Greensboro Approves Transit Funding, East-Side Rezoning; Randleman Road Residents Wait

Greensboro's City Council voted 7-to-2 Tuesday evening to approve a $4.2 million supplemental appropriation for the Greensboro Transit Authority, a move that is expected to restore three weekday bus routes that were suspended in 2024 due to operating shortfalls. The same meeting produced a split 5-to-4 vote approving a mixed-use rezoning on a 14-acre parcel near East Cone Boulevard, a decision that will shape where roughly 300 new residential units are built over the next three years. Both votes draw a clear line between the parts of the city that came away with something concrete Tuesday and the precincts that did not.

The transit allocation matters because GTA ridership data presented to the council shows daily boardings have remained about 18 percent below pre-2020 levels, partly because two of the suspended routes served the Northeast Greensboro and Guilford Hills corridors where car ownership rates are lower than the citywide median. Advocates for low-income residents have been pressing the council since early 2025 to close the funding gap. The supplemental appropriation draws from the city's general fund balance, which finished fiscal year 2025 at approximately $61 million, according to figures the city finance director presented in the budget review last spring.

Who Gets More Service, and When

For riders who depend on GTA, the vote translates to a concrete timeline. Council documents attached to Tuesday's agenda project restored service on Routes 6, 14, and 22 by October 1, the start of the city's new service quarter. Route 6 connects downtown to the Eastside community near East Market Street. Route 14 serves the Randolph Mill area. Route 22 links the Friendly Center corridor to several apartment complexes along Benjamin Parkway. Transit planners told council members the three routes collectively carried about 1,100 daily riders before suspension. Residents who have been using ride-share or walking longer distances to catch other routes since the cuts will see the most direct relief.

The rezoning vote on East Cone Boulevard is more complicated for neighbors. The council approved changing the parcel from light industrial to a planned unit development designation, clearing the way for a developer to build a mix of market-rate apartments and ground-floor commercial space. Supporters on the council cited a city housing study published in March 2026 that identified a deficit of approximately 6,500 units across all income levels in Guilford County, with Greensboro carrying the largest share of that gap. Opponents, who fell one vote short of blocking the measure, raised concerns about stormwater capacity and traffic load on East Cone Boulevard, where a 2023 infrastructure assessment flagged two intersections as operating above recommended capacity during peak hours.

What Was Deferred and What Comes Next

The council postponed two agenda items that some community members had traveled to the meeting to address. A proposed sidewalk improvement plan for the Randleman Road corridor, covering roughly 1.8 miles between Elmsley Drive and Watauga Street, was tabled until the August 4 regular session after council members requested additional cost estimates from the Public Works department. A second deferred item, a resolution directing city staff to apply for a federal RAISE grant for intersection upgrades near South Elm-Eugene Street, was pushed back to allow staff more time to finalize the application paperwork before the U.S. Department of Transportation's August 18 deadline.

For Randleman Road residents, the deferral means at least another month without a council commitment on a stretch of road that lacks continuous sidewalk coverage and where pedestrian injury incidents have been documented in city traffic records. The RAISE grant application, if completed and submitted, would seek federal dollars to offset what staff estimated as a $3.1 million local project cost for intersection reconstruction at three locations. The grant program awards up to $5 million per project and does not require a local match above 20 percent, making it one of the more accessible federal infrastructure vehicles available to mid-size cities.

The council's next regular meeting is scheduled for August 4 at City Hall on Green Street. Staff reports on the Randleman Road sidewalk plan and the RAISE application are expected to be posted to the city's public agenda portal at least five days before that session, giving residents time to review the materials before the meeting opens for public comment.