Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line

[southslider]

Existing zoning is conventional business, or auto-oriented. Seems Charlotte needed a transit-supportive overlay yesterday.

[kermit]

^ Agree completely. Why in the world are they waiting until 2017 (?) to do a full code rewrite?

 

I just returned from lots of LRT riding in Dallas. They appear to have done zero transit supportive zoning along their 90 miles of lines. Since the lines run mostly in old freight ROW the surrounding industrial space remains some of the most pedestrian unfriendly parts of town. Combine that with:

1) 20 to 30 minute headways; 

2) park and rides which (with the exception of the north end of their red line) were typically 50-90% empty during weekday afternoons

3) An army of workers including a special DART police force and separate fare checker staff (I had my ticket checked on 6 rides out of 14) 

 

and you have a very inefficient rail system (from what I saw).

 

Long story short: LRT can't succeed without decent frequencies and appropriate zoning (which is actually enforced)

[RVA2CLT]

^^The Red and Blue are the oldest from the 90s I believe. I lived off the red line and it lacked any type of TOD period. It's best stops were Mockingbird Station, West End and Downtown Plano. Did you get a chance to ride the green past Fair park? It has a lil more TOD around Deep Ellum area. I left before the Orange line was finished so I'd be curious if that was developed any differently, especially going out to DWF. Out of curiousty, did you attempt to use DART for your primary transit needs in Dallas or just check out their LRT on free/personal time?

[kermit]

^ I did see a couple of multifamily projects around the Baylor Med / Deep Ellum stop and a few more on the red/blue at Cedars. I didn't see any new projects past Fair Park (it got kinda rough past Fair Park), although my memory could be failing me since I rode the whole system.

 

The Orange line was different in the sense that its Irving section appeared to be a new alignment (rather than following a legacy route) which went through the middle of Los Colinas (reminded me of a much bigger University Place) and out to the new Irving Convention Center which sits in the middle of an empty field. There was certainly lots of mixed use development in Los Colinas (but no where else on the Orange). However, it was not clear to me that the rail had created the development or the development had led to the construction of the rail. While the Orange line should connect to DFW by the end of the year it will end up being a 45+ minute ride into downtown.

 

Other than one cab ride,  DART was my only source of mobility in Dallas. But I was mostly there to be a nerd and see what DART was all about (and to see a Stars game, American Airlines Center was a _very_ impressive building).

 

My overwhelming feeling was that outside of a small handful of downtown stations (plus those mentioned above) there is very little to walk to from the LRT in Dallas. Honestly all the other new LRT systems I have explored (Seattle, Dallas, Minneapolis) make the blue line look pretty great in terms of ridership (both numbers and diversity of riders), station design and surrounding land use and walkability (from Scalybark north).

[tozmervo]

I like to think our per-mile ridership bears that out. DART, at 85 miles in length, has 1122 passengers per mile. The Blue Line, 9.6 miles, has 1677 passengers per mile.

 

(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_light_rail_systems_by_ridership)

[ChessieCat]

^^The Red and Blue are the oldest from the 90s I believe. I lived off the red line and it lacked any type of TOD period. It's best stops were Mockingbird Station, West End and Downtown Plano. Did you get a chance to ride the green past Fair park? It has a lil more TOD around Deep Ellum area. I left before the Orange line was finished so I'd be curious if that was developed any differently, especially going out to DWF. Out of curiousty, did you attempt to use DART for your primary transit needs in Dallas or just check out their LRT on free/personal time?

 

^ I did see a couple of multifamily projects around the Baylor Med / Deep Ellum stop and a few more on the red/blue at Cedars. I didn't see any new projects past Fair Park (it got kinda rough past Fair Park), although my memory could be failing me since I rode the whole system.

 

The Orange line was different in the sense that its Irving section appeared to be a new alignment (rather than following a legacy route) which went through the middle of Los Colinas (reminded me of a much bigger University Place) and out to the new Irving Convention Center which sits in the middle of an empty field. There was certainly lots of mixed use development in Los Colinas (but no where else on the Orange). However, it was not clear to me that the rail had created the development or the development had led to the construction of the rail. While the Orange line should connect to DFW by the end of the year it will end up being a 45+ minute ride into downtown.

 

Other than one cab ride,  DART was my only source of mobility in Dallas. But I was mostly there to be a nerd and see what DART was all about (and to see a Stars game, American Airlines Center was a _very_ impressive building).

 

My overwhelming feeling was that outside of a small handful of downtown stations (plus those mentioned above) there is very little to walk to from the LRT in Dallas. Honestly all the other new LRT systems I have explored (Seattle, Dallas, Minneapolis) make the blue line look pretty great in terms of ridership (both numbers and diversity of riders), station design and surrounding land use and walkability (from Scalybark north).

