AG 1999 06 21 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CABARRUS / S. ROWAN TRANSIT FEASIBII,ITY S'HSDY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Cabarrus / S. Rowan Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), in cooperation with the Public Transit Division of the North Carolina Department of Transportation, contracted with Gannett Fleming, Engineers and Planners (the Consultant), in luly of 1998 to conduct a study as to the feasibility of implementing public transit service in the urbanized area. The purpose of the study was to,,determine the need for transit service~ over and above that c~-rrently hein~, operated .by Cabarrus and Rowan counties,in providing transportation services through their iespective departments of Social Services and Aging. The study area includes the municipalities of Concord and Kannapolis in Cabarrus County and that portion of Kannapolis in Rowan County and Landis and China Grove, which are in Rowan County. To assist the Consultant in the study, the MPO appointed a Steering Committee of local staff, community leaders, industry representatives and others to provide input, guidance and support during the study process. The Committee met four (4) times over a six month period of time and provided valuable assistance to the Consultant and staff. Through the assistance of the Steering Committee, residence addresses of employees of major industries, institutions and governmental agencies in the study area were provided through Zip Code. This information allowed broad-brush conclusions [o be made about |ngvel 0atterns in the region a~ well as notentiai transit ridershi,n. Again, through assistance of the Committee, a survey form was developed and provided to several groups to detes.fine potential ridership. The survey results are contained in this document in Chapter 2 and the survey forms are included in the Appendix. Almost 800 responses to the survey w..ere r$~urned with those indicating that the'/would use oublic transit, if it were available, ranging from about 30% t~ m.o. re than I~0 % of respondents dependin~ uoon the ~rouo bein~ surveyed. Funds within the pro, iect budget did not e,x, ist to allow for a totally scientific survey of the ~. Even with such a survey, however, ?perience has shown that man~ respondents, will indicate a desire to use w.,hatever service or product is bein~ offered, ~bu, t in fact, do not. On the other hand, experience has also shown that many who do not respond are the ones who need and will use the service or product. During the course of conducting the study, the Consultant met with the Managers and Town Administrators of all the municipalities involved with the project; with various elected officials; and, with the Rowan County Manager and officials of the Rowan Co. Transit Service. In the meetings with the Rowan County officials, they indicated that there were many more requests from their clientele for travel into the Concord/Kannapolis area than they could