CATS Long Term Transit Plan - Silver, Red Lines

[Blue_Devil]

11 minutes ago, Urban Cowboy said:

Rail lines (like the red, blue, and silver) are in my opinion, more about economic development AND perception than ridership. The silver line corridor needs far more economic help than the suburban settlements that 77 serves - and it will make Charlotte better/stronger. The region is doing great, because of Charlotte. It's not the other way around. Reading through these comments, it's interesting to see a desire for densification of Huntersville, Cornelius, and Davidson. If residents of those communities wanted densification or an urban feel, why would they choose to live there in the first place? In-town Davidson is cute, but it's barely a one-sided block, and it can't even support a bike shop. Mooresville is the only true town up 77 - everything else is suburban sprawl, strip malls, and white flight subdivisions. North meck residents want the perceived safety and "good schools" that being 17+ miles from Charlotte brings. Turns out, a lot of other people had the same idea and so traffic is terrible if they want to get TO Charlotte. Same thing is happening down in Weddington and Waxhaw now.

The entire dialogue around the red line, toll lanes, traffic, and frankly the yapping of northern Mecklenburg county residents has always annoyed me. The conversation has always been, and will continue to be, about north meck residents feeling entitled to an alternative to driving on 77. Nothing more, nothing less. The state gave them an alternative...brand new toll lanes! And pre-pandemic, when commuting was worse than it is now, the toll lanes would be nearly empty while north meck residents stubbornly sat in traffic jams in the right 2 lanes. They disagreed with the toll lanes and felt entitled to free widening because of THEIR property taxes. Years later, many are still too stubborn to take advantage of the toll lanes because they don't want to pay. But, you're telling me these same people will pay and ride the red line? Or they'll pay and ride a bus for the first time ever???!

For the record - I think the red line is a great idea and would be helpful. But it's simply not a transit priority nor should it be. For those of us that work, play, and live in Charlotte - traffic is rarely bad on in-town city streets. For those who live further out and rely on 77, 485, and 74 to get TO Charlotte.. traffic is terrible and that's a valid perception. If you want access to Charlotte to be more convenient, then move closer to Charlotte. You cannot have it all, especially in a city and region bursting at the seams.  The Charlotte region will be strong with or without the red line - whereas the connectivity of the silver line I think will be transformative for development and perception in-town. Which is why it's the overwhelming priority for those unfortunate enough to be the decision makers. 

 

You are not wrong. However, the Redline, if permission is ever given to use the track, should be made a priority due to cost and the sheer # of suburbs up there. As Charlotte densifies and grows out more, the redline would likely become the most used rail line we have.

[JRCLT]

You are not wrong. However, the Redline, if permission is ever given to use the track, should be made a priority due to cost and the sheer # of suburbs up there. As Charlotte densifies and grows out more, the redline would likely become the most used rail line we have.

And you bet CATS would likely be all over that if it were to be permitted.

[15895]

1 hour ago, Urban Cowboy said:

Rail lines (like the red, blue, and silver) are in my opinion, more about economic development AND perception than ridership. The silver line corridor needs far more economic help than the suburban settlements that 77 serves - and it will make Charlotte better/stronger. The region is doing great, because of Charlotte. It's not the other way around. Reading through these comments, it's interesting to see a desire for densification of Huntersville, Cornelius, and Davidson. If residents of those communities wanted densification or an urban feel, why would they choose to live there in the first place? In-town Davidson is cute, but it's barely a one-sided block, and it can't even support a bike shop. Mooresville is the only true town up 77 - everything else is suburban sprawl, strip malls, and white flight subdivisions. North meck residents want the perceived safety and "good schools" that being 17+ miles from Charlotte brings. Turns out, a lot of other people had the same idea and so traffic is terrible if they want to get TO Charlotte. Same thing is happening down in Weddington and Waxhaw now.