 

While I admire DART for building a successful Red Line underground section below the Central Expressway from Mockingbird station, they should have built the line along the KATY trail which was an abandoned rail line turned into a trail.  I've ran the entire length of it and it is one of the best urban trails in the country IMHO with excellent walking connections to neighborhoods, etc.  It's unfortunate NIMBYism killed the KATY option in the early 90's... 

 

On the flip side it's good to know there has been an increase in property values and Trail-oriented Development along the KATY trail.

 

The KATY's southern terminus is AA Arena so one can literally bike to a game or event there.  

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katy_Trail_(Dallas)

Edited March 6, 2014 by ChessieCat

[Urbanity]

An anecdotal laugh to an earlier post.  Someone from Campus JUST noticed they tore down all the buildings at the intended JW CLAY stop/parking garage.  They "heard" a new H&M was going there...    

 

P.S. this is one of my co-workers who live in South Carolina, work for the state of NC, and commute everyday because they think WE are backwards....

[LKN704]

When comparing CLT to other light-rail systems across the country, I have always thought that the Blue Line was more along the lines of a subway or a light-metro when compared to other systems.

[ChessieCat]

^The Blue Line is definitely not rapid transit...

[tozmervo]

I didn't realize this was going to occur: Eastway Drive is about to close over the tracks for about 9 months. Apparently they have to extend the bridge to accommodate the LRT. 

[LKN704]

The Blue Line isn't rapid transit. I know that.

 

But what I was pointing at is when compared to other light rail systems around the country (San Diego Trolley, UTA Trax, Phoenix Metro, San Francisco MUNI, Los Angeles Metro, Minneapolis Blue Line, plus countless other examples..) that operate on the street, do not have their own right of way, board from street level, and interact with traffic patterns, Charlotte is more similar to a heavy rail system in that it operates within its own right of way and has high-level platforms, similar to a metro. Remember that the line between heavy rail/rapid transit and light rail is often blurred. The Lynx is very much a light rail system in that it is operated with light rail vehicles.

[kermit]

^ I think one of the overlooked virtues of the Blue Line is that it 1) runs on a dedicated right of way AND 2) has small stations with very easy ingress-egress.

 

The combination of those two things is quite rare. I was reminded of that as I spent (what felt like) 10 minutes riding the escalator down into Dupont Circle station to ride the Washington Metro. Having said that, this unique combination becomes much more valuable as frequencies increase. IMO we need sub 10 minute frequencies all day when the BLE opens -- I'll pay for it when I win the powerball.

[kermit]

File under random observation:

 

To my surprise I find myself substituting bike share (instead of blue line) for my trips downtown (from East-West) much more often than I had anticipated. I am sure part of it is related to the weather (and I don't generally do it when I have to return after dark), but I am shocked that (as a middle aged guy) I view biking as a viable option for that distance. If the Blue line were higher frequency I mike not even think of bikeshare.

[RugbyPike#11]

The rail trail is great for bike commutes to uptown, although it's been pretty crowded with everybody getting out to enjoy this weather.

[dubone]

I have had the same experience in the last year.   I have found that the $0 cost of going from uptown to SouthEnd on B-cycle, plus a bit of exercise, plus closer to my house (I would use B-Cycle to get the Blue Line) would win out even if it took longer, but with the frequencies I actually can usually get down 10-15 minutes earlier.  All it took was a few times checking Google Maps for arrival times before I stopped looking, and just use the bike share by default.

 

I have always thought that they should just have a fare-free zone within 2 miles of downtown to allow for hop-on-hop-off quick trips.  $2 is too much for many of these trips.   It would easy to implement, just never check for tickets within the center city zone.   It would be same for the streetcar, where when operating in the Phase I and II, fare-free like the Gold Rush, but then all extensions out farther, charge the fare. 

[LKN704]

I can tell you that having a free-fare zone within Uptown will likely never happen.

 

Being able to charge based on distance travelled is one of the benefits of having faregates. Looking at the system map right now, I would say that it wouldn't surprise me if CATS decided to install faregates possibly 10-20 years down the line, once the system fully matures. I could see faregates installed at: CTC/Arena, 3rd Street, Stonewall, Tyvola, Archdale, I-485/South Blvd, along with any other elevated stations along the BLE.  It is fairly easy to install faregates at the elevated stations.

 

We will likely see a change in the way fares work once CATS (finally) rolls out a contactless smart card system in the coming years.

[dubone]

The costs of a closed and gated system is immense compared to a simple policy saying tickets will never be checked in a certain zone.   Very simple to implement because it is an policy of enforcement.   If the train is outside of the zone, prepare to show your ticket to someone.   Enforcers simply don't check tickets until the train is outside the zone, be it Uptown itself, or a larger in-town zone like 36th to East-West.  Once you're outside that and you get caught without a ticket, then you get a fine.    

 

All that said, I agree they WON'T do it, but it isn't hard to implement. 

[southslider]

Actually, distance-based fares will be technically feasible, once CATS switches to smart card readers for fare collection. Politically, on the other hand, that might not be popular, given the inequity between in-town transit-choice commuters and outlying transit-dependents.

