Headquarters | 4104 Poole Rd. |
---|---|
Locale |
Raleigh, North Carolina United States |
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 | 106 |
Daily ridership | 17,500 average weekday |
Fuel type | Biodiesel |
Operator | Transdev |
Chief executive | Marie Parker |
Website | http://goraleigh.org/ |
1300 total stops
186 stops with a shelter, or a plan to add a shelter (all shelters contain a bench)
GoRaleigh (formerly Raleigh CAT, or Capital Area Transit) operates 28 public transit routes to serve the City of Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. It also operates seven regional/express routes for GoTriangle, the regional provider. GoRaleigh is contracted to operate two 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.
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.
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 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 two new hybrid trolleys (the first hybrid public transit vehicles ever used in North Carolina) to serve the trolley route. The Raleigh Trolley was quietly phased out, first serviced with regular CAT buses rather than 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.