city with additional funding coming from the state passenger revenue estimated farebox revenue for fy 2010 is 2 480 623 but it is unclear whether this includes bus pass sales or gopass contracts as in past city budgets this was seperted and miscellaneous sources such as grants and advertising . ridership edit according to the raleigh city budget for the fiscal year 2010 ridership levels average over 14 000 each business day up from 13 000 for the fiscal year of 2008 11 000 in september 2005 when gas prices began to climb after hurricane katrina and 8 000 in the year 2002 . 5 response to the threat of terrorism edit there have been no serious terrorist threats or attacks on raleigh public transit in the city s history however on may 4 2007 a bomb threat was received at the cat regional transit call center at about 9 00 am . buses in the triangle including an estimated 55 cat buses were pulled over evacuated and searched . the caller indicated there was a bomb on an unspecified bus although a raleigh transit official said the caller mentioned numbers that did not match any cat buses or routes . the bomb threat was cleared but left buses operating after that time anywhere from 5 to 90 minutes behind schedule for the day . transit watch is a new public awareness program launched by the federal transit administration fta in collaboration with the department of homeland security s transportation security administration tsa . the program encourages people to be vigilant and watch for and report safety e.g. strange smells smoke or other potential hazards and or security threats such as abandoned bags or suspicious behavior on public transit vehicles or public transit properties . the motto of this program is if you see something ... say something . in early 2006 cat joined the campaign . other transit services operating in raleigh edit goraleigh access edit goraleigh access formerlyaccessible raleigh transportation art is the city of raleigh s transportation services for people with disabilities . goraleigh access programs help ensure an outstanding quality of life for everyone in the city of raleigh . goraleigh access enables eligible persons to access public transportation . goraleigh access trips are eligible for para transit service only if the trip begins and ends within 3 4 miles of a goraleigh bus stop . gocary edit main article gocary gocary formerly c tran provides one route that connects downtown cary with western portions of raleigh also served by a cat bus route . additionally c tran provides paratransit service to residents of cary traveling to raleigh as well as public transit routes and paratransit in cary . godurham edit main article godurham godurham formerly durham area transit authority data operates one route that extends to the brier creek area of northwest raleigh in addition to its many routes serving the city of durham . gotriangle edit main article gotriangle gotriangle formerly triangle transit