NCDOT Earns Grant to Expand Access To On-Demand Transit In Johnston County

RALEIGH – State transportation officials say a new federal grant award of $10.4 million will help expand on-demand transit services for up to 11 North Carolina communities, including Johnston County, and benefit thousands of North Carolina citizens.

“More than 1 million people in North Carolina live in a household without a car or have other barriers limiting their access to reliable transportation,” said Ryan Brumfield, director of the Division of Integrated Mobility, a unit in the N.C. Department of Transportation. “By expanding on-demand transit services, we take an important step to remove barriers for these individuals. Having a more robust network of multimodal services will connect people to the jobs, educational opportunities, appointments and shopping they need for their daily lives.”

The award comes to the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Integrated Mobility Division from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Rural Surface Transportation Grant, which is part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The money will be distributed to expand on-demand transit services for people in Alamance, McDowell, Johnston, Randolph, and Rockingham counties, as well as Sanford, Salisbury and Wilson. Other regional community organizations that will benefit are: Kerr Area Regional Transit, Tar River Transit and Wave Transit in Wilmington.

The funding will pay for advanced transit scheduling software deployment and, in some communities, third-party contracts for vehicles and drivers to support the new on-demand services.

The N.C. Department of Transportation’s Integrated Mobility Division will be finalizing the scope of this project with the U.S. Department of Transportation and Johnston County over the next few months. NCDOT will be working closely with the Johnston County Area Transit System (JCATS) to plan and deploy on-demand services as an enhancement to the existing services already provided by JCATS.

The Integrated Mobility Division applied for the funds to expand on-demand transit, in part, because of the success of prior on-demand transit deployments in North Carolina, including the Wilson RIDE service. That service has garnered national attention for its success and positive impacts.

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9 COMMENTS

  1. this is good news. I am disabled and have t depend on rides as I do not drive. JCATS has needed this for a long time

  2. Folks come on and get on board with this! We really need this transportation system to level the field so that the gang members in the outermost part of the county can get to the Carolina Mall?

    • Terrybarns I usually read your posts with an open mind and even agree with a percentage of your points. This time you’re wrong. The elderly, the disabled, and the mentally challenged make up most of the people needing a ride. The gang members you speak of have their own means of transportation. Never heard of a gang member using JCATS for a get away vehicle at any mall. Try to have a little compassion for those who have no other way to make their appointments. You and I may be in that situation one day.

  3. JCATS provides essential transportation services for folks without access to private transportation or resources to pay for example, Uber rides, and who need to go to medical appointments, workplace and job training, senior centers, child care centers, social services, public hearings, dental care.

    This expansion is greatly needed.

  4. So you guys don’t think this is morpinng into a public transit bus system before your very eyes? Doc what you speak of sounds good, but do you really not think this is only the means to deliver a public transit bus system?

    • Terrybarns JCATS had been operating in Johnston county for 37 years. I don’t think it is elvoving into anything except what it is. Help for the disabled, the mentally challenged, the elderly, and those enduring hard times.

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