PART Launches Express Route 74 to Connect High Point, Winston-Salem

The Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation launched a pilot bus route on March 16 that fills a gap PART CEO Scott Rhine says has long been missing: direct transit service connecting High Point and Winston-Salem along the I-74 corridor.

Stops on the Express Route 74 Service include the Amtrak station in High Point, Forsyth Hospital, Innovation Quarter, and the Winston-Salem transit terminal, which connects with greater transportation networks such as the Winston-Salem Transit Authority.

PART was awarded federal grant funds from the City of Winston-Salem Transportation Planning Organization in March 2025, and transit leaders are using the $1.8 million in funds to monitor ridership and identify which stops are most beneficial before the route becomes permanent for the next three years.

Rhine framed the new service as an obvious next move for an agency already handling significant daily demand. "Our Route 74, which is a corridor that has not been served, connecting our communities and many of our services at PART, essentially are connecting our cities and our major hubs for education purposes as well medical, as well as jobs," Rhine said.

The congestion argument is central to PART's case for the pilot. "It was really just a natural step to see if there was something that can provide the mobility option," Rhine said. "Some of the best things we can do with congestion is removing single occupancy vehicles and with that its basically giving folks mobility options to get from point to point."

Winston-Salem City Councilmember Scott Andree-Bowen pointed to the medical and employment concentration at Innovation Quarter as a key reason the corridor warrants service. "Healthcare is a major factor in Winston-Salem," Andree-Bowen said. "It's a large employer we're standing at the Innovation Quarter that has a lot of health care and connects to Novant Health, Baptist Hospital here in Winston-Salem, so being able to connect to those jobs in those markets are very key."

Rhine said the work is meant to get ahead of future traffic congestion as area developments continue to grow. PART's broader network already carries more than 900 passenger trips per day across its services, a baseline that will inform how the agency measures Route 74's success during the evaluation period.

The $1.8 million grant gives PART the runway to collect meaningful ridership data before committing to a permanent schedule, with stop-level analysis determining which locations generate the strongest demand. Details on fares, frequency, and hours of operation are available through PART's website.