The entire dialogue around the red line, toll lanes, traffic, and frankly the yapping of northern Mecklenburg county residents has always annoyed me. The conversation has always been, and will continue to be, about north meck residents feeling entitled to an alternative to driving on 77. Nothing more, nothing less. The state gave them an alternative...brand new toll lanes! And pre-pandemic, when commuting was worse than it is now, the toll lanes would be nearly empty while north meck residents stubbornly sat in traffic jams in the right 2 lanes. They disagreed with the toll lanes and felt entitled to free widening because of THEIR property taxes. Years later, many are still too stubborn to take advantage of the toll lanes because they don't want to pay. But, you're telling me these same people will pay and ride the red line? Or they'll pay and ride a bus for the first time ever???!

For the record - I think the red line is a great idea and would be helpful. But it's simply not a transit priority nor should it be. For those of us that work, play, and live in Charlotte - traffic is rarely bad on in-town city streets. For those who live further out and rely on 77, 485, and 74 to get TO Charlotte.. traffic is terrible and that's a valid perception. If you want access to Charlotte to be more convenient, then move closer to Charlotte. You cannot have it all, especially in a city and region bursting at the seams.  The Charlotte region will be strong with or without the red line - whereas the connectivity of the silver line I think will be transformative for development and perception in-town. Which is why it's the overwhelming priority for those unfortunate enough to be the decision makers. 

 

Attitudes like this may be why Ballantyne and South Charlotte want to break away from the rest of Charlotte and form it's own city of "Providence".  Ballantyne area is no closer to the Center of Charlotte than Huntersville, Cornelius or Davidson. 

Would you be happy if Ballantyne and South Meck broke off? 

North Mecklenburg has an equal say as much as the rest of Mecklenburg County. And if North Meck is brushed off as a "suburban settlement", then I think it's fair to say Charlotte is also a suburban settlement ringing a Tall office park.

Charlotte is very close to the density levels of Huntersville and Davidson. And Charlotte is less dense than Cary, Raleigh & Durham. 

If downtown Davidson is just barely a one-sided block, Downtown NoDa is just 1 double-sided block... 

Lake Norman exist within Mecklenburg County. Therefore, they have a say in Mecklenburg County politics. And Mecklenburg County should represent their wants and needs equal to Charlotte. Maybe exclude LKN from CATS and they can form their own transit system. & Charlotte can build the Silver Line on it's own.

Edited February 8, 2022 by AirNostrumMAD

[ertley]

IMHO what needs to happen is a broad coalition of Red Line 'stakeholders' needs to informally formally organize with the express intention of "flooding the zone" with the facts and specifics of how Norfolk Southern alone is impeding passenger rail to North Mecklenburg. Obviously CATS and MTC can't have any role in this, for political reasons, especially those affecting their relationships with Norfolk Southern, but concerned, agitated, aggrieved citizens in no way can be expected to be beholden to NS and keep their mouths shut. 

The singular mission of this group should be to raise general public awareness that it's not a "politics as usual" story, but a specific instance of a singular private entity affecting the lives of literally hundreds of thousands of citizens. This group needs to develop talking points and action items for badgering not just the Observer and Business Journal who cover development and transit in more detail but all local media to report, even in passing, the role NS has had in forestalling the Red Line. How many of the general public actually read a daily local paper, and of those how many actually read articles on transit from start to finish? The details of this have been buried in middle paragraphs of the stories about it, and this group needs to make awareness of this situation common knowledge. The group needs to ensure a member is present at every Council and planning meeting, regardless of agenda items, so that the issue of NS can be raised routinely in all public forums so the general public is fully aware.   

