WAKE FOREST - Last week Monique Wertis spent $80 for gas to drive her SUV from home in Wake Forest to downtown Raleigh, where she works for the state Department of Public Instruction.

This week she started riding the bus.

"It's solely because of gas prices," Wertis said Monday morning, the first day of operation for Capital Area Transit's new rush-hour express bus between Wake Forest and Raleigh.

Sitting across the aisle was Trudy McBride, a 22-year veteran of the daily drive down Capital Boulevard.

"I'm excited about this bus," said McBride. "I've been paying $60 a month for parking and $50 a week for gas, so I'm really looking forward to the savings."

The new express service carried eight to 10 riders on each of its three hourly departures Monday morning from an unpaved park-and-ride lot on South White Street in Wake Forest.

With regular gas selling Monday for a record $4.05 per gallon in the Triangle, the express bus is a bargain. It's free for the first two weeks, then riders will pay $2.50 one way for the 20-mile trip between downtown Wake Forest and downtown Raleigh.

Local transit planners think more commuters from northern Wake, Franklin and Vance counties will start leaving their cars at the park-and-ride lot in Wake Forest.

Triangle Transit partnered with CAT to start the express service, which includes a midway stop at Triangle Town Center. Between the morning and afternoon rush hours, the bus runs only from Wake Forest to the mall in North Raleigh.

Also Monday, Triangle Transit began running a new Wake Forest-Wakefield circulator bus on a 12-mile, one-hour loop. The local ride is free until January, when riders will start paying $1.

Each passenger on the 6:55 a.m. express cited gas prices as the first reason for boarding the bus.

"You've got to save where you can," said Scott Poole of Wake Forest, who heads the N.C. Rural Electrification Authority, a state agency.

State government and Raleigh city workers ride CAT and Triangle Transit buses for free. Several government and university employers make lump payments to buy regional transit passes for students and employees.