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CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines


monsoon

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In part 2 of today's episode of "restricting driving doesn't hurt as much as you think" is the case of Oslo, they banned cars from their city center about a month ago. While Oslo has pretty good transit, don't mistake Norway as a Danish-like car-free utopia. Norway has relatively poor public transport outside of Oslo and everybody outside the capitol thinks they 'need to drive.'

Anyway Central Oslo has roughly 90,000 jobs and 1,000 residents (Uptown Charlotte has the same number of jobs are about 3-4 times the residential population). Despite the fears of downtown businesses they have seen an increase in sales of around 10% since the auto ban, pedestrian activity is up, biking is way up. It appears that people are spending more than before the ban.

https://www.nrdc.org/onearth/welcome-oslo-no-parking

Edited by kermit
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14 minutes ago, kermit said:

Part three of “growth can happen without more traffic (with thoughtful zoning and appropriate provision of transit)”

 

Also, Minnesota has had a concentrated effort to work with employers to have employees work from home. Since 2000, telecommuting has increased 50% in Minnesota, which can have an impact on job growth but not adding vehicles to the road. 

http://www.startribune.com/minnesota-a-national-leader-in-telecommuting-trend/384401421/
http://www.startribune.com/minnesota-becomes-national-hotspot-for-working-at-home/195789461/
http://www.governing.com/topics/transportation-infrastructure/gov-workers-telework-public-transportation-commute.html
 

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In non bank news, looks like GoTriangle is going to rollout monthly fare capping this summer (if you buy tickets per ride, once you spend the monthly pass amount you get free rides for the remainder of the month — only works with smart cards).

Where did our  smart card system go? The fare machines on the platform have it. It’s also going to become more important as more companies / schools begin to provide passes.

#realtimetracking

#dobetterCATS

 

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In the same thread with discussions on pedestrianizing areas of Uptown, this Tweet has been getting some traction.  Definitely an interesting concept.  Could also see Tryon being narrowed to two lanes for transit only  (maybe frequent, free service from end to end of Uptown like the Gold Rush used to provide along Trade?) and repurposing the remaining space for bike/ped.  

 

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https://www.wfae.org/post/arts-and-science-council-asks-mecklenburg-approve-new-sales-tax#stream/0

Arts And Science Council Asks Mecklenburg To Approve New Sales Tax

Just out of curiosity..... anybody think this could negatively effect the "Big Bang" for transit? If this passed, is there a cap on how much the sales tax can be increased? I thought the cap was 7.5% in NC and if ASC got this passed, then the sales tax couldn't be increased for transit? However, seems unlikely this would pass if it even got on the ballot.

Pat Cotham said the following regarding the last quarter cent tax increase proposal that failed for schools and ASC: "“It was not well received by the voters," Cotham said. "I think the same thing would happen again. I brought up that the timing on this - it's not good. We have a reval and people are worried about taxes.”"

Edited by CLT2014
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^ I read this last night and I am 99% sure I don't support this.  Coming from a left wing nut job like myself that is saying a lot :)

I think this is negative for a lot of reason least of which is yes the impact on big bang, but also it creates a slush fund.  Advertising this as 'dedicated' to ASC is disingenuous at best.  The article even states that half the money would go into general fund.

Edited by navigator319
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IF! there were council support for this it should come from property tax, not sales tax. IF! there was such support, which I do not detect. Property tax is for general purposes. This is the worst proposition and sure to disappear. Why they came forward with this now, with tax sensitivity from revaluation, legislature limiting sales tax by a cap, I just do not know. Maybe they think a Democrat council will be pliable for arts related issues. I predict it will not be.

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2 minutes ago, southslider said:

IF they go with a revenue-neutral rate, there shouldn't be any pushback. 

I dunno, most of the big arts supporters (sterotypically anyway) are likely to live in an intown area -- the places where valuations increased the most. These folks are going to get hit with much higher property tax bills, even if a revenue-neutral rate is adopted.

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3 minutes ago, kermit said:

I dunno, most of the big arts supporters (sterotypically anyway) are likely to live in an intown area -- the places where valuations increased the most. These folks are going to get hit with much higher property tax bills, even if a revenue-neutral rate is adopted.

Yuppie problems. Live in a hot area, taxes go up. They do call it FAIR market value for a reason.

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13 minutes ago, Scribe said:

I saw this on twitter and thought it was a good point... https://charlottenc.gov/cats/transit-planning/art-in-transit/Pages/default.aspx

CATS commits 1% of all cap-ex to Arts in Transit.

So, if CATS funds the "Big Bang" local arts will get $70-$80 million dollars! Win-Win.

^ And CATS would be doing everyone a favor if they spent that on local artists rather than the out of town big-name folks they have been spending $$$ on.

IIRC the state said that their contribution could no longer be used for Arts in Transit.

11 minutes ago, southslider said:

Yuppie problems. Live in a hot area, taxes go up. They do call it FAIR market value for a reason.

I don't disagree at all, just suggesting that they may be less hip to supporting another tax after paying next years property tax bill that may come close to doubling if a revenue-neutral rate is used.

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2 minutes ago, kermit said:

I don't disagree at all, just suggesting that they may be less hip to spending more after paying next years property tax bill that will come close to doubling if a revenue-neutral rate is used.

They're also less hip to take the dirty bus, despite intown routes having the best service levels in the region. If you want sexier rails, you gotta pay for it.

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17 minutes ago, southslider said:

They're also less hip to take the dirty bus, despite intown routes having the best service levels in the region. If you want sexier rails, you gotta pay for it.

It would appear that's the case everywhere but Seattle: https://www.wired.com/story/transit-center-census-americans-public-transportation/

 

Quote

...might mean there is an opportunity to convince those riders to get back on the bus, or train, or light-rail. Survey respondents who reduced their transit use said their number one transit wish is more frequent service, followed by safer, and then more predictable, trips.

...some places have pulled it off. Seattle, for example, plans to invest $53 billion in light-rail and in 2014 passed a 0.1 percent sales tax to support its bus system. Its ridership (and particularly bus ridership!) is up. Oh, and traffic is down. And the TransitCenter survey respondents in Seattle cited improvements as a reason they took transit more often.

It’s elementary, really: Cities just need to build systems where riding the bus is more relaxing and convenient than hopping in your car.

 

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In Seattle, traffic is insane in a way that we can't fully appreciate here. Eventually, once traffic gets significantly worse (and it will) more people might be willing to say "screw driving" in favor of the bus or train. The difference is that Seattle has a larger pre-WW2 street grid, and more neighborhoods that are inherently walkable, so it's less of a stretch for people to take the bus there than it is here.

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1 hour ago, tarhoosier said:

Hmmm...one of these slides triggers a memory that something very much like this was posted on this site some time ago. Work is two years old.

The slide that looks like Independence with a bus lane in the middle, rail on the right and a slip road farthest right. Memory, speak.

Yes, these are old renderings from Silver Line study, but that's a frontage road, not slip lane.

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