Public pressure and more importantly negative PR can affect corporate decisions, and this needs to be the focus of anyone and everyone who's frustrated by the Red Line stasis. The fact that allowing CATS access to this line would only affect a once weekly freight line that could be scheduled with great ease around rush hour passenger rail means there's no actual cost to NS to do this. This is a key point that needs to be made over and over, so that the first inclination of many people, to consider the effect on a "job creator," is neutralized at the start. Public pressure and extremely negative PR could actually force NS's hand. I read herein that NS is likely using the rights to this line as leverage for future negotiations with the state, but if there's enough public pressure--and not merely the standard route via officials elected from North Mecklenburg, but vast public awareness and upset--the balance of power between the public and private entities could be shifted, to some measurable degree. 

IMHO 

[Nathan2]

55 minutes ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

Attitudes like this may be why Ballantyne and South Charlotte want to break away from the rest of Charlotte and form it's own city of "Providence".  Ballantyne area is no closer to the Center of Charlotte than Huntersville, Cornelius or Davidson. 

Would you be happy if Ballantyne and South Meck broke off? 

North Mecklenburg has an equal say as much as the rest of Mecklenburg County. And if North Meck is brushed off as a "suburban settlement", then I think it's fair to say Charlotte is also a suburban settlement ringing a Tall office park.

Charlotte is very close to the density levels of Huntersville and Davidson. And Charlotte is less dense than Cary, Raleigh & Durham. 

If downtown Davidson is just barely a one-sided block, Downtown NoDa is just 1 double-sided block... 

Lake Norman exist within Mecklenburg County. Therefore, they have a say in Mecklenburg County politics. And Mecklenburg County should represent their wants and needs equal to Charlotte. Maybe exclude LKN from CATS and they can form their own transit system. & Charlotte can build the Silver Line on it's own.

Why should North Meck towns get treated as equal to Charlotte when their population accounts for less than 10% of Charlottes? North Meck Towns would not be what they are today without Charlotte.  Saying they should they should be equal is crazy, a population of 100k people should not be able to hold up the rest of the county (million plus people)  because they aren't getting their way. 

[15895]

35 minutes ago, Nathan2 said:

Why should North Meck towns get treated as equal to Charlotte when their population accounts for less than 10% of Charlottes? North Meck Towns would not be what they are today without Charlotte.  Saying they should they should be equal is crazy, a population of 100k people should not be able to hold up the rest of the county (million plus people)  because they aren't getting their way. 

You’re being dismissive of North Meck & their wants and needs for their community. Especially with the “North Meck wouldn’t be what it is without Charlotte.” Charlotte likewise wouldn’t have become Charlotte of today without Ballantyne and North Meck Towns. It’s mutually beneficial. 

I don’t think they deserve more voice than Charlotte, but they deserve equal proportional representation. Especially if it’s Mecklenburg County. 

Just drop North Mecklenburg from CATS so they don’t have to fund Charlotte projects and they don’t get in the way of Charlotte. North Meck can create its own transit agency. Let Ballantyne become it’s own independent city while we’re at it. (Though I imagine people would be afraid to let go of that tax revenue, right?)

A good transit system addresses the need of the metropolitan area with cooperation from the various municipalities it serves. If you’re going to oppose the red line, calling LKN a suburban settlement who should move closer to Charlotte (despite being closer to center city than other parts of “Charlotte”), saying they’re yapping about toll lanes (never mind 77 was neglected by the state) slamming the areas as if Charlotte was any more dense or urban outside of downtown Charlotte and SouthEnd). What does that have to do with the red line not making sense??
 

Edited February 8, 2022 by AirNostrumMAD

[Urban Cowboy]

1 hour ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

Attitudes like this may be why Ballantyne and South Charlotte want to break away from the rest of Charlotte and form it's own city of "Providence".  Ballantyne area is no closer to the Center of Charlotte than Huntersville, Cornelius or Davidson.  Ballantyne is absolutely closer to uptown than Cornelius and Davidson. Huntersville and Ballantyne are probably equidistant - but Ballantyne feels like it's more a part of Charlotte because of connectivity. This is a personal opinion of mine and is obviously subjective. I was unaware of the Ballantyne and South Charlotte independence movement so I will need to read up on that.

