NC: New downtown Raleigh station will bring trains and buses closer together

Raleigh Union Station, where a dozen Amtrak trains stop each day, sits on one side of downtown, while the city’s only local bus station is on the other.

That changes Aug. 3, when a second downtown bus station opens next door to the train depot.

RUS Bus, short for Raleigh Union Bus Station, will serve five GoTriangle regional bus routes, with two GoRaleigh buses stopping just outside on West Street. Two other express buses, from Wake Forest and Zebulon, will use the station starting in November.

RUS Bus will ease crowding at GoRaleigh’s main station at Moore Square and improve connections with the train station, Brian Smith, president and CEO of GoTriangle, said at a media preview Wednesday.

“Being able to hop on a GoTriangle bus right here at Raleigh Union Station and get to other points across the region is, I think, a game changer,” Smith said.

RUS Bus has its roots in the Triangle’s frustrated efforts to build a commuter rail system. GoTriangle’s predecessor, the Triangle Transit Authority, bought the 1.76-acre property on West Street with help of a federal grant in 2005 in hopes of building a commuter rail station on it.

After commuter rail failed to win federal support, GoTriangle held on to the property. In 2018, it received a $20 million federal grant to build the bus station, which was seen as a key companion to the train station next door. Raleigh Union Station opened in 2018.

RUS Bus cost $37.9 million. In addition to the federal grant, $8.8 million came from the state and the rest from Wake County’s transit tax, said Gary Tober, GoTriangle’s interim chief of development.

The station has six bays and room to park two additional buses that are not in service. There are also public restrooms, bike racks and lockers and digital signs with real-time information about arrivals and departures.

It’s all inside a concrete shell that will help anchor Union West, a planned apartment tower and parking deck that will rise next to and above the station and include ground-level retail.

Developer Hoffman & Associates is still putting together financing, but RUS Bus has been designed with the tower in mind, said Bryan Hammond, project manager for GoTriangle.

“All of the columns and foundations that are here are designed to support all of that stuff up above it,” Hammond said. “So it’s ready to go.”

Through May of this year, GoTriangle averaged 4,912 passengers per weekday. For those who travel to or from downtown Raleigh, RUS Bus will be a nicer, more convenient experience, Smith said.

And as downtown grows, the station should make riding the bus a more attractive option for people who might otherwise drive, he said.

“This is a very strategic location,” Smith said. “I think in the future, it’s going to be even more vibrant in terms of the transportation connections as well as everything else that’s going on around this site.”

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