CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines

[Dale]

2 hours ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

 

 

But we actually live in the urban areas you park in garages for.  The idea of walking through uptown may be more novel for you vs. those living there. 

 

Walking uptown end to end round trip for a quick convenience item or to go to the post office, etc gets old. Imagine if you just needed something from Metropolitan and you live in Novel Stonewall. It’s .9 miles. Or a 20 minute walk according to google. That’s 40 minutes round trip.  Sometimes the walk is lovely, it’s a beautiful day. Some days you just wanna get what you need and get back home. I think scooters are supposed to solve the “first mile / last mile” problem 

 

And as noted, it’s fun af. 

Well, you convinced me on the fun part ...

[Nick2]

Why walk when you can get to your destination much much faster? Walking is good too. Just depends on the convenience. If it's only a few blocks I'd probably walk it. But south end to up town or the Panthers stadium to the Levine museum I'd scoot (or bike if I owned one). If you ride them for a while you'll notice you're actually getting a decent leg and core workout.

And also, it's fun af.

[Dale]

27 minutes ago, Nick2 said:

Why walk when you can get to your destination much much faster? Walking is good too. Just depends on the convenience. If it's only a few blocks I'd probably walk it. But south end to up town or the Panthers stadium to the Levine museum I'd scoot (or bike if I owned one). If you ride them for a while you'll notice you're actually getting a decent leg and core workout.

And also, it's fun af.

I suspect it’s a passing fad, like the computer.

[kermit]

The 4th Quarter FTA report is now available. https://charlottenc.gov/cats/about/boards/FTA Quarterly/FTA-Quarterly-Agenda-181211.pdf

The only news that grabbed me was that the completed Corridor Plans (Silver, West and North) including high-level cost estimates should be complete this month and will be presented to the MTC in January. I would expect that discussions of Big Bang funding will begin shortly after that. The heavy lift will be the legislative finessing necessary to get a plan approved.

Towards the end of the document are some slides which describe uptown routing alternatives, I didn't find any of it informative enough to post here but I will say that the West Line route that they show does not use the Graham -- Old P&N Underpass -- Morehead routing that was shown in the Gateway plan. Instead they show the route that parallels the NS and has a stop at Summit Ave.      Shrug.

Gateway Phase 1 completion -- 2022 (ugh)

Edited December 18, 2018 by kermit

[Guest]

20 hours ago, kermit said:

The 4th Quarter FTA report is now available. https://charlottenc.gov/cats/about/boards/FTA Quarterly/FTA-Quarterly-Agenda-181211.pdf

The only news that grabbed me was that the completed Corridor Plans (Silver, West and North) including high-level cost estimates should be complete this month and will be presented to the MTC in January. I would expect that discussions of Big Bang funding will begin shortly after that. The heavy lift will be the legislative finessing necessary to get a plan approved.

Towards the end of the document are some slides which describe uptown routing alternatives, I didn't find any of it informative enough to post here but I will say that the West Line route that they show does not use the Graham -- Old P&N Underpass -- Morehead routing that was shown in the Gateway plan. Instead they show the route that parallels the NS and has a stop at Summit Ave.      Shrug.

Gateway Phase 1 completion -- 2022 (ugh)

OH MY GOD I HATE THIS fudgeING MAP. WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE ON A 45 DEGREE ANGLE! This literally drives me insane and I want to choke the designer of this map.

Edited December 18, 2018 by Guest

[DavieNative]

1 hour ago, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

OH MY GOD I HATE THIS fudgeING MAP. WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE ON A 45 DEGREE ANGLE! This literally drives me insane and I want to choke the designer of this map.

Did they whip that map up on  Microsoft paint? I mean this could potentially be a several billion dollar project and this is what some guy came up with ....

[Hushpuppy321]

If you guys don't like that map then you probably won't like mine.  I been thinking of ways the existing BlueLine could be extended southward/eastward to Ballantyne Corporate Park area and there's not much real estate left to do so.  I think extending it to Ballantyne is more profitable than extending to  Downtown Pineville.  You guys take a look and let me know or better yet come up with your own 'extension'.  Others I was thinking about is some type of Spur line off the existing BlueLine down to Steele Creek as that area too is exploding with growth.

 

[CLTranspo]

I wonder if it could be feasible to just run it down the median of 485 with pedestrian bridges at stations. Stations near Carolina Place/CMC Pineville, Ballantyne/Community House, Piper Glen, all the Providence Rd development, maybe even Ayrsley and the Outlets to the west of 77. Could possibly provide more benefit than converting that space to toll lanes. And could potentially connect the blue line to the silver line to provide an additional way to transfer! ...wow I’m dreaming lol

[kermit]

^ I think we had a couple of sketches here of the extension running along side 485 (the Southern side). IIRC the land is there, its just a matter of what NCDOT would feel about it being used for rail rather than asphalt.