Would you be happy if Ballantyne and South Meck broke off? No.  But if they did, could you blame them? People move to those areas because they choose to be a part of those communities instead of more in-town neighborhoods. Ballantyne is its own thing and that's ok. People wanting that lifestyle choose to live there and enjoy better schools, more house for the money, and a suburban lifestyle with fewer headaches. If they wanted to become Ballantyne, NC so be it. But Ballantyne would not exist without Charlotte. Same with the Cobb County and Buckhead arguments ongoing in Atlanta.

North Mecklenburg has an equal say as much as the rest of Mecklenburg County. And if North Meck is brushed off as a "suburban settlement", then I think it's fair to say Charlotte is also a suburban settlement ringing a Tall office park. What I said, was: "The silver line corridor needs far more economic help than the suburban settlements that 77 serves - and it will make Charlotte better/stronger. " I am not brushing off Huntersville, Corntown, Davidson, LKN. My point is that people choose to live there and then subsequently complain about traffic and access to Charlotte. And those areas are by definition suburbs. 

Charlotte is very close to the density levels of Huntersville and Davidson. And Charlotte is less dense than Cary, Raleigh & Durham.  I don't have density data easily accessible, but subjectively Charlotte feels much more dense than Huntersville, Davidson, Cary, Raleigh, and Durham. If they're close, I think this is a classic case of the data being skewed to make a case -- because how could someone say Cary and Charlotte are in the same class regarding transit needs caused by density? Or Huntersville?

If downtown Davidson is just barely a one-sided block, Downtown NoDa is just 1 double-sided block...  I love Davidson. So no hate in my commentary. My point is that it's quaint, charming, walkable, and SMALL. It truly is a college, and then a small strip with a handful of restaurants and stores. Do we want it to densify by plopping a commuter rail station right downtown? If I lived in Davidson, I would say no. NoDa is objectively more vibrant and larger than downtown Davidson. Not sure the connection to the conversation here - but since you brought it up. Look what the BLE did to NoDa and will continue to do. That's because these rail lines are economic generators. Do you want Davidson to become NoDa with giant apartment buildings and pricing locals out? If we're talking about ridership solutions - Rapid Bus Transit is the solution for north meck (If you can convince people to ride a bus). If the goal is to change the character of the lake towns, then by all means build a rail line separate from NS and connect the dots with transit oriented developments in all of the small downtowns. 

Lake Norman exist within Mecklenburg County. Therefore, they have a say in Mecklenburg County politics. And Mecklenburg County should represent their wants and needs equal to Charlotte. Maybe exclude LKN from CATS and they can form their own transit system. & Charlotte can build the Silver Line on it's own. At no point did I say that the residents of north meck should not have their voices heard or represented. We live in a city and a county, like everyone in this country, where our tax dollars don't always directly benefit us the individual - but may impact or improve our neighbor's lives down the road. I'm ok with my tax dollars being spent on the red line - I just don't think it's a priority because people who live north of 485 bought there knowing that traffic and access issues exist. And I think the constant complaining and narrative is tiring. The NS red line plan is not going anywhere, and building a standalone line is prohibitive because of the suburban sprawl up that way. So if the goal is to alleviate traffic pressures, I'm all in favor of a reasonable plan like a rapid bus transit. And I think that the silver line will benefit Charlotte and therefore all of Meck (and the region) much more than the red line. A healthy Charlotte is a healthy region. It's not the other way around, truth be told. That's why as a COUNTY we all need to be visiting, dining, and spending money in uptown as much as possible. It is our core and vital for our growth.  

@AirNostrumMAD I didn't intend to set off on a tribalistic tone with my initial comment. Please see above for clarity and replies to your remarks. We all have opinions, and we may not see eye-to-eye on this topic. Transit is interesting conversation and I think we all need to ask ourselves if the goal is ridership/alleviating congestion -or- economic development. My support for the silver line is purely for the economic benefits. 

