Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line

[Andyc545]

The 3rd St Station had a system down yesterday, and people were having to run to the other side to grab a ticket while the train was coming. Not safe for people in a rush running in front of cars and this is because of ticket machines. I really think they need to add more, and make them more visible. The first time I rode at E/W Blvd I had trouble finding the one on the S. Blvd side because its back blended in (stainless steel) with the power sources and other machines at the station. I saw a lot of people at other stations also fumbling where there were machines or "other machines" since a lot were down, and that forced a lot of people to feel rushed and saw some miss their trains. Also if there is more visibility with signs that just hung down or arrows pointing out where ticket machines are, I think it will give more people the impression that they NEED to buy a ticket and also help them feel less rushed. This issue definitly needs to be addressed ASAP, else it will cause agrivation and ultimately have people that are questioning to ride the line, not ride it. I know it was a big point for CATs to have this line "reliable" so that commuters could get to work on time and have the busses timed appropriately, so these ticket machines are the one big obstacle.

Anyone also notice how the machine only accepts one coin at a time. It takes a lot of time to put change in these which was ultimately the problem for someone in front of me when I missed my one train. Know it would be costly, but CATs should rethink these machines or do something with them. Also- love the idea of the reusable cards, think I mentinoed this idea before. I would get a lot of use out of it, also, since I wouldn't benefit from a monthly commute, but plan to ride 2-3 times a week rigth now for misc stuff.

[fulcrumsf]

I agree with all the complaints about the ticket thing. I had an out of order machine at the 7th Street Station yesterday and missed the first train, because I had to walk to the other one. I agree to that the machines are to complex for what they currently do, but hopefully that means they are upgradeable. I sure hope the city can either get these replaced or get a new system from the vendors, as you would think they come with some kind of guarantee.

As for ticket machines that do not work at some stations period, well I would recommend taking a picture with your camera phone as proof. All the transit ticket checking officers seem friendly, and I'm sure they are aware of the ticket problems as it has been reported on the news. I'm sure they will let something like this slide if you show them a picture of an out of order machine on your camera phone.

[monsoon]

Anybody noticed that this week's Rhino has absolutely no mention of the LRT in it? Funny how probably the biggest critic has seemingly been silenced. I'm sure they're just waiting for something to pounce on.

They are out there. This is an example.

[uptownliving]

All of these reviews, complaints, suggestions, and compliments on the Blue Line are great. I hope everyone that has something to say would also take the time to let CATS know directly. They have a Customer Service Comment Form on their website. My experience has been that if you tell CATS directly about the problems you have encountered then it is much more likely to be corrected.

http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/CATS/Forms/home.htm

[staffer]

I'd also like to see signs on the fences in the middle of the tracks indicating what direction the train is going. I've seen several groups of people that were disoriented as to which side of the tracks they should be on. For most of us this is not a problem, but for out of town visitors, it's easy for them to lose their sense of direction when trying to figure out which platform to stand on. A small sign on the fence next to the tracks indicating " <-----To 7th st/uptown" or "To 485 ----->". This is a necessity in subways when you have no idea which direction your facing after the walk down to the stairwells, but it could certainly help here too.

Of course, in 2013 when the NE Line is scheduled to open, an I-485 station will be in BOTH directions!

[Neo]

They are out there. This is an example.

Unfortunately it doesn't take but the first sentence to know they're twisting it into a false sense of reality. The fist sentence is:

"Let's be clear, the opening day ridership of the South Blvd. line was about half the projected 9100 riders a day. Does not mean it will stay there. Does not mean it will not."

The line didn't have a ridership of about half, it had a ridership of about 3/4, not taking into affect a cold ,dreary and rainy day but that's beside the point. The ridership of the second day was about 90% of the projected ridership for the first year and to me that is pretty telling. Of course naysayers are going to pull from the lowest number available to shoot their subject in the foot with.

I'm not sure why they decided to link to unofficial estimated stats published in the Charlotte Observer to try to win over their audience. Of all people you would think they would want to pull numbers from a credible source to prove their point but instead they've done just the opposite and IMO have given a write-up worthy of the Whino Times.

