Charlotte Center City Streetcar Network

[kermit]

Is there a reason why the Gold Line can’t run on a request only (or when the driver sees people on the platform waiting to board) stop pattern? It would operate like a bus and certainly speed up service.

[15895]

7 hours ago, kermit said:

Is there a reason why the Gold Line can’t run on a request only (or when the driver sees people on the platform waiting to board) stop pattern? It would operate like a bus and certainly speed up service.

The streetcar stops at every stop? 

[kermit]

49 minutes ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

The streetcar stops at every stop? 

Yup

[jednc]

7 hours ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

The streetcar stops at every stop? 

Yep, just like the one in DC.

[tozmervo]

Did they do this for the Thanksgiving parade? Interesting kind of compromise happened during the Pride parade. Streetcars were running their normal schedule, and when one came up to Tryon St, they had like 10-12 uniformed people (CMPD & CATS officials) stop pedestrian crossings and the parade itself to let the streetcar vehicles pass through. Maybe 30 seconds total pause for the operation.

[kermit]

 

[Reverie39]

Is that picture of Charlotte? Would love to see more old school pics of the city like that.

[videtur quam contuor]

Yes, Charlotte. Tate Brown mens clothes lasted well into my era here in Charlotte. They had a flagship store uptown on South Tryon Street and were in SouthPark in the early days of the mall. I knew a man who was a long time employee and with a small group of employees bought ownership of the company and within a short time the deal tilted against them, and him, and the stores closed and they lost their investment and were indebted with no assets to show for their efforts. It was a sad time for Charlotte and a personally devastating time for my acquaintance who never recovered emotionally and eventually took his life.

Check the outfit of the man walking across the tracks in front of the trolley to see the common dress of businessmen of that time.  Souther Public Utilities was the precursor name for Duke Power, now Duke Energy.

[stw52]

21 hours ago, Reverie39 said:

Is that picture of Charlotte? Would love to see more old school pics of the city like that.

maybe not as old but there is a good instagram account charlotte.retro

https://instagram.com/charlottenc.retro?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

[kermit]

Meaningless data point of the day:

I have ridden the blue line through uptown 132 times since August. Each time  we stopped at CTC I looked for a Gold Line vehicle. I saw one on 124 of those stops (which I thought was pretty good).

Unfortunately, I never once saw two Gold Line vehicles.

We gotta run our rail properly (e.g. more often)

[Reverie39]

On 12/1/2022 at 12:34 PM, kermit said:

Meaningless data point of the day:

I have ridden the blue line through uptown 132 times since August. Each time  we stopped at CTC I looked for a Gold Line vehicle. I saw one on 124 of those stops (which I thought was pretty good).

Unfortunately, I never once saw two Gold Line vehicles.

We gotta run our rail properly (e.g. more often)

The other day I was wondering in the far future if it would make sense to have a streetcar that connects the Blue Line to SouthPark along Tyvola Rd. I'm sure it would be a complicated undertaking but I imagine it would work really well if it was timed so that a streetcar was waiting at Tyvola Station every time a Blue Line train arrives, arriving shortly before the train. Would make for pretty convenient access to the shopping areas from the Blue Line corridor. 

[DMann]

Years ago I took a group of Fourth Ward residence from seventh Street station to South Park Mall on the train, at least that’s how I advertised it. We took links down to Tyvola Road hopped on the number 60 bus and got off underneath the mall. Well I don’t think they ever used it again they were absolutely amazed at how easy it was to do that.

[kermit]

A genuine crowd of people today boarding (and deboarding) an eastbound gold line vehicle at CTC just now.

(maybe 10 people. I am not suggesting its a regular thing, just that I saw it this morning in the rain)

Edited January 17, 2023 by kermit

[CTiger]

Wanted to check to see if there was any updated information on the gold line extension and found this on the Charlotte NC website:

Quote

Phase 2 is currently under construction and is expected to open to revenue service Summer 2021.

Suffice to say that the city might not be the best source for breaking news and updates.

[kermit]

Finally took my first ride on the Gold Line today, CTC to French street. I was impressed. Ridership was surprisingly good (10-15 people for the CTC to Wesley Heights stretch on a rainy Friday afternoon). The equipment was great (other than the window wrap and some slight wheel slippage heading uphill in the rain). I will say it would be 100,000,000% faster if it actually used its signal preemption.  Get this thing running 5 minute frequencies and it would be a huge contribution to our city!

