southslider

Ironically, the distance between the Belk and Gateway is less than that between Wilkinson and the Airport.

And just running Express buses on the toll lanes doesn't count as BRT.

Political will remains a challenge to having enough money, especially if North Meck will be asked to raise more taxes for broken promises.

As usual, reporting on CATS boils down to two words in those two statements... "hopes" and "stretch"

If this were your last rail project, you'd also want to take as long as possible.

CATS must be hoping for a better federal funding formula for Silver Line, since a local tax increase is just so toxic now. Granted, it hasn't helped that CATS kept overpromising on Red Line.

CATS is designing a major transfer point to be a longer walk than even the current walk along the Blue Line between existing stations at 3rd St/Convention Center and Trade St/Arena/CTC.

Elevators may work if the stations were stacked at 11th, but Blue Line station would stay at 9th. So what then, moving sidewalks? As inconvenient as Gold Line transfers are at CTC, CATS just can't design an easy-to-use system.

I don't either, but many want a better alignment through Uptown.

So many complaining about the inconvenience of a people mover at the airport for occasional air travel, when this poorly designed connection between Silver and Blue Lines poses a much more regularly occurring inconvenience for daily commutes.

GA is much more urban (3/4) than NC (2/3). NC has one of the largest rural populations of any state (2nd only to TX?, though TX also trending more urban faster than NC). Eastern NC areas still trended right in 2020, offsetting suburban realignment in the high-growth metros. Atlanta has become such a large metro that GA could be a major realignment, like CO and VA past cycles, and AZ this cycle. Still, I think GA remains competitive, especially if its rural areas haven't reached a floor or suburban areas swing.

Just strange to not address Transportation Reauthorization as part of an INFRASTRUCTURE Act, but guess that's part of the process of passing laws mostly through budget reconciliation to avoid filibusters.

There are already a lot of high-frequency bus routes connecting CTC with CPCC (9, 17, 27) and Plaza Central (9, 17), plus connecting the Square with Gateway (1, 7, 8, 34). Streetcar will have equal or worse frequency than many of these bus routes, but whatever gets more people to take transit.

People pay the most taxes out of their paycheck (payroll), at the time of checkout (sales), and at the pump (gas). Still, all of these go mostly unnoticed and are easy to collect. Change to a VMT-based tax or other complicated formula that feels like filing your income taxes, and it'll be just as deeply unpopular.

Walking a short distance to and waiting a short time at a little sign for more direct and frequent service is still preferred to walking farther to and waiting longer at a fancy rail platform.