I'm not sure why both sides just can't stick to real numbers and be honest with one another, why is it that we must go to great effort to prove a false reality with unofficial and estimated numbers instead of real factual data?

**EDIT**

I want to add something to the following quote on the Meck Deck site:

"Parking will be free at CATS lots so long as the South line continues to miss ridership targets."

I'm not sure what they mean by this but jabs like this (from either side) are really unnecessary and make the appearance that you're simply out there to prove your point and not better anyone's lives or perceptions.

[Andyc545]

I read that article and am leaving it in the dust; had to stop reading the posted comments by readers half way. It's amazing the propaganda and the twist on words that people can have to alter other minds. Some people make me sick!

[RiverwoodCLT]

NEO not everybody looks into the future and see what may happen to our transportation system. The dropping of the world's supply of oil and rising price of gasoline does not faze these people. You can read the news and hear of the reports on how China and India are beginning to use more oil and may surpass the USA usage in a few years By the time gasoline get to 6 or 7 dollars, all the great roads they want will have few people on them because they can't afford gas or can't get it.

I do not think anyone says that LRT is the only answer but part of a solution. Until we get another type of energy to move us around, we better plan our transportation needs now and not try to solve when they happen.

I feel the South Blue line will surpass CATS estimates. When all the people who can ride the rail paid parking is up, they will park free and ride the rail uptown to save money. It will take CATS a short time to get all the bugs out and when we look back in a few years and say I don

[nowensone]

Yeah, I debated registering an account to go on the attack but anyone who is willing to argue unethically is not likely to be swayed from their point of view. Especially if they have an agenda. Like mentioning transit is stepping on our freedoms. Huh?

[jednc]

I guess reports like the one I'm going to post are getting a little old...but I can't resist.

My mom came to town today and I wanted to show her the train. We boarded at CTC (by the way, they were working on the TVM while we were there) to ride down to I-485. We got on around 1:45 and the train was packed. I mean, all seats filled and enough people standing that you had to stay in your own little space. That's not bad for non-rush hour and after lunch. I do think the fact that it's Friday had some effect (ie: people leaving work a little early). When we rode back, the train left Pineville maybe 1/4 full. I'd say by the time we got to the second stop, all but a few seats were taken. That's how the train stayed with many people standing as well. Since we were inbound, these numbers probably weren't too effected by the fact it was Friday. A lot of people got off at CTC and appeared to be walking toward the bus terminal.

I was really happy to see so many riders. One woman (with children in tow) said to her friend how crowded the trains were and how she hoped they would increase service soon (she wasn't more specific, but clearly it was a positive comment about LYNX and the South Line). I told her the crowded conditions were a great problem to have and she and her friend agreed.

I just wanted to share another really positive experience on the train.

[Andyc545]

Yeah- Sharon Rd. Station picked up a half train worth of riders when I rode yesterday, also, during a reverse non-commute ride from 485 at about 2:30pm. Good to see this first work week has been successful. See what the weekend brings us for a somewhat different group of people.

[MZT]

I've always been bullish on ridership, because I could see every day how full the busses were on #12 (S Blvd) and #24 (S Tryon). That plus the new crosstown busses made it a cinch in my mind that the ridership would bear itself out.

It is taking some time for the park'n'rides to fill up, but I am sure that will change.

Edited December 1, 2007 by MZT

[Andyc545]

I've always been bullish on ridership, because I could see every day how full the busses were on #12 (S Blvd) and #24 (S Tryon). That plus the new crosstown busses made it a cinch in my mind that the ridership would bear itself out.

It is taking some time for the park'n'rides to fill up, but I am sure that will change.

Wait until all of the projects along the line are complete, then we will see some ridership numbers. A lot of people are paying the premium to live near the line so you can only assume that they will strongly use it...

[Mobuchu]

Anyone know where to get the ridership #'s for the Blue line? The trains looked very packed on Wed and Thurs even during off peak hours. I also wonder if some bought weekly passes for the first week only to find out riding the train is just not for them, and will go back to their cars come monday.

