In 2012, the Orange County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) along with the Durham-Chapel Hill Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO) and GoTriangle adopted the first Orange County Transit Plan. This Plan was funded by a newly adopted Article 43 Half-Cent Sales Tax. It included investments in new and expanded bus service and new capital infrastructure projects like the Chapel Hill North-South Bus Rapid Transit Project, the Hillsborough Train Station, and the Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit (DOLRT) Project. The Plan was updated in 2017 to meet federal requirements associated with the DOLRT Project.
In March 2019, the DOLRT Project was discontinued. This project was the Transit Plan's primary investment, representing a critical partnership between Durham and Orange counties and serving as the transit infrastructure around which other transit services and growth strategies were planned. In response to the discontinuation of the DOLRT, the Orange County BOCC initiated the process to update the Transit Plan in November 2019.
Over the past two years, a staff and consultant project team have developed a draft Transit Plan Update with input from the public and steering through a Policy Steering Committee (PSC). Additional information about the planning process and outreach phases used to develop the draft 2022 Orange County Transit Plan Update can be found at: www.octransit2020.com.
Orange County BOCC Public Hearing
For any resident who would like to provide comments directly to the BOCC, Orange County staff has scheduled a public hearing on Nov. 1, 2022, at 7 p.m. in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room at the Whitted Building, 300 West Tryon Street, Hillsborough. The agenda for this meeting will be available online by 5 p.m. on Oct. 28, 2022, on the following webpage: https://www.orangecountync.gov/1707/BOCC-Agendas.
Public comments may also be submitted to Tom Altieri, Comprehensive Planning Supervisor, via email at (taltieri@orangecountync.gov). Comments submitted to this address before midnight on Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022, will be forwarded to the BOCC in advance of the Nov 1 public hearing.