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Charlotte Center City Streetcar Network


Sabaidee

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Why walk 2-4 blocks to the street car, when you could just walk for 5 more minutes and be at your destination?

 

On a personal level I completely agree with you, I would just walk. However everyday I watch dozens (a small sample of the total number) of UNCC students wait 10 minutes for shuttle buses to save themselves a 5 minute walk across campus.

 

Kids are lazy....

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On a personal level I completely agree with you, I would just walk. However everyday I watch dozens (a small sample of the total number) of UNCC students wait 10 minutes for shuttle buses to save themselves a 5 minute walk across campus.

Kids are lazy....

I graduated Uncc a couple years ago and certain friends of mine would insist on waiting for the shuttle. It's part of the reason I wish the new light rail stop on campus would be in a central location to encourage more use and land in the center of all that activity.

But that's another topic.

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No doubt everyone is lazy.

 

My theory about the UNCC students and their lousy sense of walking and time budgeting is that its easier to text while standing at the bus stop and riding on the shuttle than it is to text while walking. The 'bonus' phone time make the extra wait a fair tradeoff. No reason this would not also apply to the Gold Line.

 

Just a theory.

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I can't help but think we're missing the point.    Obviously the short 1.5 mile starter line can be walked instead if you're trying to save yourself the $0 fare or need the exercise or want to hear the beautiful sounds of the birds chirping or the prisoners yelling.   The point is that with core transit infrastructure development can be denser because there will be more pedestrians and transit-riders versus car-drivers.   You have to have growth in this way to have livable cities as big as we are going to be in the next decade.   

 

 

If people walk, it is not bad for the transit corridor, it is good, and yes some of those pedestrians will jump on the tram for certain trips.   But people rarely hop out of their cars and into a tram on a whim. 

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^passenger mile costs are a BS metric to use for transit. Since transit is designed to encourage short trips, but cars are designed to encourage long trips the measure is always biased against any mode which only carries passengers short distances.

 

Cost per trip is much more relevant. People taking trips vote, passenger miles don't vote.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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One of the last major road closures for the streetcar was just announced. Elizabeth Ave & Kings Dr will close Oct 20 thru Nov 16 for track installation that will connect the existing Elizabeth track to Trade St. 

 

...notably and not surprisingly they've gone from saying service in Q1 to just "service in 2015"

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No doubt everyone is lazy.

 

My theory about the UNCC students and their lousy sense of walking and time budgeting is that its easier to text while standing at the bus stop and riding on the shuttle than it is to text while walking. The 'bonus' phone time make the extra wait a fair tradeoff. No reason this would not also apply to the Gold Line.

 

Just a theory.

 

I've observed that the same people that won't / don't walk in the US are the same people who will miles in a day in a European city.  The challenge for walking in this country is how awful the conditions are for walking....the landscape, the facilities, the views.  From a pedestrians perspective, why walk in the US  -- it's a nightmare.

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One of the last major road closures for the streetcar was just announced. Elizabeth Ave & Kings Dr will close Oct 20 thru Nov 16 for track installation that will connect the existing Elizabeth track to Trade St. 

 

...notably and not surprisingly they've gone from saying service in Q1 to just "service in 2015"

 

Congratulations Charlotte -- I can't think of another Southern (or many other US) city with your city's foresight.  Glad to see the streetcar progressing!

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One of the reasons why the Blue Line was closed today was they are working to tie the streetcar connection into the blue line tracks. They are going to have a very busy weekend if they are going to get 7th street station open by Monday.

 

[i have some photos but it appears I am not competent enough to get them posted here -- sorry]

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I absolutely love 16th street mall in Denver, I think a pedestrian mall or a transit only street or a combo of the two would be awesome. The only issue is there is zero retail facing Trade other than a barbershop and the Hornets team store. There is also the jail and various other government buildings which is a completely different issue.

Also from the Streetcars Facebook page posted this picture, crews installed the connecting switch to the Blue line over the weekend. That was a quick installation.

post-27163-0-99597700-1413856051_thumb.j

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a friend of mine who works at the government center observed tonight:

 

"nobody really misses Trade street, and its been closed for a while...."

I miss Trade Street!!!

Yes please!! 16th street is absolutely amazing.

Pedestrian streets will be a long way off in NC.  They tried in Raleigh with Fayetteville Street, and it just about killed the whole downtown.  Once they brought the cars back the life returned.  For better or for worse, pedestrian conversions will need a couple more decades to let the memories fade.

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Yeah, I do like the idea of transit only streets, but only where they can become pedestrian oriented districts.   It's really not possible given the types of uses on Trade.   I could see it surviving a conversion of the streetcar track lane to a transit only lane or other variations where there is significantly less traffic on the street.  

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