I hope CATS will make up some kind of graph for the ridership #'s. I'm just very curious to see how it plays out day to day. Warm/Cold, rain/sunny, events/no events, holidays, weekends, etc, etc....

[carolina_fan]

With the trains packed in the first week, is it too early for CATS to start considering/planning expansion of this line. I know they could run more trains more often, but what would it take to expand each station platform to allow 3 or 4 train cars? Would CATS seek to get federal funding to do this? Would it be added to the request for funding of the NE LRT line or remain separate?

[davidclt]

A few notes on my multiple trips yesterday.

First, the stations are still very much a work in progress. Currently they're covering the concrete supports in tiles. I'm still torn about to designs they chose but it think it beats the unfinished concrete. The TVMs seem to confuse some people; a mom with two kids seemed to be struggling with how to get them to work yesterday. I will say having a single machine on most platforms while a cost saving maneuver was probably short-sighted. I hope that shortcoming is corrected quickly. And boy howdy if the macines aren't as slow as molasses on a cold morning! Like others on this thread, I sincerely hope that a software update can correct some of the performance and stability issues.

On six trips yesterday, my ticket was checked on three of six trips and would have been checked on a fourth had the Fare Checker not recognized me from an earlier trip (so effectively batting a 66% check rate). The are checkers seem very friendly and good-natured.

On all of my trips the train was standing-room only within three stops of me getting on - with both single and double trains. Traffic seems fairly steady in both directions. Frequency at mid-day was acceptable - they do need to work on the status notification boards though. Once the weather warms up, I think LYNX is going to have a bike "problem" and they're going to need to accommodate more bikes on the trains because four spaces per train isn't going to be enough. Even yesterday morning there were hearty bike riding souls on the train. Interestingly at the Arrowood station, they have bike lockers in addition to the bike rack loops. Every station needs these I think.

The new decorative inserts at the Woodlawn station were already vandalized with lavender graffiti, much to my chagrin. It is bothersome that there are some people that are so unaware or selfish as to sully public spaces with their offensive marks. I hope CATS stays on top of this.

The drivers of the trains seem to be very aware of the status of the buses with which they're connecting and seemed ready to hold a train for connecting bus passengers. This is a good thing. While my commute did take slightly longer on the train, I could read, listen to music or the radio and have a fine time people watching. I'll do it again but probably not every day.

Edited December 1, 2007 by davidclt

[monsoon]

With the trains packed in the first week, is it too early for CATS to start considering/planning expansion of this line.

Yes it is too early. Remember the objective for this train is to reach 18,000+ daily ridership. They are a long ways away from that. When they hit those numbers it might be time to consider capacity expansions

I know they could run more trains more often, but what would it take to expand each station platform to allow 3 or 4 train cars?

The original design was for 3. The platforms were cut back when they overran the budget the first time by about $30M. They all have to be expanded simultaneously because the system is not designed for express service where stations could be skipped. My guess is it would be $35M-$50M to do this now.

Would CATS seek to get federal funding to do this?

They could. It's unlikely they would get any money from this avenue however

Would it be added to the request for funding of the NE LRT line or remain separate?

The answer to this is complicated. But basically when they apply for funding to build the NE line, the Feds are going to apply a simple formula based on how much it costs to build vs ridership. There is a threshold that if crossed, the feds will turn down funding. This figure is calculated based on the total cost of the line, not where the funding is coming from, so if they add the platforms for the South line, then all of a sudden you really hurt the chances the NE line would get funding. Another point to chew on. After the South LRT was approved, the feds tightened up the requirements for funding and as it stands now, the existing South LRT would not get funding because it fails to meet these requirements. Charlotte was lucky to have gotten approval before the rules were changed. Raleigh was not so lucky and their project was canceled.

My guess is that if these platforms are ever expanded in the near term, the money is going to have to come from the City of Charlotte general fund. The county may or may not chip in to help. They could also ask if the transit tax could be used for this purpose, but they would basically have to get the 6 towns to agree to it also and they may not be so willing to do this as they all want the tax for projects in their parts of the county.

