Interesting post from Sandy Carmany:

The full board approved the committee’s request that PART conduct a Bus Efficiency Study to explore the financial implications of potentially merging Greensboro GTA, High Point Hi-Tran, Winston-Salem WSTA and PART into one region-wide bus system. There are possible operational savings as well as the ability to access additional state and federal funding for a larger, merged system. (And it could be even larger - the town of Elon is considering offering bus service to take advantage of federal transit dollars is currently losing due to the lack of a transit system in Alamance County.) Area transportation officials and members of the authorities operating the current separate systems will be called together to investigate the pros and cons of such a move.

An small Elon public transit system would work due to the large number of students and faculty/staff commuting to campus each day. But would the university want this to happen? One of the significant benefits now of living in campus-owned apartments rather than privately-held ones is that the university shuttle stops at campus-owned apartments and not others. A Town of Elon public transit system would eliminate this advantage. Would the two bus systems (town and gown) remain separate or have merged operations? If the regional carriers merge, would Elon/Burlington residents be eager to take a bus to Greensboro/High Point/Winston instead of driving?