Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line

[Matthew.Brendan]

I live 1.5 miles door to platform at Sugar Creek and walk it at right around 30 minutes.  Definitely a handful of us at SC, and many many more onboard at 36th. I’ve even seen more passengers at 25th lately. For whatever any of this is worth. 

[NcSc74]

Yawn, they have to print a negative story on something. And like a dummy I took the bait .  I agree that ridership should be reported 12 months from now.  Give folks a chance to change habits and experiment with commutes before poo-pooing a major investment for the future.

[Matthew.Brendan]

Just watched two southbound trains come and go from the 3rd St station. No sign of the northbound....

[kermit]

^ there has been lots of train ‘rebooting’ today — lots of delays.

[Matthew.Brendan]

What’s the deal with that? I guess I need to do some reading on how these actually work. 

[15895]

14 minutes ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

Just watched two southbound trains come and go from the 3rd St station. No sign of the northbound....

Maybe the one prior went out of service.

 

I think in the 9am time, it feels like every other train goes out of service and I have to watch 3 southbounds go by. 

[Matthew.Brendan]

How many train cars are in service at any given time? Total number of cars?

Watching them pass at Divine Barrel in “NoDa Warehouse District” (lol) and watched 3 or 4 sets pass before they criss-crossed in front of me. 

edit: Bonus question - What is the status of running 3 car trains?

Edited April 25, 2018 by Matthew.Brendan

[Crucial_Infra]

Longtime lurker...  I mentioned on another thread I'll be in Charlotte this coming week for a few days. I'm driving into the city and am doing an airbnb (Skyhouse North) for Monday and Tuesday. Here's my situation: parking is not included so I'm thinking about checking in and then driving my car to a park n ride lot (Scaleybark?) and then just taking the train back into town. I recognize I can only park there for 24 hrs so I'll need to move or shuffle it at some point during my stay but this seemed like a decent solution...

My only question is how safe is it to leave a vehicle overnight at a park n ride? I assume it carries at least some risk just as leaving a car unattended anywhere in any city might, but thought I'd ask the experts first. Any comments or suggestions are  greatly appreciated. And apologies if I've posted this in the wrong thread but I figured this was mostly Lynx relevant. 

[kermit]

On 4/25/2018 at 6:19 PM, Matthew.Brendan said:

How many train cars are in service at any given time? Total number of cars?

Watching them pass at Divine Barrel in “NoDa Warehouse District” (lol) and watched 3 or 4 sets pass before they criss-crossed in front of me. 

edit: Bonus question - What is the status of running 3 car trains?

I don't know the answer about how many vehicles are running at once. I am curious as well, a long look at the schedule should reveal the number.

3 car trains are a LONG way off. Probably part of a Big Bang (if that occurs). Some here disagree, but I think higher frequency trains are a much better option than bigger trains. 5 minute frequencies would do wonders for ridership!

[videtur quam contuor]

Park in Dilworth; Lexington, Park Avenue, Templeton, all east of South Blvd and walk to Bland or Carson station and ride from there. Likely as safe as a Park and RIde station and for a few days (I assume) should be good. Or pack your bike and pedal

Edited April 27, 2018 by tarhoosier

[Crucial_Infra]

5 minutes ago, tarhoosier said:

Park in Dilworth; Lexington, Park Avenue, Templeton, all east of South Blvd and walk to Bland or Carson station and ride from there. Likely as safe as a Park and RIde station and for a few days (I assume) should be good. Or pack your bike and pedal

Thank you. So you can leave a car on the street in those areas overnight, no restrictions? If so, that would be great. And yes I do plan to take advantage of the bike sharing while there. 

[SgtCampsalot]

40 minutes ago, Crucial_Infra said:

Longtime lurker...  I mentioned on another thread I'll be in Charlotte this coming week for a few days. I'm driving into the city and am doing an airbnb (Skyhouse North) for Monday and Tuesday. Here's my situation: parking is not included so I'm thinking about checking in and then driving my car to a park n ride lot (Scaleybark?) and then just taking the train back into town. I recognize I can only park there for 24 hrs so I'll need to move or shuffle it at some point during my stay but this seemed like a decent solution...

