RALEIGH, N.C. -- The next step in the 10-year Wake Transit Plan to expand mass transit is taking shape, and bus riders will likely benefit in 2018.

GoTriangle is proposing adding a new Wake Transit route serving Southeast Raleigh along Martin Luther King Boulevard and Poole Road and a new line going past the NC Museum of Art, PNC Arena and the State Fairgrounds. The routes would begin service this summer.

Additionally, the agencies are proposing giving Wake County teens under 18 year old a free bus pass this summer so they can get acquainted with the mass transit system and explore the area.

"When students have access to transit, it doesn't just get them where they need to go," says Mike Charbonneau of GoTriangle. "It gives them life lessons, it gives them access, it gives them freedom."

The proposals and the Wake Transit Plan as a whole were funded by Wake County voters in 2016. The 10-year plans aims to eventually add a commuter rail line serving the county.

GoTriangle is taking public comment on this year's proposals through March.