[CLTranspo]

Maybe that’s where I got that idea. It would make sense! Pretty much the same corridors being considered for toll lanes would also be effective rapid transit corridors if we had the funds and right of way.

[elrodvt]

52 minutes ago, Hushpuppy321 said:

If you guys don't like that map then you probably won't like mine.  I been thinking of ways the existing BlueLine could be extended southward/eastward to Ballantyne Corporate Park area and there's not much real estate left to do so.  I think extending it to Ballantyne is more profitable than extending to  Downtown Pineville.  You guys take a look and let me know or better yet come up with your own 'extension'.  Others I was thinking about is some type of Spur line off the existing BlueLine down to Steele Creek as that area too is exploding with growth

no way! too close to my back yard. I'll sue! ;-)

Edited December 20, 2018 by elrodvt

[Dale]

Is the $900K we got today enough to get this started ? ;)

[lit]

It’d be cool to have a line that runs the whole way around 485 someday. 

[Hushpuppy321]

15 hours ago, Dale said:

Is the $900K we got today enough to get this started ?

Nowhere near close enough.  $900K isn't enough to add a station to Southend (Atherton Mill Area) along the existing line.

[Dale]

3 minutes ago, Hushpuppy321 said:

Nowhere near close enough.  $900K isn't enough to add a station to Southend (Atherton Mill Area) along the existing line.

I know, that much just gets you a tease.

[kermit]

Sounds like RWNJs in Phoenix are close to getting a referendum  that would end all light rail construction there (and theoretically redirect the money to road projects).

Sounds a lot like our transit tax repeal referendum in 2007 (which failed spectacularly). If it gets to ballot the results will have some interesting implications for transit expansion elsewhere. An embarrasing loss in Phoenix would certainly help tamp down the astroturfed opposition to transit.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2019/01/02/general-contractors-challenge-legality-light-rail-ending-initiative/2464905002/

[Matthew.Brendan]

That’s just so amazing to me. The history of rail in this country is very interesting. 

[elrodvt]

18 minutes ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

That’s just so amazing to me. The history of rail in this country is very interesting. 

Nothing they're doing since the nuts took over surprises me. They really are living in the times of the tea party. Hopefully this is beaten back but these things tend to be driven by very few passionate people.

[JFerreira91]

I will never understand why would anyone oppose on building up infrastructure to the city they are living in (unless this infrastructure will affect you negatively). Seriously, if you don't like seeing a city developing through the years, you better go and live away from the cities.

Certainly, when I moved over to London from Venezuela, I could choose between any other city in the UK, Spain or Portugal, but I love development and London was the city with more opportunities (to me) due to them investing in infrastructure. Instead, if I were anti-development, I'd stay away from London and would choose a small villa in Spain or Portugal. You can't expect big cities to cater just for your needs.

The good thing is, as far as I can see, this decisions are consulted during elections over there in America (correct me if I'm wrong), so residents will get what they have voted for at the end, it is not a behind-the-doors decision.

[archiham04]

On 12/21/2018 at 11:12 AM, Dale said:

I know, that much just gets you a tease.

$900K would (almost) buy you half of one at-grade signalized pedestrian intersection (currently in design near publix)

[Guest]

DELETE ME

Edited January 9, 2019 by mazman34340

[tozmervo]

5 minutes ago, mazman34340 said:

Okay, got some numbers after the bus system overhaul.

"From 2017 to the end of November, CAT Mobility Manager Ali Rood said data showed a 9 percent drop in ridership, most of what she suspects resulted from the changes her agency implemented in May."

"From 2016 to 2017, ridership had decreased 12 percent, she said."

The Article in Question

I'm hoping to all heck the bus overhaul at the very least stops the bleeding and leads to a very small increase in ridership. It's just an opportunity to pivot the transit options from expensive and risky rail to updating and modernizing bus service. Might have to wait til next summer to see if the bus system really has improved things.

I think you may have the wrong feline

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, tozmervo said:

I think you may have the wrong feline

Is it too late to delete that comment?

[tozmervo]

5 minutes ago, mazman34340 said:

Is it too late to delete that comment?

i usually just edit and replace the text with "Delete me," and a friendly neighborhood mod takes care of it

[Guest]

Just now, tozmervo said:

i usually just edit and replace the text with "Delete me," and a friendly neighborhood mod takes care of it

I just really want our bus system to succeed.