page_title: GoRaleigh
section_title: Early days
hierarchical_section_title: GoRaleigh / History / Early days
caption_attribution_description: English: Newly delivered Carolina Power &amp; Light City Bus, Raleigh 1941.
context_page_description: GoRaleigh is the transit system responsible for operating most of the public transportation services in Raleigh, North Carolina. The system operates 27 fixed routes throughout the city's municipal area and also operates five regional/express routes in partnership with GoTriangle, the regional provider. GoRaleigh is contracted to operate two additional routes, an express route to the Wake Tech Community College campus south of Raleigh and a local circulator service in the Town of Wake Forest. Capital Area Transit, also known as CAT, was rebranded to GoRaleigh in 2015 under the consolidated GoTransit, a joint branding of municipal and regional transit systems for the Greater Raleigh Metropolitan Region.
context_section_description: Previous to the GoRaleigh system, CP&L (Carolina Power & Light, now known as Progress Energy) provided public transit to the city, starting in 1886 with mule-drawn vehicles and covering routes in 1 square mile (3 km²) of central Raleigh. In 1891, the mule-drawn service came to an end, and the electric streetcar service began.  The streetcars served several routes, covering about 2 square miles (5 km²) of the city.  Due to rapid advances in automotive technology at that time, in 1933 all electric streetcar services ended, replaced by gasoline-powered buses. Ridership remained strong until the 1950s, when the popularity of private vehicles began to reduce transit ridership nationwide.
  1881-1894 - Raleigh Street Railway
  1894-1908 - Raleigh Electric Co.
  1908-1921 - Carolina Power & Light Co.
  1921-1925 - Carolina Power & Light Co. (Electric Bond & Shares Co.)
  1925-1946 - Carolina Power & Light Co. (National Power & Light Co.), operating from 126 N. West Street, Raleigh
  1930s - streetcars discontinued
  1946-1950 - Carolina Power & Light Company (CP&L).
  1950-1958 - White Transportation Co.
  1958-1975 - Raleigh City Coach Lines (City Coach Lines, Inc.)
  1975-2015 - City of Raleigh/Capital Area Transit
  2015–present - City of Raleigh/GoRaleigh
  In the mid- to late 20th century, CP&L ended its operation of transit services in the city, and the current publicly owned Capital Area Transit system was created.  Capital Area Transit formerly rebranded its system to GoRaleigh in 2015.
caption: A newly delivered bus, built by Twin Coach, is inspected in 1941 at the Carolina Power & Light Car Barn and Automotive Garage in downtown Raleigh.  The building, located at 126 N. West Street, is now the home to Clouds Brewing.
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