The federal grant that made the loop bus service a bargain for the Town of Wake Forest will end in June, and during Tuesday night’s work session the commissioners, particularly Frank Drake, tried to determine just how well the bus route is serving town residents.
            The total cost for the loop which runs through Wakefield part of the way may be around $250,000, but David Eatmon, the transit administrator for Raleigh CAT service, was a bit vague about that. He did say Raleigh would pay a quarter of the cost because of the Wakefield service.
            Engineering Director Eric Keravuori had included $225,000 every year for the next five years in his capital projects requests. “The original contracted amount was $144,000,” he wrote as explanation. “Adding the $79,000 from the JARC grant, the town’s responsibility is now $225,000 a year.”
            “I’m in favor of the bus service,” Drake said as he probed, looking for ridership information and trends as well as comparisons with bus service in comparable towns. Eatmon said he also had to take into account the maturity of the system.
            Eatmon did say Wake Forest’s loop bus that runs hourly for free is “equal to or better than Cary’s service. You are already meeting Cary’s level of service.”
            Eatmon also stressed that Raleigh’s CAT system is very pleased with the Wake Forest component in its system. “We feel very good about the type of service we have created.” Also, “The smaller elements [in the larger system] are very, very important” and will grow more important as light rail and other elements are added. Eatmon did not add but it is apparent the new Zebulon-Wendell-Knightdale express bus service was partly begun because of the success of Wake Forest’s.
            Eatmon said it could be possible to cut the cost by using an independent contractor for the local bus service. “If we geared it more toward a community transportation format, we could have some substantial savings.” But, he said, CAT would prefer to continue to use the CAT system because Wake Forest’s buses would be counted in the context of an urban area service, adding to the amount of capital funding the system receives from the federal government each year.
            The commissioners decided to hold a hold another work session this month on Thursday, March 18, at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the proposed Capital Improvement Plan (copies available at town hall) and the bus service.
Irrigation, survey and internet café
            Also during the hour-and-a-half work session Tuesday, the commissioner heard the results of last fall’s resident survey done by Steve Strauss and his group, heard about internet cafes which may come to town and informally considered lifting the ban on inground home irrigation systems.
            Planning Director Chip Russell said his office has had “lots of inquiries” about internet cafes. The potential owners have been told there is one zoning district where they would be allowed with a special use permit. “We don’t define this in our codes,” Russell said. He described the cafes as “internet game establishments” where people buy time on computers and play games that include gambling.
            “And that’s not illegal?” Drake asked with a grin.
            “You’re buying internet time,” Russell said.
            He also said, “If we do elect to allow them, we need to have some standards.”
            For the second time, Commissioner Peter Thibodeau tried to persuade his fellow commissioners to end the ban on automatic irrigation systems. This time he referred to the recent studies showing $15-16 million worth of work needed on the town’s sewer system and said the water used for irrigating would help pay off that debt.
            No, not really, was the response from Deputy Town Manager Roe O’Donnell, who said Raleigh has raised its water rates several times until “they have actually caught up to us on the retail side.” Since the merger debt is paid off by the difference between Raleigh’s and Wake Forest’s water and sewer rates, there would be no benefit for the town from a return to irrigation.
            “I still think it’s an intrusion, telling people they can’t water their yards,” Thibodeau said.
            Drake asked if he would be willing to raise the water and/or sewer availability rates with no answer. Also, Drake said, people can install irrigation systems, they just cannot attach them to the town’s water system. He cited the well he had drilled. “It was worth it to me.”
            No one aside from Thibodeau appeared interested in changing the town’s policy.