WILMINGTON — The Cape Fear Public Transit Authority (WAVE) announced this week it will reduce service hours next year due to budget shortfalls; as of now, WAVE has no plans to cancel any routes.
Facing a budget shortfall of over $700,000 and following New Hanover County’s decision to cut funding, WAVE has now announced it will reduce service hours to avoid cutting routes.
The new hours will take place on Monday, January 6, 2020.
Changes include a one-hour reduction from Monday to Friday when service will end at 8 p.m. instead of 9 p.m. Saturday will see six hours of service cut; service will operate from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. instead of 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. No service changes are planned on Sunday.
WAVE is also implementing ‘budget-neutral’ route modifications based both on WAVE’s five-year Short Range Transit Plan and the opening of the new multimodal downtown transfer station, which is slated to begin operation on January 18, 2020.
According to WAVE, “changes to routes 202, 203, and 204 are a result of the relocation of the current downtown transfer point to the new Downtown Transfer Station at 520 North 3rd St. Changes to routes 101, 104, 108, 201, 205, 207, and 209 are the result of recommendations to improve system efficiency from Wave’s 5 year, Short Range Transit Plan.”
Additional information on route modifications and WAVE’s revised Downtown Transfer Station can be found on online.