[Reverie39]

I think people are just asking for what they see provided in other cities. You can live far out in the heavily wooded hills of northwest New Jersey and still take NJTransit commuter trains into NYC for work every day. Or you can live way up the lakeshore in southern Wisconsin and commute into Chicago by train everyday. Obviously Charlotte is not those cities, but people see suburban commuter rail in other places and want it in Charlotte too, I think that's all there is to it. 

[JRCLT]

Attitudes like this may be why Ballantyne and South Charlotte want to break away from the rest of Charlotte and form it's own city of "Providence".  Ballantyne area is no closer to the Center of Charlotte than Huntersville, Cornelius or Davidson. 
Would you be happy if Ballantyne and South Meck broke off? 
North Mecklenburg has an equal say as much as the rest of Mecklenburg County. And if North Meck is brushed off as a "suburban settlement", then I think it's fair to say Charlotte is also a suburban settlement ringing a Tall office park.
Charlotte is very close to the density levels of Huntersville and Davidson. And Charlotte is less dense than Cary, Raleigh & Durham. 
If downtown Davidson is just barely a one-sided block, Downtown NoDa is just 1 double-sided block... 
Lake Norman exist within Mecklenburg County. Therefore, they have a say in Mecklenburg County politics. And Mecklenburg County should represent their wants and needs equal to Charlotte. Maybe exclude LKN from CATS and they can form their own transit system. & Charlotte can build the Silver Line on it's own.

I doubt they would ever be able to fund a transit system alone (Look at their budgets). The whole point also is to provide transit INTO Charlotte not about funding transit between each other… So I think you missed the point in that respect. Also those murmurs about Ballantyne and South Charlotte are just a small portion of wealthy people… Don’t think they represent the entirety of those who live there.

Edit: (Coming from a person who lives in the area)

[15895]

17 minutes ago, JeanClt said:

I doubt they would ever be able to fund a transit system alone (Look at their budgets). The whole point also is to provide transit INTO Charlotte not about funding transit between each other… So I think you missed the point in that respect. Also those murmurs about Ballantyne and South Charlotte are just a small portion of wealthy people… Don’t think they represent the entirety of those who live there.

Edit: (Coming from a person who lives in the area)

My last year in Charlotte was in Ballantyne and the 5 years before that LKN. 

I think Reverie said it best. So I’ll just say I agree with that poster. 

I’d love to see the silver line, red line, & Ballantyne extension and I’ve already said I think there’s money for it just lack of political will. We’re just left having to fight over an inadequate amount (by design) of funding that isn’t enough for anything. Mecklenburg needs mass transit routes hitting all the major transit corridors. 

[buildleft]

4 hours ago, Blue_Devil said:

You are not wrong. However, the Redline, if permission is ever given to use the track, should be made a priority due to cost and the sheer # of suburbs up there. As Charlotte densifies and grows out more, the redline would likely become the most used rail line we have.

The red line will never be the most used rail line we have, as it would have 1 tph off-peak. Ridership estimates put it at 4-5k, and honestly I doubt whether it would reach these #s

Also (unrelatedly), Ballantyne and north Meck should not be equated. Ballantyne, aside from being in Charlotte, is much more urban and connected to the city than anywhere north of city limits, even if it is 12 miles away

And fwiw I really do think an additional sales tax for transit could pass without north Meck's support... just saying

[JRCLT]

This is also comes down to funding. If money was there then it would all be there if not more. Priority and feasibility right now is the key driver in which project gets built I believe.

[TCLT]

2 hours ago, Reverie39 said:

I think people are just asking for what they see provided in other cities. You can live far out in the heavily wooded hills of northwest New Jersey and still take NJTransit commuter trains into NYC for work every day. Or you can live way up the lakeshore in southern Wisconsin and commute into Chicago by train everyday. Obviously Charlotte is not those cities, but people see suburban commuter rail in other places and want it in Charlotte too, I think that's all there is to it. 