[tozmervo]

I have been enjoying this thread very much and would like to add something that hasn't really been addressed yet -

This morning I decided to check out the rest of the line (I commute between New Bern and Carson, a relatively small chunk of it). I thought I was being smart by avoiding the inevitable traffic for the Panthers game tomorrow, Sunday. Unfortunately, I was ignorant of the huge Duke-Davidson basketball game in Uptown. I took the line to 485 without issue, then walked over to the Target (which was easier than I was expecting). By the time I got back to the station, the lines had quadrupled in size with fans headed to the arena. I was definetly not expecting to leave 485 with an already packed train, but we did.

Ok, so that's all fine and well. But what was disturbing was the apparent lack of special event trains. As far as I could tell, they were still only running every 20 minutes, despite the crush of patrons. CATS should have had "special" trains running to handle the load. There were many folks at the other stations that couldn't board. Many with strollers, and at least one wheelchair bound person. Fortunately, most people seemed pretty forgiving - but I very much hope CATS makes changes for tomorrow's Panthers game and future big Uptown events.

[monsoon]

I had a chance to ride the train today. We boarded at the Tyvola station and rode it to downtown had some lunch in downtown and rode it back. This was around noon or so.

I certainly agree that it gives one a completely different experience in traveling through Charlotte. The trip into town, especially from East/West Station inwards does feel very urban. We have not talked much about it, but I was very impressed by the Tyvola station. It is particularly well done and reminds me of platforms in very large cities. I like this station as much as I dislike what they did at Scaleybark. My other very favorite station is of course the one at the CTC.

The trains are clean, quiet and surprisingly very crowded on this Saturday afternoon. They are all standing room only and this was with the double carriage configuration. In fact when we boarded at the Tyvola station it was a tight fit. The riders seemed to fall into two categories. Those who were headed into town for more transit connections, and then people who were riding it for the new experience. This was confirmed when about 1/2 of the people got off at the CTC station. The rest rode it to the final stop at 7th street. However this doesn't described all the riders as there were some mountain bikers on the way out. I did notice they were not using the push the button to open the door feature. Looks as if they decided to just have all the doors open at each stop.

Like mentioned above the big Achilles' heel of the line does seem to be the ticketing machines. At the Tyvola station one of the two machines there was out of service and the people were struggling to figure out exactly what to do when purchasing tickets. I spoke to several people about the line while we were waiting and they all commented on how slow these machines are. One couple told me that in Pineville they just waved everyone onto the trains because of TVM problems, and I saw others miss the train because it took too long to use them. I ran into a contractor who was servicing one of the machines and he said that of the 5 machines they work on, this French designed machine was probably the slowest. He amusingly told me they were running Windows XP though he also added they were fairly reliable machines.

If this line ever does hit 18,000 riders/day, they are going to have to do something to make these machines faster and/or put more of them out there for people to use.

All in all it was a great experience and I can't wait to ride on it again. (I have some other commentary on other things they could do to make it better utilized but I will hold off on that 'till later.)

[CharlotteDave]

I tried it for the second time today and enjoyed it even more this time. Although I live on the west side of town in the Mountain Island area, I still think I can find some good uses for it even when the novelty wears off. Like many others are probably thinking, I can use it for certain events uptown if I want to avoid the hassles and the cost of parking. It took me about 17 minutes to drive from my home to the Tyvola station.

If I have any minor criticisms, I'm wondering why the park and ride stations, at least the two that I've been to, don't have any restroom facilities. Like others, I also had a problem with the ticket machine today. I tried to buy a one way ticket with a ten dollar bill and it didn't give me my change. After pressing the help button and talking to them over the speaker, which was very hard to hear over, they told me to talk to the people at the transit station, which is apparently supposed to handle disputes of that nature. I wasn't sure who to talk to after I got there, so I just went to the main ticket window and the guy gave me the $8.70 I was due. Also it's a shame that the southern most stations don't have more realistic access to some of those shopping centers nearby.

