Main Street Construction to Affect Bull City Connector and DATA Routes

When construction begins on Durham’s Main Street this month, the work will affect routing for the Bull City Connector, Durham's free downtown bus, as well as the Durham Area Transit Authority.
Buses will follow a different route around the Brightleaf Square/Duke University East Campus area from May 13th - September 2013. Click here to view the bus detour map.

The frequency of bus service will change during the detour:

Bull City Connector Route Changes:

Weekdays (Monday-Friday)
6:20 A.M. to 3 P.M. Service every 20 minutes
3 P.M. to 6 P.M. Service every 15 minutes
After 6 P.M. Service every 25 minutes

Saturdays
7:20 A.M. to Midnight Service every 25 minutes

Holidays (Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day)
7:20 A.M. to 10 P.M. Service every 25 minutes

Stops eliminated during the detour include:
Main St. at Campus Dr. (Eastbound & Westbound) (GoLive Stop #’s 6380 and 6389)
Main St. at Morgan St. (Eastbound & Westbound) (GoLive Stop #’s 5163 and 5433)
Main St. at Gregson St. (Eastbound & Westbound) (GoLive Stop #’s 5637 and 6387)

Alternate temporary stops will be at:
Main St. at Duke St. (Eastbound) (GoLive Stop #6642)
Gregson St. at Brightleaf (Westbound) (GoLive Stop #6336)

A downloadable map of the Bull City Connector detour is available online at bullcityconnector.org. An interactive map will be available beginning May 13.

Questions about the detour can be directed to the GoTriangle Regional Information Center at (919) 485-RIDE (7433).

DATA Route Changes:

DATA Route 5 stop closure
Due to construction, DATA’s stop #6442, served by Route 5 ‘Fayetteville St/NCCU/Southpoint’, will be closed until further notice.Passengers catching the outbound bus can utilize the very next stop, which is about 100 yards away, on E Lakewood Ave at Fayetteville St (near the Kerr Drugs store).

DATA 9B
The end of route and start of route timepoint at Northern High School will now always be the stop across the street from the school. There are no changes to the schedule.

The current stop #5668 in front of Northern High will be eliminated. The stop across the street from Northern High will be renamed (from #5407 Tom Wilkinson Rd at Goldston Ave to #5407 Tom Wilkinson Rd at Northern HS. We will also add a stop, in the direction headed downtown, #5434 Milton Rd at Long Crescent Dr .

DATA 11
The outbound timepoint #1105 Erwin Rd at VA Hospital will no longer be served by Route 11. The timepoint will be moved to #5228 Fulton St at VA Hospital. There are minor changes to the schedule.

Other Changes

Duke GoPass holders to show DukeCard ID starting April 1
Beginning April 1, Duke students, faculty and staff must show a valid DukeCard ID when using their GoPass on Triangle Transit and Durham Area Transit Authority buses. Riders without DukeCards will be asked to pay the corresponding bus fare for the route.

New Parking Access at Durham Station (American Tobacco Campus - North Deck)
Effective March 1, 2013 The American Tobacco Campus (ATC) parking decks require new access stickers. This will be in effect Monday- Friday from 8am-5pm.

ATC Park and Ride customers in Triangle Transit’s current customer database that have not exchanged the old card must come to the Regional Transit Center for a new sticker. Please bring identification, return your old parking access card and update your contact information. Customer Service window hours are 7:00am - 6:30pm (Mo-Fr) and 8:00am - 4:30pm (Sa).

All questions about the new parking access should be directed to ATCParking@triangletransit.org or call (919) 485-RIDE(7433).

The Peddling of the Bulls?

Updated - June 17, 2013:
The Peddling Bulls are now hiring.  See their website for more information, or read on:

"Want to do your part to keep the party going in Durham while staying fit, having fun, and making some bread? Look no further, this Wednesday from 12noon to 5pm Peddling Bulls of Durham Bike-Taxi is having an open house at 506 N. Mangum to find energetic and customer service oriented Bike-Taxi drivers to join our Peddler Network to help us peddle and pedal. 

