Chapel Hill Transit Authority

You got to love a bus service that is free… and it even goes to Carrboro area which I love when I am doing my show… and they have great drivers and consistent service… Definitely they know how to do it right…

To all the people giving this bus system 5 stars I have but one question for you: in what alternate universe do you live, and how can I get there? This is by far the WORST bus system I have ever had the misfortune of relying on. I don’t care that the busses are often cramped and over crowded, or even that they’re a few minutes late more often than not. No. I could deal perfectly fine with that as long as the busses still got me to class, which they should… right? WRONG. Some of the busses are more consistent than others, and the ones that aren’t consistent literally just won’t show up ⁹⁄₁₀ times. The one bus that should take me directly to class every morning has decided to plain not show up the last SEVEN times I’ve tried to take it. I’m sick and fed up with this. As a student, part of my tuition goes towards the bus system that is supposedly supposed to take me to class. So if the busses don’t take me to class, why in the h*** am I paying for them? After almost missing various tests and quizzes, I am completely fed up with chapel hill transit, and it is my opinion that the whole system needs to be destroyed and built up from the ground again. Whatever it takes to make a functional bus system. Just awful.

CH knows how to do transit. Mostly because it’s free and usually on time. Always good! I used to use them to go to class all the time when I went to school at UNC and I was always pleased.
I just had to write a review though, after I was there on Friday night for the Alumni basketball game and took the P2P up to Franklin from the Dean Dome. Oh the P2P. Drunk kids crack me up, and even though it was 10PM and most people were coming from the game, I still smelled alcohol. Either someone brought some with them or they had a VERY good time before they got on the bus. But hey, that is what the P2P is for!

CH Transit is not free. Students pay a bus fee every semester for the system, and homeowners pay taxes to support it. In that light, the UNC bus routes are nightmares. I have to take the U or RU route a few times a week, and I am always standing, smashed between an over-​capacity crowd, or turned away from the bus because it simply cannot fit any more people on it. If this happened once in awhile, I would look the other way, but it’s a fight to ride the bus every single time. We are paying for this service, and I am extremely disappointed that the RU/​U route is not run either more often or with a double-​sized bus. (Other routes are the same way, but most of my experiences have been with the RU/​U routes. On the other hand, my rides on the NS and V routes have been very nice — plus a star.)
I’d love to give CH Transit a higher rating, and I hope they modify operations so that I can come back and revise this review. But as is, this is the most disorganized campus shuttle I’ve encountered at five college campuses now.

I think it’s pretty much impossible to be completely satisfied with public transportation in general (kind of like how everyone hates their cell phone company), but Chapel Hill residents and visitors are really lucky to have such a great transit system in place. I took the bus quite a bit during my four years as a student and had a pretty positive experience with it. The drivers are incredibly friendly and the busses usually run close to on time.
At many of the stops there are screens that estimate each bus’ time of arrival, but I don’t rely too much on them just because I’ve seen them be way wrong before. For people catching the bus on Airport Rd. and riding to campus, it can get very crowded. There should probably be another bus line servicing that area, because by the time the bus is a mile from campus, it’s so full that no one else can possibly get on.
Of course, those flaws must be forgiven simply because Chapel Hill Transit is free. Even for those who don’t use it regularly, it’s a great back-​up plan in case of car trouble. It’s an environmentally friendly and cost effective mode of transportation, and probably one that I should use more often.

Chapel Hill Transit has undergone a series of major upgrades over the last few years, and it really shows. Their network covers an impressive area, centering on the UNC campus, and the lines are numerous enough that chances are at least one of the lines goes right by your house.
Several of the older buses have recently been replaced with new vehicles, including a few double-​long monstrosities along high-​demand routes. A definite plus.
My favorite new feature is their fully-​integrated GPS tracking system. You can check real time locations on any of their buses via the transit system website, and many of the stops have countdown clocks on them to tell you exactly when the next bus is coming. For those of us who had to deal with this bus system before that innovation it’s practically a godsend.
Sometimes the buses do get bogged down and don’t run quite on time, which sucks because it can throw off the scheduling for hours under some circumstances. But then, that’s public transit for you.

A pretty fantastic bus system for UNC and surrounding areas. When I lived in Carrboro, there were two lines that traveled past my apartment, and both of them had fairly frequent stops. For those of my friends living on the other Carrboro line, the bus stops were even more convenient — like every 15 minutes! They definitely tend to get crowded during peak hours (like 5ish, when the hospitals let out and people are headed home); but I rarely had a problem with catching the bus. They did stop operations in inclement weather, and on occasion would be early or late by a few minutes, but mostly I found them to be very reliable. Even the drivers were nice! One of them used to make bus-​stop commentary like an airline pilot.
And I have some really fond memories of the Point-​to-​Point (P2P), which we affectionately called ‘pita’. I often took advantage of its late-​night transport. And one night after P2P operation, suffering from a broken foot gotten on a ping-​pong table at a frat house (yeah, long story), I called the transit line and was provided with after-​hours transportation down to south campus. Pretty awesome services; and best of all — free!

Chapel Hill Transit amazes me because it is always on time, the drivers are friendly, and best of all it is free for anyone. The routes run consistently on time, and there are counters at many of the stations that let you know the estimated arrival time of the next bus (based on GPS data). The weekend schedule slims down a bit, so if you are used to taking a certain bus during the week, make sure that you double check the schedule.

Chapel Hill Transit is probably one of the best bus systems I’ve seen around in other cities I’ve been to at this point. The buses are extremely clean and don’t have weird funky smells and most of the drivers are really friendly and sweet.
They have this one cool bus it looks like a giant caterpillar. Most of the other buses have been upgraded to new buses with the AC crunk all the way up– sometimes it gets a bit cold if I’m on for a bit, but that’s just me, other people might love it.
During the school semester, the transit provides a «Safe Ride» bus that’s available til about 2am or 3am for those folks who might get a little inebriated and need to get home safely. Safe Ride goes through the downtown area and into parts of Carrboro also. This is in addition to the University «P2P» (point to point) bus that loops around the campus community.
Oh, not to mention all the Chapel Hill Transit buses are FREE!– yes GRATIS! for everyone– nice right? This happened a few years ago or so. I guess parents or the University or somebody w/​a brain came up this utterly brilliant idea. Kudos to whoever that was in the big high back chair and their thinking cap on.