After riding it two times now, I've only had one occassion when anyone asked to see my ticket. Today I caught the Tyvola train around 12:30 to go uptown and it was extremely crowded. I was able to take some good pictures of both the light rail stations and uptown Charlotte in general. I had hoped to find out the closest station to CPCC today, but that didn't work out too well. According to mapquest, the Colisieum station on E. Trade is less than a mile from the school, but I quickly found out that wasn't the case and didn't try walking the entire distance. Does anyone out there know which station would provide the most convenient access to CPCC, if any of them do?

Overall, I've had a very positive impression of the new light rail and look forward to riding it many times in the future.

Edited December 1, 2007 by CharlotteDave

[dubone]

The Trade Street Station by the arena IS the closest to CPCC. You simply walk along Trade Street (which becomes Elizabeth). It is only 3/4 of a mile, which is a 15 minute walk at average walking speed. I'm not sure why you thought it was going to be too long, unless you maybe don't walk enough to know how much ground you can cover comfortably.

[Andyc545]

After riding it two times now, I've only had one occassion when anyone asked to see my ticket. Today I caught the Tyvola train around 12:30 to go uptown and it was extremely crowded. I was able to take some good pictures of both the light rail stations and uptown Charlotte in general. I had hoped to find out the closest station to CPCC today, but that didn't work out too well. According to mapquest, the Colisieum station on E. Trade is less than a mile from the school, but I quickly found out that wasn't the case and didn't try walking the entire distance. Does anyone out there know which station would provide the most convenient access to CPCC, if any of them do?

The CTC/Arena Station, which is the one that is above E. Trade St. would be the best, because E. Trade actually changes over to Elizabeth, which is the street that CPCC is on. You're right, it would be walk, probally a better one during the summer, but the more practical thing to do is take a bus from the E Trade St Station down the line, and there are stops directly on campus, and the bus would be free with your transfer from LRT. It's a few years down the road and still in planning, but E. Trade / Elizabeth is also the route for the planned streetcar, so that will be an ideal trip one day, but bus is the best solution right now.

You also mentioned restrooms, and I had forgotten this from my first trip, but I ran into the same problem the first time I rode. The person I was with had to go so bad and I kept telling her to hold it for the restraunt we were eating at. She asked if there was bathrooms on the LRT, I asked her if she was joking. Nonetheless, I know it was a somewhat obvious money saver, however it would be nice to see public restrooms at a few of the stations or their park-and-rides, more particularly the southerns stations where it would be a further walk to get to a public restroom. I could see people that are stuck on in 485 traffic commuting to the 485 station needing it at times too. A valid concern though.

EDIT: Sorry dubone, you posted at the same time as me.

Edited December 2, 2007 by Andyc545

[dubone]

If it is a weekday, you can actually ride the Gold Rush down Trade Street to McDowell and it would be very convenient.

[tozmervo]

If it is a weekday, you can actually ride the Gold Rush down Trade Street to McDowell and it would be very convenient.

I'd love to see the Gold Rush Red Line extended to include CPCC and the new Midtown Target/Home Depot Expo. It seems like such a natural extension, I'm surprised it hasn't already happened. Then I could use the LRT to satisfy all my discount consumerist needs!

Edited December 2, 2007 by tozmervo

[Guest]

I too rode today with my gf, who had only been on the detroit people mover previously, and thinking ahead, I bought a day pass so we wouldn't have to deal with line. We went to brixx and the duke game let out so we figured we'd try to beat them out, which we were decently successful at doing. There was a 20 min line to get tickets when we got there, luckily we had bought day passes. The line was so long that the announcer just asked everyone to board for free, losing at least $200 worth of revenue, due to the inferiority/ lack of machines.

I can't believe the incredible oversight on Cats' part, how they thought 9k people a day could be served by a single machine per side of each station. I don't know. And to your Scaleybark station comment, I found myself closing my eyes and practically praying, when approaching south blvd. Still with it open a week, I saw cars standing on the tracks while I was driving up there, I actually stopped before the tracks at the red light and had some ass blowing his horn at me, because I wasn't in the tracks.

One thing I have been wondering about, are there any HRT/CR/LRT/BRT systems that allow you to purchase your tickets online. I can't help by think this would really help with the lines to buy tickets.