"I think a light rail would be suitable for Raleigh if it ran along existing roads. It should be flexible and appeal to people who work all kinds of shifts."

EDWARD LOCKEHART, 46, of Raleigh owns a car but rides a Capital Area Transit bus to his downtown job.

"A lot of people can't come into Raleigh because they don't have any way to get there. Raleigh has what it needs. Those outer areas don't have anything."

JOAN MAUNU, 45, a Wake County School bus driver who lives in Nash County, says the Triangle must develop transit options

for workers who live on the region's outskirts.

"We can't predict that it's immediately going to help congestion. But in the distant future, congestion will probably be so bad that you'll want to leave your car and ride the rail. For that reason, we need to acquire right-of-way even if we don't build it now."

NED KENNINGTON, 59, of Durham, semi-retired, said the Triangle won't have enough population density to support commuter trains for at least 30 years.

"More roads and some more lanes, that would be good. ... I don't know if too many people would take the train."

STEPHANIE McDADE, 44, a state government worker who lives in Raleigh, says the Triangle would be better off spending money to expand its highways.

"The light rail sort of seemed to me like a good solution. The one thing that really concerns me is what we charge per ride. ... We've got to come up with some kind of mass transit. ... I just don't think we can continue to build more roads."

PAUL B. WHITE, 82, a Cary retiree, says the growing region will need more than automobiles alone.

"Given the lifestyles of people these days, I don't think people are going to be inclined to give up their individual mobility. And for women, I think it's not likely that rail transit is going to work for them. . ... They've got too many things to do -- where they're making many stops on the way to work and on the way home and trying to fit too much into their schedule -- so rail would not likely work for them. ... I don't think we have the densities in this area to make it work."

CATHERINE A. HEATH, 53, of West Raleigh, a landscape designer, says trains probably won't work. But the Triangle should study alternatives.

"Rail's great. I've seen it work in Europe. Buses would be good, too, if they actually ran where people would ride them. ... They need to go to the airport if they're going to do [rail transit]. We just need to make sure it's designed so people are going to use it. I had no sense that this [proposed TTA] rail system was going to be anything people would use, going where people need to go to work or go to school."

JIM KELLOCK, 59, of Raleigh, an IBM manager, said rail transit can work.

"I'd like to see those dollars used in other areas that really need them. It looks like we're going to have a school bond defeated. We need to build schools.

We could use those dollars that were going to be diverted to a light rail system."

RON MARGIOTTA, 68, of Apex, a Wake County school board member, says express bus lanes have worked well in other cities and should be considered in the Triangle. Trains are too expensive, he said.

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