My only question is how safe is it to leave a vehicle overnight at a park n ride? I assume it carries at least some risk just as leaving a car unattended anywhere in any city might, but thought I'd ask the experts first. Any comments or suggestions are  greatly appreciated. And apologies if I've posted this in the wrong thread but I figured this was mostly Lynx 

 

40 minutes ago, Crucial_Infra said:

Longtime lurker...  I mentioned on another thread I'll be in Charlotte this coming week for a few days. I'm driving into the city and am doing an airbnb (Skyhouse North) for Monday and Tuesday. Here's my situation: parking is not included so I'm thinking about checking in and then driving my car to a park n ride lot (Scaleybark?) and then just taking the train back into town. I recognize I can only park there for 24 hrs so I'll need to move or shuffle it at some point during my stay but this seemed like a decent solution...

My only question is how safe is it to leave a vehicle overnight at a park n ride? I assume it carries at least some risk just as leaving a car unattended anywhere in any city might, but thought I'd ask the experts first. Any comments or suggestions are  greatly appreciated. And apologies if I've posted this in the wrong thread but I figured this was mostly Lynx relevant. 

Piece of advice: work out a way w your host to never speak to the concierge. Have access to a fob for the front door/elevator from the get-go. Staff is required to investigate AirBnB'ing.

Also yes, ^he's right about the good parking streets.

 

Edited April 27, 2018 by SgtCampsalot

[videtur quam contuor]

Lexington has some restrictions. Look at the signs, a resident only parking for a block or two, or used to be. There are many new apartments in the Templeton and Lexington and Mt Vernon area and you will see many cars on the street(s). Do not block a driveway or access to rubbish bin. Speak to the residents if you see them. You are now a neighbor. I wish you good luck. Or just enjoy the weather and walk to the apartment. Stop for a drink on the way. 

[Crucial_Infra]

29 minutes ago, tarhoosier said:

Lexington has some restrictions. Look at the signs, a resident only parking for a block or two, or used to be. There are many new apartments in the Templeton and Lexington and Mt Vernon area and you will see many cars on the street(s). Do not block a driveway or access to rubbish bin. Speak to the residents if you see them. You are now a neighbor. I wish you good luck. Or just enjoy the weather and walk to the apartment. Stop for a drink on the way. 

Thanks @tarhoosier for the advice. I actually used to work in the neighborhood years ago when AAA was still located at 720 East Morehead. It was a beautiful area back then. Really psyched to explore these old haunts again and ride the Lynx which was but a pipe dream in the mid 90s. 

Edited April 27, 2018 by Crucial_Infra

[kermit]

I would really like to hear from John Lewis about why the BLE is still taking nearly 10 minutes longer to go from uptown to UNCC  than the originally promised '22 minutes from uptown to UNCC’. More importantly I would like him to talk about what is being done to speed up the trip.

Today's representative trip: 

Depart UNCC main at 3:44
Arrive at 7th street at 4:16 (32 minutes)

EDIT: The current schedule shows the trip from UNCC Main to 7th street to be 31 minutes

Edited May 1, 2018 by kermit

[CLT2014]

1 hour ago, kermit said:

I would really like to hear from John Lewis why the BLE is still taking nearly 10 minutes longer to go from uptown to UNCC  than originally promised (22 minutes from ‘uptown to UNCC’ was widely promoted). More importantly I would like him to talk about what is being done to speed up the trip.

Representative trip: 

Depart UNCC main at 3:44 

Arrive at 7th street at 4:16 (32 minutes)

The 32 minute ride time makes it tough for many not walking distance to a station. 

It is a 35 minute drive from Uptown Charlotte to Harrisburg right now in the middle of rush hour. 32 minutes to Highland Creek area. 26 minutes to the Trader Joe's on Mallard Creek Church. If you were to race... google maps is estimating 25 minutes from Trade/Tryon to JW Clay station in a car.

By the time you wait for the train, ride it for ~30 minutes, walk to you car, get out of the garage, and back to the road.... you probably spend 10 -20 minutes extra minutes commuting than the drive right now. This is why the garages are not full versus the southern portion of I-77. I-77 to the SC border sucks... I-85 through northeast Meck just isn't that bad traffic congestion wise. 

Edited April 30, 2018 by CLT2014

[Desert Power]

1 hour ago, kermit said:

I would really like to hear from John Lewis why the BLE is still taking nearly 10 minutes longer to go from uptown to UNCC  than originally promised (22 minutes from ‘uptown to UNCC’ was widely promoted). More importantly I would like him to talk about what is being done to speed up the trip.