Peddling Bulls is a Durham focused and Durham based Rickshaw cooperative which gives licensed members access to its fleet of traditional pedicabs, trailers, and business system. Already have a bike? Put on a uniform and grab a trailer and get in business! 

If you believe you're capable of riding around folks throughout the Bull City in a safe, efficient, and timely fashion, please RSP by leaving a voice mail for Mike Valentine at (919) 371-8837. Join us in our mission to make Durham more pedestrian friendly. Hope to see you this Wednesday. 

Original Post:
Durham is fast becoming a bike friendly city with a profusion of bike shops, cycling clubs and installed bike racks.  So then the next logical step in the progression is bike cabs, right?

Right.

Enter the Peddling Bulls Bike Taxi Service, a new Durham based company endeavoring to make the city more pedestrian-friendly.  Downtown Durham is already celebrated as a foot-traffic friendly place by the website WalkScore.com, whereon addresses in that district rank very high.

The Peddling Bulls ownership recognize Durham's commitment to environmentally friendly transit solutions, like the Bull City Connector, and that the growing economy make a perfect venue for the company to provide pedicab services to both residents and guests.

These pedicabs are a convenient transportation option and are looking forward to shuttling fans to and from activities from ball games to performance, and more.  They are also working to offer partnerships with local businesses through promotional, or service-based, opportunities. The company is also pleased to provide new employment opportunities in Durham.

The company was founded out of love for Durham, according to founder Michael Valentine.  He hopes that Peddling Bulls will become yet another attractive aspect of this evolving community.

For more information, find the Peddling Bulls online, on Twitter, or Facebook.

Bull City Connector Launches Art Walk "Scan"venger Hunt

Residents and visitors interested in earning a few BUCK$ while experiencing the creative energy of local artists, arts organizations, and downtown businesses should mark their calendars for the first-ever Bull City Connector Art Walk “Scan”venger Hunt from Friday, April 27 to Sunday, April 29, 2012.

The Bull City Connector is partnering with Bull City BUCK$ and the Durham Arts Council for a new and fun way residents and visitors to experience local art and all that downtown Durham has to offer. Participants will earn Bull City BUCK$ during the Bull City Connector Art Walk “Scan”venger Hunt that are redeemable for goods and services at partnering downtown businesses.

Here's how “Scan”venger Hunt works:

• Sign up for Bull City BUCK$ online or download the smart phone application.

• Download the "Scan"venger Hunt Art Walk Guide on the Bull City Connector's website or pick up the guide beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 28 at the Durham Arts Council, 120 Morris St., Durham.

• Use the Bull City BUCK$ application to scan the QR Code at each Art Walk site or bonus “Scan”venger Hunt locations on the Bull City Connector and along the route.

According to Jesica Averhart, market and events manager for the Bull City BUCK$ program, “Scan”venger Hunt participants who use the Bull City Connector frequently can earn over $250 BUCK$ during this weekend-long event. “We are excited about our partnership with the Bull City Connector and the Durham Arts Council. There are several bonus locations along the Bull City Connector route that give participants additional opportunities to earn BUCK$, such as Duke’s East Campus, the Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau, and a few businesses on Ninth Street.”

The “Scan”venger Hunt will kick-off with a free event sponsored by the Bull City Connector Advisory Council at Beyú Caffé, 335 W. Main St., on Friday, April 27 at 5 p.m. Participants are encouraged to take the Bull City Connector to the kick-off party to sign up for Bull City BUCK$ and start earning while enjoying live music by The Black Experience.

Free “Scan”venger Hunt After Parties will also be hosted by the Bull City Connector Advisory Council at the following locations:

• The Pinhook, 117 W. Main St., on Saturday, April 28 at 5 p.m. featuring live music by The Wigg Report, Beloved Binge, and All Electronic.

• Bull City Burger and Brewery, 107 E. Parrish St., Sunday, April 29 at 5 p.m. featuring Tubby Ridge with award-winning swing-grass music and joined by celebrated guitarist Justin Johnston.