It is a huge PITA to walk up to the Blue Line at CTC.

Next nice Spring day I'll walk from 36th st station to the other end of the Gold Line (with a rest stop at the Beaver)

Edited March 11, 2023 by kermit

[kermit]

Lets get this straight Charlotte. This needs to be a $200+ fine. Add photo enforcement to the most difficult sections so violators get a nice surprise in the mail.

 

 

Edited March 12, 2023 by kermit

[KJHburg]

I have said all along when this line opened.  Heavy fines like $200 immediate towing and aggressive enforcement during a high media event.  Have every media outlet in town out thee to film it.  Announce the crack down and have tow trucks on the ready and with lots of publicity this will stop or go down a whole lot!  So it would be a fine plus towing charges and people will be a whole lot likely to block the streetcar line.  

Look at how Houston did it

https://www.khou.com/article/traffic/metro-police-cracking-down-on-traffic-violations-near-metrorail/285-512848493

Houston even fines up to  $200 for blocking bike lanes.

https://communityimpact.com/houston/heights-river-oaks-montrose/transportation/2020/10/14/houston-drivers-now-face-fine-for-parking-in-bike-lanes/

H-Town ain't playing around! 

[nicholas]

Also.  All these Uber and Doordash drivers literally parking in lanes of travel in uptown and South End, while waiting for their passengers who are nowhere in sight or actually leaving their cars to pick up food, needs to stop.

[kermit]

In non-derailment news from last night’s council meeting. Brent Cagle said (via QC Nerve):

Quote

Cagle said the city is looking into entering an agreement with a private towing company that can quickly tow a vehicle off the Gold Line tracks if parked there. Currently, CATS security would respond to the scene and issue a $25 ticket, then call a tow company and if the truck gets there before the driver of the parked car, only then will the car be towed.

 

Edited March 14, 2023 by kermit

[Madison Parkitect]

1 hour ago, kermit said:

In non-derailment news from last night’s council meeting. Brent Cagle said (via QC Nerve):

 

The first thing they need to do is have one transit cop on every train and have them immediately issue $500 tickets, that will stop people pretty quickly.

[kermit]

26 minutes ago, Madison Parkitect said:

The first thing they need to do is have one transit cop on every train and have them immediately issue $500 tickets, that will stop people pretty quickly.

I agree completely. But this approach has even more appeal to me:

or this:

Edited March 14, 2023 by kermit

[kermit]

Houston just decided to close a seven block section of Main street permanently to cars (this is where their on-street LRT runs). If they can do it, why can't we?

Quote

"We surveyed the businesses. All of them said this was exactly what they wanted. They requested the city extend it… and people felt safer being out on Main Street because there were more people out on Main Street."   

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/houston-texas-main-street-closure-17856326.php

Edited March 31, 2023 by kermit

[Matthew.Brendan]

Houston! Amazing, way to go! reclaim streets for people. imagine that.

[kermit]

Currently sitting at the HopCat on Woodward ave in Detroit watching the Q line stop outside the window.  It’s currently free (like the Gold Line), and appears to be running every 10 minutes (but very inconsistently). It looks to be just often enough to function as a decent circulator based on the crowds that accumulate at stops.

A bunch of people appear to be riding the Q-Line (I have not looked at ridership data but the stops are busy on a Monday night at 7pm). Woodward (from Grand Circus to New Center) is MUCH more active, busy and businessy since I was last here a decade ago. Not all of that credit goes to the Streetcar, but it appears to be making a big contribution.

So from that generation of Streetcar, Portland is generally full of riders, Kansas City, Tucson and Detroit appear to be doing great. The Gold Line is mediocre, which I attribute to its poor frequency and the Uptown covid coma. Cincinnati is improving from initisl low levels, Atlanta might expand to the Beltline (a must), and St Louis is moribund (perhaps the stupidest transit project ever). 

On a different subject, I am starting to sense that Michigan beer has not improved much during my decade long absence. I’ll do some more research. 

 

Edited June 6, 2023 by kermit

[kermit]

Despite CATS’ comically inept operations (40 minute headways are now nearly as common as 20 minutes due to ‘staffing issues’ per the CATS twitter feed) the data indicates the GoldLine has overcome these issues and attracted significant ridership. If CATS could operate it appropriately it could easily carry as many riders per mile as the Blue Line (that would mean doubling the current Gold Line ridership)

 

Edited July 10, 2023 by kermit