CHAPEL HILL – Starting Thursday, drivers who use town-owned park-and-ride lots in Chapel Hill will be required to pay to park before you board buses at the  Carrboro Plaza, Eubanks Road, Southern Village and Jones Ferry lots.

Drivers will have the option to pay $2 per day, $21 per month, or $250 per year.  Permits purchased can be used at any of the four lots.

Chapel Hill Transit Director, Brian Litchfield, says the fees are being implemented to generate revenue to cover operating costs for the transit system.

“Council approved the fees earlier this year, in coordination with UNC implementing fees at their lots, as an attempt to generate revenue for the transit system,” says Litchfield.

According to a Chapel Hill News report, UNC will also operate its own permitting system for employees and students using six university-owned park-and-ride lots.  Permits purchased for any of the four town-owned lots will be honored at the UNC lots as well, which include the Friday Center and Franklin Street.

Litchfield says Chapel Hill Transit has reached an agreement with Triangle Transit to waive fees for those riding the CRX bus at the Eubanks park-and-ride lot.

“Customers that have either a go-pass or a value pass of some nature are able to receive a park-and-ride pass through Triangle Transit.  Triangle Transit customers that are parking there simply need to contact Triangle Transit’s customer service staff, and they’d be able to help them out with that,” says Litchfield.

To make sure the changes in fees are as widely known as possible, Chapel Hill Transit has updated its website, created brochures, and spent more than $100 thousand dollars to install signs and pay stations, hire part-time employees, and repaint the park-and-ride lots.

Click here for more information about all town and UNC park-and-ride lots or to purchase your own permit.