Orange County Public Transportation is launching a Mobility On Demand program on Friday. The program will provide rides to Hillsborough residents throughout the town and to Eubanks Park-and-Ride in Chapel Hill. Operating similarly to ride share apps Lyft and Uber, users will be able to request same-day rides throughout Hillsborough using the app TransLoc.
The service will operate Fridays from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturdays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and cost just $5 dollars per trip. Although the system sounds similar to Uber and Lyft – Mobility On Demand drivers are employees of Orange County and will be driving a county vehicle – not their own. These vehicles are also ADA accessible which Hillsborough Mayor Jenn Weaver said will be valuable for people of all abilities to be able to access them.
“We don’t do transportation here in the town of Hillsborough, in our town government, so we lean on the county for that and I’m very excited for this program,” Weaver said.
Unlike other residents in Orange County, some Hillsborough residents have had few options for public transportation. Chapel Hill Transit and GoTriangle are available for Orange County residents but for those in northern Hillsborough – an area more rural – these options just aren’t as accessible.
Although Hillsborough residents can access Orange County transportation services many of them are not always the quickest option. The Hillsborough Circulator bus service has a one loop path which can lengthen commute times to 30 – 40 minutes depending on direction.
Weaver said the transportation system can be frustrating outside of work hours. Orange County Mobility On Demand hopes to change that.
“The 420 route that goes between Chapel Hill and Hillsborough does not run after I think about 6:30 on weekdays and it does not run on the weekends at all,” Weaver said. “So it just opens up the possibilities and adds another mobility option for people who do not have vehicles of their own.”
Orange County Commissioner Renee Price said accessibility to all community members is what she hopes comes out of the program as transportation services continue to broaden.
“We can figure out a way to try to bring people together more park and ride lots, maybe carpool, vanpool,” Price said. “These odds and ends services, the commercial ones that have been going for a while, they have become very popular and that’s what people like. We’ll see, we’ll experiment, we’ll look at where people are going and coming and what they want to do and points of interest and see how we can work it together.”
The initial Orange County Mobility program will run through mid-August. If the program is successful the service could expand and become a permanent part of Orange County Public Transportation.
Photo via Town of Hillsborough
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