What's Happening in Durham, NC…

Express buses linking Raleigh with Chapel Hill and Durham will once again be available for commuters.

The route was suspended back in December 2022 due to a shortage of drivers that left nearly one-third of driving positions unfilled last fall. The Chapel Hill-Raleigh Express and Durham-Raleigh Express routes will now resume and will be operated by GoTriangle. Printing services could be used to publish bus schedules when services change.

According to Vinson Hines Jr., the Chief of Operations, GoTriangle has been successful in recruiting drivers by offering better pay and an internal training program. In a written statement, Hines said:

“We know that our riders depend on us to get to work, medical appointments, school, and basic life necessities.

“During the pandemic when our numbers of operators kept dropping, GoTriangle employees from many departments — especially operations — were working hard to recruit, retain and train drivers so we could restore those routes and other suspended service.”

Some cutbacks, hower, such as weekday buses connecting Raleigh and downtown Cary, are still in effect. This is consistent with other transportation agencies and school systems in the Triangle area, which are also facing a similar scarcity of qualified drivers.

The average daily ridership of weekday CRX and DRX routes, which were suspended in December, was around 524 passengers, accounting for 9% of GoTriangle's total ridership.