Charlotte Heritage Trolley System and Trolley Barn/Museum

[uptownliving]

Where in SouthEnd?

[reverbandwhiskey]

Ideal Way and South Blvd.

Pictures of my house from space and maps:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/outunderstars/29271.html

I am so damn excited. I leave tomorrow morning to start the drive from Los Angeles...

[monsoon]

[Spartan]

Ideal Way and South Blvd.

Pictures of my house from space and maps:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/outunderstars/29271.html

I am so damn excited. I leave tomorrow morning to start the drive from Los Angeles...

Wow, that is a heck of a drive.

[reverbandwhiskey]

I get to mkae that drive twice since we have two cars.

But at least i get to sleep here tomorrow night:

http://www.nephi.com/wigwam_motel.htm

[Neo]

Awesome!!!! So will you be flying USAir back to LA to pick up the other car?

Awesome area, I'm definately envious now! Take pictures of your roadtrip if possible!

[reverbandwhiskey]

I am here! My house is wonderful and has a ton of space. woot! I am less than half a mile from the Trolley as well. It's a slow ride but alot of fun.

SO far i love the city, but am saddened by the lack of bike lanes.

P.S. The trolley has two more cars on order and will soon be running every 20 minutes instead of once an hour!

[monsoon]

[monsoon]

[Sabaidee]

I filled out a comment card for CATS, and asked why are the new replica trolleys are green and yellow, the reply was that the Historic Commission recommended that it be yellow and green to reflect the original trolleys car colors from 1938. But green and yellow is ugly, I like red and green.

[Neo]

I filled out a comment card for CATS, and asked why are the new replica trolleys are green and yellow, the reply was that the Historic Commission recommended that it be yellow and green to reflect the original trolleys car colors from 1938. But green and yellow is ugly, I like red and green.

Yes, they're very ugly.

I wish they would have went with something a bit more modern looking...like yellow and black, those are sleek!

[monsoon]

[bthomas]

Trolley's 1st early run draws only 5

Perhaps riders not early risers?

DIANNE WHITACRE

Staff Writer

For the first time in 66 years Monday, Charlotte streetcars carried riders to work.

But only five passengers took advantage of the city's new rush-hour service.

The initial trolley run at 7 a.m. didn't draw a rider. One seat was occupied when the 7:30 car rolled out of South End. The 8:30 a.m. run, at the end of rush hour, was empty besides its driver and security officer.

The numbers increased after that. By 10 a.m., both trolleys were filled with their usual clientele of tourists and conventioneers. But Charlotte Area Transit System hopes rush-hour commuters will also hop on.

read the rest here - http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/new...ion/9955141.htm

[Spartan]

I certainly hope that ridership increases. How far out of Uptown does the line service?

[monsoon]

[uptownliving]

1110 WBT -AM is going to have a contest to see if the trolley is faster than walking...lol

[dubone]

That is pretty funny. It is definitely faster than walking, but may not be faster than the regular bus or the Gold Rush shuttle.

[ResearchMan]

That sounds like the Columbia trolley. They only made

money the first year because the prosecutors school at

USC hal them come pick up the U.S. District Attorneys in

town for classes and haul them to the bars in the Vista.

I remember the State published statistics indicating

mid-day ridership was like 5 per hour. It's doing

much better now they changed the routes to go

through student-oriented off campus housing in

West Columbia.

On a slightly off topic thread, has anyone here seen

research on trolley or bus stops as retail opportunities.

I think of trolley riders as being more upscale

than bus riders. The stops along the path are a

retail opportunity. I know the market potential would

be based on the income available to the riders. In town

here many commute from higher income neighborhoods.

I'm like 500 feet from the RTA HQ and have thought about

using trolley/bus routes as an additional element

to site analysis.

[monsoon]

[49er]

that article is much ado over nothing. they wrote an entire article over 1 run on the line...the first run when no one really knew it was running at that time. Ridership is far exceeding any expections the city had, so Id say its a success so far.

[ResearchMan]

I do know that retail around transit stops does well.  Not sure specifically about Trolleys.  Is the Columbia Trolley a rail based system or one that is essentially a bus disguised to look like one?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's a glorified bus.

I've been thinking of a marketing write up for bus stops. To help

retail leasing (there are 1000 households, 625 teenagers within

a half mile and the site has 8 bus routes going by with on / off

traffic of 800 people each day). Just an idea.

[reverbandwhiskey]

The trolley is cute, but not really all that practical. It lacks right-of-way access in intersections so it has to stop before crossing, have a croosing guard get out and stop traffic, cross the road, stop again, wait for the crossing guard to get on, and then start up again.

It's a novelty and really nothing more.

[49er]

i wouldnt call it a novelty. Streetcars are gaining popularity in citys across the country. This one is a viable form of transportation between two neighborhoods, although an expensive one. i dont know many who would actually walk the 1-2 miles between them.

Crossing arms will be installed when lightrail arrives, removing the need for an officer to check the crossing each time.

[Nostyle]

I don't understand why the Goldrush trolley lines don't get more applause on this board (just because they're rubber-tire rather than on track?). These lines are great, IMO. They cover a good amount of Uptown, they're FREE, and they are constantly expanding their service both in terms of area covered and hours of operation.

System Map

[dubone]

Now that they have changed the routes on the Gold Rush to cover all 4 wards, I applaud them. I know First Ward had to fight hard to get a portion of a route. The old routes seemed to favor moving suburban drivers from their parking place to their office. By excluding First Ward in the past, it also left the appearance that they were trying to avoid ridership of the lower income residents of first ward. Their image has rebounded, in my mind, now that they have fixed the routes.

The Gold Rush ridership actually pumps up ridership numbers for the whole CATS system (i think it was 1 million for last year), which helps us get more federal money for the whole system. It is definitely worth it.

I think CATS should take a lesson from the Gold Rush service and other fare-free bus systems (like Chapel Hill) and make a portion or all of the bus system fare-free. Maybe an option would be to make all bus service within 4 miles of downtown fare free.