Editor's note: Click here to see more photos of the new Wave Transit operations center.

Ten years in the making, Wave Transit’s new $13.5 million operations center on Castle Hayne Road is expected to be filled with employees and buses in about eight weeks.

Right now, some of the operations for the public transportation agency, which is overseen by the Cape Fear Public Transportation Authority, are split among two facilities – one on Castle Street and one on Division Drive.

“It will make a big difference to have everything in one location,” said Albert Eby, executive director of the transit authority, as he conducted a tour Monday of the new facility at 1480 Castle Hayne Road.

The operations center, paid for with state funds, federal grants and a 2 to 3 percent local contribution, will be used by 100 of Wave’s 130 employees, mostly drivers, Eby said. The 36,000-square-foot building on nearly 13 acres has also been equipped to provide parking, maintenance and fueling for the agency’s 75-bus fleet.

Eby said the planning process for the new center began about 10 years ago. The authority bought one of the three parcels for the operations center site from the N.C. Department of Transportation in 2008 and two adjacent parcels in 2013.

When the agency moves into the center, Wave’s fixed route division, currently at 1110 Castle St., and its paratransit (transportation for the disabled) division, at 190 Division Drive, will be under one roof.

A row of compressed natural gas fueling stations behind the center is an indication of Wave’s plans to rely less on diesel fuel, a more costly option currently. Eby said the agency expects two new buses that run on CNG to be delivered by this summer and four more to be ordered this month and be delivered by the end of this year. The new buses cost about $453,000 each, he said.  

In addition to room for Wave’s vehicles, employee parking and a variety of offices, the center contains kitchens, break rooms and a small wellness center with some gym equipment for employees, as well as a second-floor conference room large enough to host N.C. Department of Transportation regional training sessions.

Among the center’s features aimed at energy-efficiency is equipment that will allow Wave to reuse 90 percent of the water needed to wash buses and other vehicles.

“We don’t want to use any more water than we have to so we’re going to recycle as much as possible,” Eby said.

Transit officials expect the need for Wave’s services to grow. The authority added a route to Pleasure Island in July, and the Carolina Beach Town Council voted in August to provide financial support to ensure the continuation of the route, according to Wave Transit’s 2014 annual report.

Wave Transit’s fares are $1 to $2 for many riders but vary.     

Another Wave Transit building opened in 2011. Forden Station at 505 Cando St. in Wilmington serves as a transfer station and houses administrative offices. Services that travel from the 9,000-square-foot Forden Station to other cities include Greyhound, Amtrak Thruway and Horizon Coach Lines, which launched a route to Charlotte in July with stops in Whiteville, Lumberton, Fayetteville, Rockingham, Wadesboro and Monroe.