EASTERN WAKE COUNTY — Two separate bus routes to Raleigh from eastern Wake County are tentatively scheduled to start in September, a transportation official said.

Transit Service Planner Erik Landfried said the portions of money from Knightdale, Wendell and Zebulon needed for the towns to commit to the transit service are included in their 2010 budgets.

The towns of Knightdale and Zebulon approved budgets Wednesday with Knightdale obligating $24,000 and Zebulon, $20,000, for the bus routes. Wendell was scheduled to vote on its budget June 22. Its Triangle Transit expenditure slated is $20,000. Landfried said the Triangle Transit’s operation and finance subcommittee will vote on the proposal July 2. If approved, a recommendation for the service will go to the board of trustees who will vote on the matter July 22. The bus routes proposed include a Knightdale line and a Wendell-Zebulon route.

The service was divided into two routes because a single line would take too long to compete with an automobile, Landfried said. The routes proposed are for a bus to pick up passengers at Knightdale’s Rex Healthcare facility and have three round trips from 6 to 9 a.m. and three round trips from 4 to 7 p.m. to Raleigh and back.

The Knightdale route will make stops at WakeMed, the state government complex in downtown Raleigh and Moore Square station, the hub of Raleigh’s Capital Area Transit.

The Zebulon-Wendell-Raleigh Express will have three round trips from 6 to 9 a.m. and three round trips from 4 to 7 p.m. Park and Ride lots are slated to be at Five-County Stadium, the old Winn Dixie in Zebulon and Fourth Avenue in downtown Wendell. The route will stop at WakeMed, the state government complex and Moore Square station.

“The likelihood (of approval) is good,” said Landfried. “This is something that has been discussed at Triangle Transit for over a year now. And we’ve been discussing with the towns for eight months.”

Landfried said after the approval, the public transportation organization will start marketing the services, creating brochures and begin other advertising efforts.

Landfried said the public has helped shape the routes through surveys and public meetings.

The surveys were available on the towns’ web sites and at the towns’ Town Halls and the Eastern Regional Center. Public input ended recently.