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Charlotte Center City Streetcar Network

Sabaidee

By Sabaidee
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jednc Burg

jednc

Posted
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On 9/13/2016 at 10:26 AM, atlrvr said:

I was viewing it as a future phase spur.....so really two lines....Silver Line to Matthews and Orange(?) line to Mint Hill, that share the same track  between Uptown and Albemarle Rd along the Independence corridor.

This is common in lots of transit systems.

 

I was just in Denver, and they use this technique extensively and it seems to make a lot of sense (I know there are other examples too, but Denver is on my mind since I just got back). I know Denver is a few years ahead of us from when they started light rail, but it's also obvious they are more committed to funding their light rail. Charlotte could really learn a lot from Denver when it comes to transit funding/planning/implementation.

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gman430
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kermit
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Streetcar #401 in the wild at North yard. Testing (in the yard) was underway this afternoon.      

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Squid7085 Unincorporated Area

Squid7085

Posted
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I had an interesting experience with the Streetcar this week, and I hope the new cars/extension fix it. I work in Uptown and needed to go to the Post Office on McDowell to pick up a letter. (IRS, not a happy camper right now.) Anyways. I thought I would walk up to the transit center area and try out the streetcar for the first time. I didn't have too much time, so I thought it might be quicker. I checked the schedule, and I was a few minutes early, so I started walking down Trade, as the streetcar was not in sight. I figured I would catch it on the way at some point. That never happened. I completely lapped the streetcar on my feet. I walked to the Post Office, got my letter, and walked all the way back. I didn't see the streetcar until I was walking back around the federal reserve building. Even then, with all the stops and traffic. I managed to make it to the transit center at the exact same time. Had I waited for the streetcar, I would have waited the amount of time it took me to walk.

 

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kermit Megalopolis

kermit

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I am very glad they plan to order Siemens vehicles since that should streamline maintenance. However their budget crunch caused them to reduce their vehicle order by one (from seven down to six) with the plan being to only maintain a single vehicle in reserve. I _really_ hope this value engineering does not come back to bite them, nothing will gut ridership faster than having an unreliable and infrequent service.  I don't believe that LRT vehicles will be interchangeable given the non-hybrid nature of the LRT and differences in vehicle length.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article114979648.html

From this morning (and it seems like every morning):

 

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Niner National Burg

Niner National

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2 hours ago, J-Rob said:

Does anyone know if these models will move faster than the trolleys?  I know it is dependent on traffic, etc., but the trolleys seem to take forever to get from Novant to the Spectrum and back again.

I've been on the streetcars when they were going nearly 30mph, so not really much slower than the speed limit. It's the stops the really slow it down. I don't think a new car going marginally faster is going to make much difference because it's still going to have to stop every few blocks.

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kermit Megalopolis

kermit

Posted
Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, J-Rob said:

Does anyone know if these models will move faster than the trolleys?  I know it is dependent on traffic, etc., but the trolleys seem to take forever to get from Novant to the Spectrum and back again.

Signal preemption is the thing that will really speed up the ride. Strangely I don't believe they budgeted for that in Phase 2 but it should be relatively cheap to implement.

EDIT: I believe the modern vehicles will have noticeably better acceleration

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kermit Megalopolis

kermit

Posted
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19 minutes ago, CLT704 said:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article117393213.html

Nice to see this moving forward. Should be voted through quite easily, no? 

Yes. Council has already committed to building phase 2 and has signed a contract with the federal government stating such (the SSGA). Tonight's vote is simply to accept the construction contact. Given that it is within budget there should be no real resistance.

As an aside I wonder what the schedule is for modern vehicle delivery. Given the incredibly poor reliability of the current vehicles they may as well shut down phase 1 and change the platform height for the new vehicles ASAP. I remain very concerned that poor reliability (and the low frequencies under the best circumstances) continues to stifle ridership and retard TOD. Running three modern vehicles (for sub 10 minute frequencies) before phase 2 opens will likely make a big difference to ridership when Phase 2 opens.

 

Edited by kermit
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cjd5050 Hamlet

cjd5050

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On 11/17/2016 at 10:42 AM, uptownliving said:

Glad to see this project back on track! I like the hybrid feature of the S70 they ordered which means they don't have to cover the Square in overhead wires.

It also gives the transit system a cohesive look from line to line.

 

siemens.jpg

Another writeup on the new S70 cars.  http://tracks.lionel.com/charlotte-eyes-hybrid-streetcars-for-gold-line/

This one has a nice interior shot.  Improved Bike access is going to be a really good improvement to the network overall.  

 

2fc8d021-b63c-11e6-acec-dde087fb75c8.jpg

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SgtCampsalot Town

SgtCampsalot

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51 minutes ago, cjd5050 said:

This one has a nice interior shot.  Improved Bike access is going to be a really good improvement to the network overall.  

 

2fc8d021-b63c-11e6-acec-dde087fb75c8.jpg

Man, bringing a bike on at rush hour is still the worst thing. Especially at that Trade St station stop at 5:30p. People no likey.

Edited by SgtCampsalot
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Posted
Posted
You could probably beat the Gold Line by actually "riding" your bike say down Elizabeth to Trade, Trade to 5th, then 5th to Beatties Ford as it's approx 3 miles from Presby to JC Smith Univ.

One of the charlotte five writers raced it on foot jogging/running and won


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You could probably beat the Gold Line by actually "riding" your bike say down Elizabeth to Trade, Trade to 5th, then 5th to Beatties Ford as it's approx 3 miles from Presby to JC Smith Univ.

One of the charlotte five writers raced it on foot jogging/running and won


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