Durham bus tickets to fair are a steal

Durham, N.C. — The State Fair opens Thursday and with high gas prices, a lot of people may choose to ride the bus this year to the midway.

"We definitely are always looking forward to it,” Shavetta Hart said of going to the fair.

Hart planned to drive her car to the fair, but says she is concerned about rising fuel costs.

For fair-goers worried about gas prices, the Durham Area Transit Authority, or DATA, has a solution. A 40-mile round-trip bus ticket from downtown Durham to the Raleigh fairgrounds cost just $2.

“We allow 45 minutes to get there with traffic, without traffic it's a lot less,” said Ieshia Robertson, public affairs specialist for DATA.

With gas prices high, DATA expects to far exceed the 5,000 people who rode to the fair by bus last year.

"I'm expecting between 6,000 and 10,000 people may take advantage of the fair shuttle this year,” Robertson said.

Plus, there is another reason for interest in the taking the bus. The fair lost about 550 parking spaces this year due to construction.

There are also big events, like an North Carolina State University football game on Thursday night, that could jam the area.

"We actually pull off the side of Hillsborough Road and you are literally about 5 feet away from the (fair) gate when you get off the bus,” Robertson said.

That was enough to make Hart say this could be the first year she takes the bus to the fair.

"That's probably what we are going to do now that I know about it,” Hart said.

DATA has been running the state fair shuttle for over 11 years. All major transportation services across the Triangle are offering bus service to the fair.