Passenger Bus, Rail and Motorcoach Industry News

The Hopson Road Project is the first of 12 Piedmont Improvement Program projects dedicated to separating rail and highway traffic. The project will ultimately eliminate 50 crossings between Charlotte and Raleigh.

The route connects with the Charlotte Area Transit System and Fayetteville Area System of Transit, as well as other Greyhound intercity bus routes.

The Charlotte Area Transit System has generated the revenue along the corridor since it was built five years ago. An expansion project is set to begin in 2014.

Stephen Bland, CEO of Pittsburgh's Port Authority of Allegheny County; Carolyn Flowers, CEO of the Charlotte (N.C.) Area Transit System; and Mikel Oglesby, GM of Calif.'s SunLine Transit Agency are the three finalists.

Since Monday, attendees and other passengers boosted ridership on LYNX by 148% over a typical weekday. About 250 buses will be used to move nearly 6,000 delegates to DNC events. In Tampa, 400 buses were used to transport 2,200 RNC delegates, but several buses were late for state delegations.

Crews are installing floors, paths, customer service centers, air conditioned tents, picnic tables and restrooms. The agency is shutting down the regular transit center because of security concerns. It will run all bus routes, but will detour around DNC-related street closures.

This allows the project to be developed from the 65% to the 100% design level and complete preparation of final construction plans, right-of-way acquisition, construction cost estimates, bid documents and utility relocation.

The 9.4-mile alignment would run from Uptown Charlotte to the UNC Charlotte campus and include 11 light rail stations and four parking facilities.

Will hear in about four months whether the Charlotte Area Transit light rail system will be extended to UNC Charlotte by 2017. The extension would cost about $1 billion, and the agency hopes for half of the cost to come from federal funding.

The award is given to an urban transit system that travels over one million miles a year and has excellent performance in traffic and passenger safety.