For more information on the Bull City Connector Art Walk “Scan”venger Hunt or service information, visit the Bull City Connector website, “like” the Bull City Connector on Facebook, or “follow” the Bull City Connector on Twitter. Click the link for more information about the Durham Art Walk.

City of Durham Seeks Public Art Proposals

Artists in Durham should take note that the City of Durham is looking for proposals for new works of art to be displayed in public places.

The City’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development is seeking proposals for projects in support of the Cultural Master Plan Public Art Pilot Project Initiative from qualified non-profits, local governments, for-profit entities, and artists.

Projects must lead to the creation of new works of art or decorative art designed for permanent display in public places, which may include either government-owned or privately owned locations, or must involve community participation in a public process for the temporary installation of new works of art in public places. Public places are defined as indoor or outdoor locations generally accessible to the public.

Preference will be given to projects in the general downtown area and in neighborhoods designated as targeted neighborhoods by the City’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development. Projects for the CCB Plaza, the Five Points area, Durham Station Transportation Center, and the Bull City Connector are encouraged.

A total of $25,000 is available to support one or more projects. Additional funds may be available, depending on the nature and timing of the project. Preference will also be given to projects which match Cultural Master Plan funding with other funds provided by, or developed by, the candidate.

The application deadline is March 29, 2012, at 4:30 p.m. The request for proposal form is available on the City’s website. Completed applications should be sent to the attention of Cultural Master Plan Coordinator Peter Coyle. 

The project is administered by the City of Durham Office of Economic and Workforce Development using funds designated for this purpose by the Durham Cultural Advisory Board. Funding for the project was provided by a grant to the City of Durham from the County of Durham from funds designated for implementation of the Durham Cultural Master Plan.

Durham is routinely lauded for its open and welcoming community which makes it a haven for artists.  Learn more about accolades Durham receives here.

Durham Receives Honor for Alternative Transportation Options for Employees

The City of Durham was recently recognized for outstanding alternative transportation efforts at the Annual Triangle Commuter Awards event held by the area GoTriangle Transportation Demand Management Coordination Program.

The City of Durham received commuting honors for its efforts to promote alternative transportation among its employees, which includes free transit service on the Durham Area Transit Authority (DATA) and the Bull City Connector as well as bike racks, compressed work weeks, and teleworking. Durham was also recognized for having the highest percentage of employees participating in the SmartCommute Challenge for an entity with 2,000 to 4,999 employees.

Two Durham residents also received the Golden Spokes Award as champions of bicycle commuting and leaders in the cycling community. Scott Carter, chair of the Durham Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC), averages more than 4,000 bike miles per year riding from his home in southern Durham to IBM. Jack Warman, a former member of BPAC, commutes daily from Durham to Morrisville and is involved in several efforts to strengthen the bicycle community in Durham, such as writing for the http://www.bikewalkdurham.org/ website.

The Golden Mode Awards recognize transportation initiatives that contribute to local efforts to reduce emissions, traffic congestion, and single occupancy.

Durham is a community with many alternative transportation options, biking alternatives; Downtown Durham rates very highly on the site walkscore.com, with some areas being rated as a "Walker's Paradise."

Bull City Connector Survey

Durham's fare-free bus service in Downtown, The Bull City Connector, is looking for input from the public.  They have launched an online survey to collect information from riders and potential riders to ensure that the service is delivering what the public wants, as well as to ascertain the public perception of the service experience.

"We need input to improve transportation options in Durham," said Ieshia Robertson with the City of Durham. "We would greatly appreciate participation in our online survey about public transportation in Durham."  The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete and responses are completely confidential. 

There is an incentive for completing the survey.  Respondents can enter their name into a drawing to win tickets to the opening performance of Come Fly Away at the DPAC - Durham Performing Arts Center in September. To qualify, the survey complete the survey by May 24, 2011.

Durham Art Walk This Weekend

Durham is home to great art, be it performance, music or object.  Looking at the richness of the arts culture in Durham, it is hard to deny the communities commitment to arts overall.

