The North Carolina Department of Transportation announced a new system where buses will be able to drive on the shoulder of I-40 in the Research Triangle Park area of Durham County yesterday. The official name of the system is “Buses on Shoulders System”, or BOSS, and beginning on July 16th buses will drive on the shoulder of I-40 to bypass traffic congestion.
Buses will only be allowed to use the shoulder of selected parts of I-40 when the highway speeds are 35 miles per hour and below. The buses will also not be allowed to go faster than 15 miles per hour than the traffic they are passing.
The aim of the program is to provide more reliable transit times, fewer missed connections for bus riders, reduced driver overtime, potential increased ridership and decreased operational costs for the bus service. The model being used is based off one which has been employed in Minnesota for over 20 years. It is also implemented in 10 other states including Virginia.
The BOSS program will involve four Triangle Transit routes:
- CRX – Chapel Hill Express,
- Route 800 – Chapel Hill to the Regional Transit Center via The Streets at Southpoint,
- Route 700 – Durham to the Regional Transit Center (Eastbound only on I-40), and
- Shuttle 42 between the Regional Transit Center and IBM (Eastbound only on I-40).
For more information on the BOSS program, please visit the Triangle Transit BOSS Website. This website has pictures of what to expect when the system is put into place and also a list of frequrntly asked questions.
Additional Reading:
- NCDOT Buses on Shoulder System Newsroom Article (NCDOT)
- BOSS NC Implementation and Operations Plan (letsgetmoving.org)
- Bus On Shoulder System ready for July debut (Durham Herald Sun)
Photo Credit: metrotransit.org
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