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Orange County Transit Plan and 1/2 Cent Sales Tax Transit Referendum

On November 6, 2012 voters in Orange County approved a 1/2 cent sales tax for local and regional bus improvements and a proposed 17 mile light rail line from Chapel Hill to East Durham.

Orange County will consider the following investments in public transportation totaling $661.1 million.

The costs below and the total above are listed in year-of-expenditure dollars. This means that the cost is calculated based on the value of the dollar in the year that it is spent.  

• New and enhanced bus service
  • Bus purchases: $17.6 million
  • Bus capital: $6.7 million
  • Bus operations: $106.8 million

                     Total: $131.1 million

• Express bus lane improvements on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd: $24.5 million

• Amtrak rail station in Hillsborough: $8.9 million

• Light rail:
  • Light rail capital: $418.3 million
  • Light rail operations: $59.1 million
  • Debt service: $19.2 million

                     Total: $496.6 million

For more information about the Orange County Transit Plan and other Triangle area transit plans, please see  the links below

Orange County Transit Plan Documents:

• Triangle Transit has provided a short, 2-page summary of the Orange County Transit. Click here to view this summary.  

• A final version of the Orange County Transit Plan was adopted by the Board of County Commissioners on October 2^nd 2012. To view the final version of the plan, click here for the main document and click here for the plan appendices

Frequently Asked Questions:

• Click here for a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ) about the plan and their answers provided by Triangle Transit. 

Agreements:

• In May 2012 the Orange County Commissioners entered into a cost sharing agreement with Durham County that outlines how the cost of the light rail project would be divided between the two counties. To view this agreement, click here. For a summary and reference map of the cost sharing agreement click here. 

• Also in May 2012, the Orange County Commissioners and Triangle Transit signed a ‘Do Not Levy’ agreement which states that the ½ cent sales tax will not be levied by TTA unless they are requested to by the Orange County Commissioners. To view this agreement, click here.

• On October 2^nd 2012, the Board of County Commissioners signed an Implementation Agreement between Orange County, Triangle Transit and the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro MPO which describes how the Orange County Transit Plan will be executed. To view the agreement, click here.

Additional Information

• For more information and detailed maps from Triangle Transit about the Orange County Transit Plan and all Triangle area transit plans, click here

• The Congestion Relief and Intermodal Transportation 21^st Century Fund was passed in 2009 and authorizes the transit tax. To see the full text of this legislation, click here.