[dubone]

Yeah, the suburban political center of gravity means it wouldn't happen.   I'm surprised they even plan to keep the fare-free status of the first phase of the streetcar, but then again the Fox News-types will probably poop their diapers when they realize it.  

 

In the mean time, I'm fine and it is understandable that they just have a one-size fare, but for me, I will just go ahead and make my economic decisions however I may.  But I do suspect that b-cycle > lynx decision is a choice a decent number of people would make. 

[southslider]

Phase 1 of Gold Line will be fare-free, but unless Uptown comes up with extra funding, Phase 2 will likely result in all of the Gold Line switching to a fare.

[New Name]

I wonder if there could ever be a fare system that uses an RF transmitter to know how far you have traveled (think toll highways and smart card). Not sure how this would work for cash-paying-one-time fares... 

[TheBigShamrock8]

It'd be easiest to buy a ticket with a preloaded amount based on destination.  Ticket machine would know that it costs $x.xx to get from 485 to Stonewall, and your ticket is loaded with that amount.  You then have to scan to exit the station.

 

Problem is Charlotte isn't set up for that.  We have platforms with uncontrolled access so any ticket based policing would be costly to implement. 

[kermit]

^ Short of a free uptown circulator zone (which as Dubone suggested can be implemented without cost), I don't think our LRT system will ever be extensive enough to justify zoned fares. I just don't see the point given the relatively short distances involved. In addition, I think our uncontrolled platform access will become an increasingly important asset to urban development since it makes it much easier for people to circulate into a variety of different things without worrying about turnstyles, having to pay again or limited access points onto platforms. 

 

Having said that I can see two long-term possibilities for revenue growth.

 

First, charging for parking at park and ride stations once the uptown submarket cements itself as the primary location of employment growth and surface parking largely disappears. (I do think they should charge everyone with SC plates a parking fee now, but that is due to a personal vendetta rather than sound management)

 

Second, an airport station surcharge for non-pass riders. Anyone buying a non-pass transit at the (eventual) airport station could pay a $2 (?) surcharge. This is done in many cities already (Chicago etc.) and does not appear to generate much ill will since surcharged-transit remains significantly cheaper than any other airport option. This could also be implemented cheaply since it only requires reprogramming the airport fare machines and a few signs. This strategy is not likely to generate much revenue given projected airport ridership.

[dubone]

The parking fare is interesting.  There is a social benefit to the residents of the city of Charlotte to getting maximum ridership and maximum cars off the road.   The closer the fare is to $0.00, the higher the ridership, and higher the benefit to society from reduced pollution, traffic wear and tear on roadways, and increased in pedestrianism at the destination, which helps support density of land use.  

 

On the flip side, there are capacity constraints and some marginal cost to additional riders in the way of maintenance, electricity costs and due to budget priorities and funding constraints, our society has defaulted to a public policy of fully subsidizing construction costs and partially subsidizing operating costs with a fare for users set to an affordable level somewhat arbitrarily.   The fare is not set to make an operating profit, because that would reduce ridership and cut the public benefit.  Interestingly, though, we also don't set the fare to $0 because we have the compromise, where users have some costs to avoid seeming totally like charity or socialism or communism.

 

To me, the ideal is keeping it as close to free as possible since there is such an overwhelmingly valuable social result from having maximum ridership.  I almost think they should charge for parking INSTEAD OF ride fares, as pedestrian users get benefits at the expense of people who are only partially using transit, but otherwise still using their cars polluting and likely supporting sprawling land use that has tremendous environmental and public costs.  The more we can shift the revenue base to those types of riders the better, as long as we don't tip the balance where they skip using the transit system at all.   The more tolls we have on the freeways, like we are doing in 77 in North Meck, the better so that we have a more level playing field economically between transit and freeway commuting.  

 

I think the one-size-fits-all fare is fine for the most part because it is simple and avoids the impression that the fare is designed to truly cover the costs.  

 

{In an idealistic tangent, electric, self-driving cars do start complicating the question, as there is less pollution overall, zero pollution at the use, and the self-driving component allows for existing freeway space to be used 2-3x more efficiently (closer following distances, less traffic due to faulty human psychology, less accidents due to faulty human reasoning and reaction times).    Either way, the goals are clear, support denser urban land use built around electric mass transit, with increasing use of renewables for the electric grid and a change to electric cars for the remainder.  }

[kermit]

^ Well said and I completely agree.

 

I often wonder about the totally unrealistic possibility of coupling lynx parking fees ($1 per day?) to a county-wide parking tax (perhaps $1 per day per space -- proceeds would go to fund transit). I would think that would reduce any ridership erosion from charging for parking at stations and shift some of the fare burden to the sprawl-set. As a bonus it would work to reduce unused parking  and encourage TOD.

Edited March 18, 2014 by kermit