This weekend, more than 200 local artists will participate in Durham Art Walk, an annual cultural event in Durham that has grown significantly over the years. Celebrating its 12th anniversary, the biannual Art Walk organized by the Durham Arts Council, signals its 2011 spring iteration with artwork ranging from photography to painting to jewelry, in addition to other local staples such as Durham-based musical groups and various food trucks.

Work will be displayed in many locations, hence the "walk" part of the name.  A map of locations is here and a list of them is here.  Attendees would do well to remember the Bull City Connector when planning to attend.  This fare-free bus service in Durham will make getting to the event much easier.

Spring into Action

Daylight saving time starts this Sunday and that means one thing, it’s time to spring forward in the Bull City. As daylight expands and the weather gets warmer, make your way to the Pavilion at Durham Central Park to visit the Durham Farmers’ Market, an all local, producer-only market.

Durham Farmers’ Market has 64 vendors that are all located within 70 miles guaranteeing fresh goods. Currently the farmers’ market is open from 10am until noon, but starting in April the market will open at 8am.

This year, to compliment the farmers’ market, Vega Metals is starting an art market at 214 Hunt Street in the Central Park District of Downtown. The Art Market at Vega Metals will feature all kinds of local art including: jewelry, woodwork, metalwork, paintings, home goods, fabric arts, pottery and apparel.

Although the art market will be open every Saturday in March and on April 2, it will celebrate its grand opening on April 16 following a week off due to the Durham Art Walk. Artists interested in participating can visit their website for more information and to learn how to apply.

Speaking of Durham Art Walk, this twice annual art event showcases the work of over 200 artists at sites all over downtown Durham. The Durham Art Walk features visual and performing artists in both traditional and unexpected sites throughout downtown Durham. All sites are within easy walking distance around downtown but walkers are encouraged to take advantage of the Bull City Connector.

So, this spring get out and take advantage of all the creativity Durham has to offer at these three events.

Bull City Connector Expands Morning Service

In an effort to improve convenience, Durham’s fare free bus, called the Bull City Connector (BCC), has expanded its morning service to help commuters get to work by 7 a.m. The BCC connects Durham’s east side at Golden Belt to Duke University Hospital on the west side with a special leg that ties in North Carolina Central University to the south. The Bull City Connector is a fare-free service.

On January 3, the BCC will start westbound trips one hour earlier, with the first departure from Golden Belt at 6:22 a.m., from Durham Station at 6:31 a.m., and arriving at the Duke University Hospital stop at 6:45 a.m. Eastbound trips will begin 15 minutes earlier from Duke University Hospital at 6:45 a.m.
Started in August 2010, the BCC has transported over 100,000 passengers to Duke University, Downtown Durham, Ninth Street, and Golden Belt on its 40+ stop route. Several stops have been added since the service began to improve overall convenience. Schedule information and bus stop locations can be found on the BCC web site, designed and maintained by DCVB.

The Bull City Connector is managed by the City's Durham Area Transit Authority (DATA) with major support from Duke University. DATA is operated by the Triangle Transit Authority (TTA). The service reduces overall traffic congestion downtown and improves access for visitors and residents alike.

The Latest Iteration of Being a Startup Hub

Durham has always been a hub for startups...even before 1865 when Washington Duke came home after the Civil War and started in the tobacco business.  Seems to have worked out for him since with that modest start, Durham proceeded to lead the industrial revolution in the south with both tobacco and textile empires thriving here for the century to follow.

Now, in some of the very same buildings that housed those former manufacturing giants, Durham is again expressing its entrepreneurial nature as a massive influx of creative and business minded people come here to get their ideas off the ground.

The last several years have seen the startup landscape flourish in Durham, and the future is looking more lush every day.  With the recent opening of Bull City Forward as an incubator for social enterprises, and the impending opening of American Underground as a similar environment for tech companies, Durham is fast-tracking its growth in this direction.  Click here for a recent article on the subject.  Even the local blog Bull City Rising now has an editorial series devoted to this subject and a new correspondent focused on this beat.

