Cape Fear Public Transportation Authority
The Cape Fear Public Transportation Authority, operating as Wave Transit, is the public transportation operator for the metro area of Wilmington, North Carolina. Sixteen regular routes are provided, with all but one running seven days per week. A downtown shuttle also runs using replica trolleys. History. Created in 1974, the Wilmington Transit Authority (WTA) was implemented to provide public transportation to the citizens of the Wilmington area. In December 2002, the WTA adopted the name Wave, as well as a new logo and color scheme for the Authority. Rapid sprawl and rising traffic congestion throughout  the region led the City of Wilmington and New Hanover County to enter into an historic agreement in June 2003. The city and county merged the WTA and New Hanover Transportation Services to form the Wilmington/New Hanover Transportation Agency (WNHTA). This agreement merged the respective organizations for one year, in order to provide oversight of both agencies under one public transportation authority. In July of 2004 the WNHTA, the WTA and NHTS were dissolved and a new transportation authority was created. The merged entity officially became the Cape Fear Public Transportation Authority, but retained the branded name of Wave  Transit. In an effort to better serve the community, in 2011, Wave Transit restructured all fixed routes in the region. The new routes were based on a modern transfer facility, Forden Station, which is centrally located within the service area. Expanded service required additional infrastructure, and a 36,000 square foot Wave Transit Operations Center was built to house a maintenance shop, bus garage, fueling station, and serve as the epicenter of service operation. The Operations Center opened in June 2015. The most recent improvement, a downtown multimodal transportation center, Padgett Station, replaced an open air transfer point on 2nd St  in January 2020. Route list. Fixed Route: Seahawk Shuttle: 704 Yellow Route - every 20 minutes 711 Grey Route - every 20 minutes 707 Red Express Route - every 20 minutes Port City Trolley: Route 203 - every 40 minutes RideMICRO: Brunswick-Downtown Connector - on-demand Pender - New Hanover Connector - on-demand Southern New Hanover County - (coming soon) Northern New Hanover County - (coming soon) Stations. Forden Station 505 Cando St. Wilmington, NC 28405 Padgett Station 520 North 3rd St. Wilmington, NC 28401