If that's the case they're delusional. NJ has almost 9 million people. 84% of NC's population in 16% of the land area. It's even denser when you consider just the areas of NJ where commuter rail serves. Union and Essex counties have more people than all of Mecklenberg County in less than half the land area.

[Reverie39]

1 hour ago, TCLT said:

If that's the case they're delusional. NJ has almost 9 million people. 84% of NC's population in 16% of the land area. It's even denser when you consider just the areas of NJ where commuter rail serves. Union and Essex counties have more people than all of Mecklenberg County in less than half the land area.

Might be better to look at it relatively though, compared to the city they are being connected to. New York City has 8 million people while the NY metro has 20 million - so 40% of the region lives in city limits serviced by rapid transit (subway), and the other 60% are in suburbs (NJ, Long Island, CT) that are serviced by an incredibly extensive commuter rail system. Charlotte has 800,000 people while the Charlotte metro has 2.7 million - so only 30% of the region lives in city limits that could theoretically be serviced by present and future rapid transit. I guess the argument would be if Charlotte has a higher share of its metro population living in suburbs than even NYC, there's no reason it couldn't build commuter rail out to those suburbs.

Now I'm aware of the vast amount of assumptions I've made here. Like, obviously rapid transit does not need to end right at city limits. And obviously you can't just look at this purely relatively - if that was the case then even a small city of 70,000 would need to provide commuter rail to surrounding towns totaling 150,000 and we know that's silly. But I think that might be where some of the thought is coming from. 

New York was an extreme example anyway. The Twin Cities, Nashville, Portland, and Denver all have commuter rail lines that seem to be on a similar scale to what the Red Line would be. So people see that and want it here.

I'm not 100% defending it, I definitely prioritize the Silver Line over Red, but I think I see the argument.

[15895]

4 hours ago, TCLT said:

If that's the case they're delusional. NJ has almost 9 million people. 84% of NC's population in 16% of the land area. It's even denser when you consider just the areas of NJ where commuter rail serves. Union and Essex counties have more people than all of Mecklenberg County in less than half the land area.

I mean. 

There’s plenty of other commuter rails one can look to. Austin, Nashville, Salt Lake City, Denver come to mind automatically off the top of my head. 

No need to look at Jersey. 

[JRCLT]

It’s not just prioritizing commuter rail. You cannot prioritize something that is not certain when it comes to transit. Cost-Benefit Analysis will tell you that time and money spent may not get much done in a physical product. Everyone here knows the stance rail companies have on passenger rail in NC.

[kermit]

Not really new, but useful to record here. From the Ledger.
 

Good to see that at least one elected official (Eiselt) is aware of current operational issues.

Quote

No clear path forward on transit sales tax: At a press conference last week hosted by Sustain Charlotte, Mayor Vi Lyles didn’t offer a straight answer to how and whether a one-cent sales tax referendum could get on the ballot for voters this year. “Let me use the word negotiation,” the mayor said. “I think we’re at this point where we’ve reached a consensus on the need ... I think we can see that we’ll get someplace on funding this plan.” At the same meeting, City Council at-large member Julie Eiselt said CATS should focus on fixing reliability issues and improving its current service. “You can't ask people to pay for something that they don't trust,” she said. “I think the critical thing now is to figure out what we need to do ... that means fixing what’s wrong with our transit system now and being honest about it.”

 

Edited February 10, 2022 by kermit

[davidclt]

1 hour ago, kermit said:

Not really new, but useful to record here. From the Ledger.
 

Good to see that at least one elected official (Eiselt) is aware of current operational issues.

 

(Intellectual) honesty, transparency and leadership are in woefully short supply at CATS.

[Durhamite]

This is kind of crazy.  It will never get “fixed” enough to convert the nonbelievers and/or satisfy unrealistic expectations of transit idealist.   I mean, what is this metric of success? It will never be attainable and basically chasing a ghost and waiting on a no-show .  