"To call it exciting is an understatement.  We've always been a technology and innovation hub--after all RTP started here in 1959--but now we're seeing opportunities for small operations to call Durham home in a new way," said Shelly Green, President and CEO of the Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau.  "The fact is that more than 80% of relocating executives come to Durham as visitors first and then decide to move here.  We're now seeing the natural evolution of that with a previous generation setting the stage for newcomers to get their concepts off the ground here.  Durham is a place where great things happen, and we're hoping these businesses will stay in Durham," she added.

BCF and AU are only part of the picture.  There is a startup subculture in Durham, a place that often wins accolades for various aspects of its population.  See a searchable database of those here.  A new website, http://www.downtowndurhamstartups.com/, sponsored by shoeboxed.com, is a great clearing house for information on new businesses getting underway in Durham, but also in the surrounding area.  Their blog can be seen here.

Pursuant to being attractive to a younger demographic, Durham has an exciting dining scene with more than three dozen nationally celebrated restaurants, bakeries and food trucks for near round the clock options.  There is even a website devoted entirely to coffee shops and bakeries that rates them based on various criteria.  There is also a fare-free bus, The Bull City Connector, that services downtown Durham as some immediately adjacent parts of town including Duke and North Carolina Central Universities.

A visit to the official website for Durham's marketing agency sums up the current culture pretty well, "Durham is a colorful, creative, and entrepreneurial community and is the proud home of Research Triangle Park, Duke and North Carolina Central universities."  Sounds like startup mecca.

Bull City Connector Launches August 16

Connecting Durham from the Innovation of Duke to the History of Downtown to the Creativity of Golden Belt – that is the goal of the new Bull City Connector, a convenient, frequent, and fare-free service transporting visitors, business travelers, students, and Downtown workers to key destinations in and around Durham's central corridor, including Duke University, Durham's historic Downtown, Ninth Street, and Golden Belt.

The Bull City Connector will launch its colorful hybrid-electric buses at a ceremony on Monday, August 16 and will operate every 15 minutes from 7am-6pm, Monday through Friday, and every 20 minutes 6pm to midnight, Monday through Friday. It will also run every 20 minutes 7am to Midnight on Saturday and holidays.

Stops along the route include: Duke Medical Center, Duke West Campus, Duke Central Campus, Ninth Street District, Duke East Campus, Brightleaf Square, West Village, Durham Arts Council, Durham Station & American Tobacco, Five Points, CCB Plaza, Mangum Street, Durham County Government, the Health Department, Durham Hosiery Mills, and Golden Belt.

In addition to the Bull City Connector buses, NC Central University and Duke University students and faculty who would like to use the Bull City Connector may ride DATA Route 5 fare-free between NCCU campus and Durham Station; a university ID is required.

The Bull City Connector is a service provided by the City of Durham with major support from Duke University. The Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau is partnering with the City and other organizations to help market the connector, including collaborating on the production of a pocket-sized route map and other materials.

A new website, bullcityconnector.org, will go live the week of August 2, featuring the route map as well as information about points of interest near each stop.

Bull City Connector Set to Launch

The long-awaited Bull City Connector is on schedule to launch August 16, providing fare-free service from Golden Belt on the east end to Duke South Clinic at Duke University Medical Center on the western side, including stops throughout Downtown, Duke University, and Ninth Street. In addition to the new route, the current DATA Bus Route 5 will be free for NCCU students and faculty to help them access the Bull City Connector.
The connector buses will run Monday through Saturday from 7am-6pm at 15 minute intervals and from 6pm-midnight in 20 minute intervals.

In preparation, DCVB has been working with DATA and the City of Durham on a route map for riders. DCVB is also working with several Duke students who are preparing a flyer for returning students to educate them on the restaurants and cultural facilities that are easily accessible via the Connector. Additionally, DCVB, Duke University, the Durham Chamber, and DDI are working together to coordinate efforts to promote the route to residents and visitors.