Representative trip: 

Depart UNCC main at 3:44 

Arrive at 7th street at 4:16 (32 minutes)

 

 

Probably all the random braking  

[kermit]

6 minutes ago, Desert Power said:

Probably all the random braking  

That is certainly part of the problem. Unfortunately the schedule now shows a 31 minute travel time between UNCC main and 7th street, so what was once random is now included in the schedule. 

Keith Parker, the head of CATS in 2008-2009 ended up as the director of MARTA, he has been widely credited with making MARTA more reliable and efficient. Something that has credited as part of a new embrace of transit in Atlanta. I really haven't seen John Lewis address any operations issues since he has been in the driver's seat at CATS.  I am very concerned he is putting the cart before the horse on the big bang.

Edited April 30, 2018 by kermit

[rancenc]

I would be curious to see what the Kannapolis-Concord Transit numbers are since they launch this service back in March.  This feeds commuters from the Cabarrus County area to the JW Clay and back.

http://www.tryccx.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw_ZrXBRDXARIsAA8KauRjcs1E9WkAybuJmKB3lSpLXM9hwzi6rK2xGbbR23nV0vuBu9k0_gEaArnQEALw_wcB

[kermit]

No first of the month bump in May either. Old Concord may have added a handful of cars in the past few weeks. U C deck has around 40 cars in it (just after 9am).

 

[CLT2014]

14 hours ago, rancenc said:

I would be curious to see what the Kannapolis-Concord Transit numbers are since they launch this service back in March.  This feeds commuters from the Cabarrus County area to the JW Clay and back.

http://www.tryccx.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw_ZrXBRDXARIsAA8KauRjcs1E9WkAybuJmKB3lSpLXM9hwzi6rK2xGbbR23nV0vuBu9k0_gEaArnQEALw_wcB

No clue why they waste a daily stop at the Speedway... the only thing besides the Speedway walkable to that station is a gun shop, gas station, RV park, and mobile home park. I'd be surprised if more than 1 person per day boards there headed to University or Uptown for work. The route misses almost all the major residential areas in the Concord area and the only benefit of the Village Shopping Center stop is a park and ride. The stop itself is walkable to maybe 500 people, mainly in the Cloisters apartments. If your going to park and ride anyhow, might as well drive yourself to JW Clay as the bus is slower.

The Pavilion stop is the best chance of any riders with three apartment complexes near the stop. The apartment complexes there are completely car dependent so tenants likely own cars. Tenants would have to weigh drive yourself to JW Clay or wait for the bus to make the 2 mile trek to the light rail station. 

Edited May 1, 2018 by CLT2014

[nmundo]

25 minutes ago, kermit said:

No first of the month bump in May either. Old Concord may have added a handful of cars in the past few weeks. U C deck has around 40 cars in it (just after 9am).

 

My train this morning was emptier than usual. I didn't ride yesterday so I don't know if it was also the case then. It also was stopped at 7th St for about 10mins 'due to technical difficulties.' Most of the train emptied the train looking frustrated at that point. 

 

16 hours ago, Desert Power said:

Probably all the random braking  

I think part of the problem is that they're getting too close to the train ahead of them. They also keep slowing down through intersections, I hope once all the intersections have the barriers to keep people from driving around the gates like they added by McCullough they'll finally stop doing that.

[KJHburg]

^^^ The reason the Concord bus stops at the speedway is that it is a park and ride lot situation because they have plenty of land for parking.  There is quite a bit of residential around the speedway and remember LYNX charges in the garages at the closest stations to UNCC. 

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

I’ve been on the light rail probably 6-8 times since my initial post on here (talking about random braking, slow over the bridges, & crawling into each station).  Since that post, I have experienced basically the same thing each ride.  However, I will give credit to the one driver last Saturday (around 6pm coming from CTC station to U-City station).  The guy didn’t slow down over bridges, didn’t slow down going through any crossings, and rolled into each station with some speed coming to a stop at the end (where each train should stop).  It was a pleasant surprise.  Light rail was packed too that day and each station had a lot of people (nice weather always helps, but wish the intervals were a little shorter on Saturdays <15min...it's not bad until you miss a train and have to wait lol).

[tozmervo]

1 hour ago, nmundo said:

My train this morning was emptier than usual. I didn't ride yesterday so I don't know if it was also the case then. It also was stopped at 7th St for about 10mins 'due to technical difficulties.' Most of the train emptied the train looking frustrated at that point. 

The road commute yesterday and today was easier than usual, too. I think has been a general drop-off in commuter traffic so far this week for some reason.