I think the better approach is heavier marketing of success stories and build baby build if you can get funding. 

Get what you can now!  It will only cost more in the future. The LRT system is still fairly young and growth pains will not disappear with new leadership, politically or organizationally.  Maybe transitioning leadership  could be a rallying cry or marketing tool but eventually everything thing regresses to the norm….mass transit is a hard sell in the sunbelt.

I say get what you can now!

[wilmore]

We need to stop building transit for the past and start building it for the future. I don't have much of a concept of what this would entail other than high frequency + overlapping lines, but some questions I have about the existing plans include: 

Will the number of people commuting from outlying areas into downtown ever approach what is needed to make a full hub and spoke style system work? I doubt it. It also doesn't make a lot of sense to me that an airport train is truly needed for visitors to Charlotte. If it can get enough workers to the airport, it might be worth routing it there, but can you seriously tell me you would take the train to the airport frequently if you don't live within a tiny radius of the line? The most common trip served by such a line would be airport to downtown, which is like a 15 minute Uber ride. Business travelers will not be hopping on a low-frequency train to avoid what is normally 15 minutes, $15. 

We shouldn't assume that "rush hour" will ever be what it once was, especially as more and more people moving to Charlotte are specifically moving while working remote. 

[kermit]

On 2/10/2022 at 2:49 PM, Durhamite said:

 I mean, what is this metric of success? It will never be attainable and basically chasing a ghost and waiting on a no-show . 

• Consistently running the frequencies that they said they would in the federal grant application for the BLE (or even just the 7.5 minute headways they were running pre-pandemic)
• Working towards 4 buses an hour on each route
• Having a functional real time tracking app
• Running scheduled service on the Gold Line (and have the ability to collect fares on it should they choose to)
• Responding to questions from the public in an honest (and non-bull crapty) way

I think that ought to do it. I hardly think any of that is unobtainable or unrealistic.

On 2/10/2022 at 2:49 PM, Durhamite said:

mass transit is a hard sell in the sunbelt.

Riding transit in the South might be a tough sell, but I am not sure funding it is. Despite very vocal astroturfed opposition, every transit tax referendum in the region over the past 25 years has easily passed (the two big exceptions are Nashville (sex scandal) and Virginia Beach (boomers)). The biggest funding roadblock appears to be getting right wing pols to allow taxes to be put onto the ballot at all (once upon a time Republicans were all about local control). Despite all of our beotching about CATS here I don’t think its unlikely that a new, big,  transit tax could pass in Mecklenburg tomorrow if only the "wise" old men in Raleigh would allow us to vote.

 

 

 

Edited February 12, 2022 by kermit

[TGIBridays]

15 minutes ago, wilmore said:

We shouldn't assume that "rush hour" will ever be what it once was, especially as more and more people moving to Charlotte are specifically moving while working remote. 

As someone who commuted before the pandemic and currently commutes, it's basically back to what it once was.

[kermit]

4 minutes ago, TGIBridays said:

As someone who commuted before the pandemic and currently commutes, it's basically back to what it once was.

Yup, afternoon peaks are bad on the Blue Line. Granted CATS only runs 1/3 of the trains that they did pre-pandemic.

[elrodvt]

3 hours ago, davidclt said:

(Intellectual) honesty, transparency and leadership are in woefully short supply at CATS.

I'll extend that to our city leadership. Thinking must stay within the box!

[Desert Power]

On 2/10/2022 at 12:53 PM, kermit said:

Not really new, but useful to record here. From the Ledger.
 

Good to see that at least one elected official (Eiselt) is aware of current operational issues.

 

Yep. Was having this conversation just a few days ago. I love transit and will vote for just about anything, but it is foolish to think a referendum is going to go well with how the community sees CATS. Even people that actually use it are frustrated with reliability/timing issues.