About The Triangle Transportation Choices Program
Triangle Transportation Choices, a Transportation Demand Management (TDM) program, is a marketing and outreach effort to promote alternative transportation modes within a seven-county region of North Carolina including the Triangle. This seven-county region includes all of Wake and Durham counties and specific areas of five other counties - Orange, Chatham, Franklin, Johnston, and Granville. The exact geographic boundaries for the program can be found in the image below on the left hand side.
There are numerous well documented benefits associated with using the alternative transportation modes that encompass Transportation Demand Management (TDM) strategies. Using transit, carpooling, vanpooling, biking, walking or even telecommuting all utilize existing transportation infrastructure, reduce traffic congestion, and improve air quality. Modes such as biking and walking have also been linked with improvements in an individual’s physical and mental health.
The Triangle Transportation Choices program was established in 2008. Since then, its key goal has been to reduce the annual growth in Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT) by 25%. The program has successfully surpassed this goal every single year. Through the program CPRC also hopes to reduce commuter reliance on single-occupancy vehicles, encourage residents to be healthier, reduce transportation cost and be more sustainable. The program historically has been an annual grant aimed at the municipalities, universities, and colleges in the region.
The Triangle Transportation Choices program collaborates with and receives funding from 3 different organizations. Two of the program’s funders are regional Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs). These are the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) and the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO). The third funder of the program is the North Carolina Department of Transportation- Integrated Mobility Division (NCDOT-IMD). The graphic on right hand side illustrates the funding and administrative structure of the program. A representative from each of these three funding organizations serves as a voting member in the program’s Oversight Committee (OC).
The OC has two additional members in advisory roles. These represent the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) and Central Pines Regional Council (CPRC). The OC provides overall policy direction and guidance to the grant program, reviews all the grant applications, and makes the final decisions regarding grant awards. All five members of the OC can be found in the graphic on the left.
Thanks in part to the guidance of the OC, a pilot equity and inclusion RFP was released for FY23 for the first time in the history of the program. For FY25-26, a two year RFP was released for the first time ever too. This multi-year RFP is expected to alleviate the administrative burden of annual application on the grantees and provide them with higher level of stability and continuity around grant work.
The Triangle Transportation Choices grant will likely open up its next RFP in December of 2024. Please visit the page then for the latest information.
Note: the RFP for FY25-FY26 closed in February of 2024. Awards were announced in mid-May. Grantees will be announced once all contracts are signed. An overview of the different RFPs is being provided here as a resource until the next RFP is released in December of 2024.
The Triangle Transportation Choice grant program requested proposals for three different funding opportunities for a pilot 2-year RFP covering fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25) and fiscal year 2025-26 (FY26). It is the first time ever that the program is offering grants for a two-year period of performance. A brief overview of these three different RFPs (traditional, innovative projects, and equity & inclusion pilot initiative) can be viewed here.
In FY23, the Oversight Committee (OC) created a separate RFP earmarked for community-based organizations and nonprofits who worked with historically marginalized and systemically disadvantaged groups, including low income and communities of color. In both FY23 and FY24, $200,000 was set aside for this separate RFP, called the Equity and Inclusion Pilot Initiative. Recognizing that many grassroot-level organizations have limited staff capacity, CPRC and the OC worked to create a simplified grant process and provide one-on-one coaching to applicants. In the first year, 6 organizations were funded a total of $186,111 and the following year, 4 organizations were funded for a total of $152,342. CPRC’s aim is to have this program continue to grow in the upcoming years.
TDM’s strength as a strategy is reliant on its continuity between the many different local, state and federal stakeholders. The program seeks to seamlessly links NC state policy and funding with local and regional service providers, while drawing from the Metropolitan Transportation Plan (MTP) developed jointly by CAMPO and DCHC MPO for the Triangle region and NCDOTs TDM Strategic Plan to ensure statewide continuity. The program also looks to connect ideas and strategies laid out in the Durham, Wake, and Orange County Transit Plans.
Every year in the fall the Triangle Transportation Choices program releases an Annual Impact Report that showcases the many positive effects the program has on the region and its residents. These impacts range from emission reductions to reductions in congestion to improved physical health. During the spring of 2023, CPRC worked with LDA Consulting resulting in an updated, custom-tailored workbook for calculating the annual impact of the program. The updated workbook builds upon the previously established methodology developed by LDA Consulting and calculates the monetary benefits and, for the first time, societal benefits of the program. Some highlights from fiscal year 2023 include 6 million avoided vehicle trips and $34 million in savings due to societal benefits. With the program only costing $1.66 million in FY23, the return on investment was over 20 times the cost!
For more information about the program, please read our latest Annual Impact Report, Executive Summary, and Full Methodology.
Learn about some of the efforts underway at each one of the Partner programs currently funded by the Triangle Transportation Choices program below.
Arise Collective | Black Girls Do Bike
City of Durham | City of Raleigh | Commute Friendly NC
Duke University | GoTriangle | Oaks and Spokes
NC Central University | NC State University
Southeast Raleigh Promise | Town of Carrboro | Town of Chapel Hill
Meet the team that works on this program!
Shuchi Gupta; Principal Planner | Zachary Lang; Planner II | Jenna Kolling: Senior Program Analyst | Julio Rosado; Planner I |
 |  |  |  |
| Grant Manager | Grant Administrator | Data Analyst for Program | CFNC Program Coordinator |
| sgupta@centralpinesnc.gov | zlang@centralpinesnc.gov | jkolling@centralpinesnc.gov | jrosado@centralpinesnc.gov |
If you think your organization would be a good fit for this program, please reach out to Zachary Lang at zlang@centralpinesnc.gov.