Earth Day is a global celebration where billions of people come together to raise awareness of sustainability for the health of our environment. This tradition has continued for over 50 years, using events and initiatives dedicated to educating, encouraging, and empowering everyone to increase their sustainability. In the Department of Transportation, one of our primary goals is to reduce the number of carbon emissions released into our environment. We have accomplished this with our zero-emissions buses, fare-free transit service and mobility as a service initiative, biking and pedestrian improvement projects, and innovative Way to Go Durham programming.
Zero Emissions Buses:
The City’s GoDurham Transit currently has two zero-emissions buses in its fleet and six more set for delivery this summer. This type of bus uses advanced technology and helps the City reduce noise, pollution and improve air quality while decreasing the carbon footprint. In December 2022, the City of Durham received grant funding from the Appropriations Omnibus Bill to purchase two additional zero-emissions battery-electric GoDurham buses. This new funding, along with previously awarded grants support the department’s strategic goal to have an all-electric bus fleet by 2035.
Transit and Mobility as a Service:
Our department is committed to keep transit service accessible for all to ensure we can help get our residents to their jobs, health care, schools, and other necessities through our public transportation system. For the last few years transit has been fare-free. The City’s Transit service offers over 20 GoDurham GoTriangle bus routes, providing fare-free service across Durham. GoDurham ACCESS can offer you curb-to-curb ADA paratransit for qualifying individuals in the City of Durham and Durham County. All buses have bike racks to help with the first-and-last-mile connections and Wi-Fi to keep you connected.
To further link our residents to the resources they need, we also have the GoDurham Connect. This program allows residents to travel further in Northern and Eastern Durham with a free up to $25 Lyft ride. This resource connects residents between their homes, bus stops or shopping centers, schools, and libraries. The program will run until June 30, 2023. More information on this program can be found here.
The City’s additional micro-mobility transit options include the electric scooters provided by our various partners. The scooters are deployed across Durham for all to use to navigate day to day needs.
Biking and Pedestrian Improvement Projects:
Numerous biking and pedestrian improvements have been made across the City, including high visibility and audible crosswalks, bike lane expansion on Erwin Road, and marking for new crosswalks on Ramseur Street and S. Elizabeth Street. During National Pedestrian Month in October of last year, we shared a series of maps and plans to expand Durham’s Bike Network, Building a Walkable City: Increasing Access and Connectivity. These improvements help improve connectivity to transit, to make it easier for people to take the bus, and be carbon neutral. Additionally, a series of exciting new bike and ped improvement projects will be making their debut later this year. To learn more about the upcoming projects, visit our webpage.
Way to Go Durham:
Way to Go Durham is the City’s Transportation Demand Management (TDM) program. Its primary goal is to help residents, employers, commuters, and visitors learn about sustainable transportation options and limit single-occupancy vehicle (SOV) trips. Way to Go Durham has led multiple pilot projects to support this goal, including the Bull E-Bike Pilot, a four-week equity-based e-bike program for shift workers in downtown Durham.
All 61 of the Bull E-Bike’s participants received their e-bike, accessories, maintenance, and training in exchange for sharing information about their trips through a smartphone app. The data from the pilot shows that the participants traveled 2,933 miles. Of those trips, 54.6% were for work. 38.1% of SOV trips were replaced with the e-bike. Altogether, e-bike trips replaced 2,916 miles, and 1,099 miles of single occupancy vehicle travel were eliminated from 372 trips.
In the City of Durham’s Department of Transportation, we celebrate the Earth every day by working to develop and improve our resources to support more sustainable trips. This Earth Day, commit to making a sustainable change to how you travel across the Bull City and beyond.