Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line

[Trickbot]

15 minutes ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

I don’t want secondary skylines. 

Ive never been to a suburb with a skyline that didn’t feel sterile and boring. 

You ever been to Arlington/Alexandria i would say they have pretty cool areas and decent skylines

[elrodvt]

6 minutes ago, Trickbot said:

You ever been to Arlington/Alexandria i would say they have pretty cool areas and decent skylines

exception to the rule though.

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

1 hour ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

I don’t want secondary skylines. 

Ive never been to a suburb with a skyline that didn’t feel sterile and boring. 

Buckhead is certainly not boring. 

[Guest]

Buckhead is certainly not boring. 

Yawn


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[CarolinaDaydreamin]

1 minute ago, ricky_davis_fan_21 said:

Yawn


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More boring than Arlington?! What u smokin? or  

[Guest]

More boring than Arlington?! What u smokin? or  

Forgot the blue text


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[Desert Power]

4 hours ago, Cadi40 said:

I think University City has the opportunity to be Charlotte's true second skyline. 

Not a chance it surpasses South Park or Ballentyne anytime soon

[15895]

1 hour ago, Trickbot said:

You ever been to Arlington/Alexandria i would say they have pretty cool areas and decent skylines

Arlington VA is beyond dull and sterile. I live in SouthWest, DC.

Not cool at all. Always lifeless when I’ve been there. Although I do love the bike path and Theodore Roosevelt Island is amazing. 

 

i haven’t been to Buckhead in maybe 7 years. I remember the roads being huge. Though I honestly don’t remember it enough to have an opinion. 

Edited August 3, 2018 by AirNostrumMAD

[Guest]

Arlington VA is beyond dull and sterile. I live in SouthWest, DC.
Not cool at all. Always lifeless when I’ve been there. Although I do love the bike path and Theodore Roosevelt Island is amazing. 
 
i haven’t been to Buckhead in maybe 7 years. I remember the roads being huge. Though I honestly don’t remember it enough to have an opinion. 

I do campaigns in buckhead yearly it’s alright.


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[deleted]

37 minutes ago, Desert Power said:

Not a chance it surpasses South Park or Ballentyne anytime soon

Respectfully, I don't see a skyline in any of those three places.  I think Southend has the best chance of a mini skyline but even that's a stretch.  

Bellevue "in" Seattle is decent as a skyline and gorgeous sandwiched between the lake and mountains.  Jersey City and Newark.  Flying into Toronto airport you can see two skylines that feel big (until you see the massive one in Toronto).  Mention these as secondary skylines...

Edited August 3, 2018 by JBS

[Desert Power]

11 minutes ago, JBS said:

Respectfully, I don't see a skyline in any of those three places.  I think Southend has the best chance of a mini skyline but even that's a stretch.  

Bellevue "in" Seattle is decent as a skyline and gorgeous sandwiched between the lake and mountains.  Jersey City and Newark.  Flying into Toronto airport you can see two skylines that feel big (until you see the massive one in Toronto).  Mention these as secondary skylines...

I completely agree.  I'm just saying those places are much further along than University City.   I also do not think this is a big deal.  Building more office concentration uptown and nearby is a great thing.  Charlotte is not nearly as big as the other cities mentioned.

[nmundo]

I think University City has the opportunity to be Charlotte's true second skyline. 

Seeing this reminded me of this development. I was never expecting a 24 story tower but I drive past this sign all the time and I’m itching to see something built there. Has there just not been interest in it from any potential tenants?

https://www.lincolnharris.com/Developments/Graphics/University_Centre.pdf


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[rancenc]

7 hours ago, nmundo said:

 

Seeing this reminded me of this development. I was never expecting a 24 story tower but I drive past this sign all the time and I’m itching to see something built there. Has there just not been interest in it from any potential tenants?

https://www.lincolnharris.com/Developments/Graphics/University_Centre.pdf


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At one time, Bank of America was planning a complex on the property...that was about 4-5 years ago when the announcement was made.  I believe they cancelled those plans in the last 2 years or so.

[KJHburg]

^^Alliance Bernstein looked at that LH site in the University area from what I hear.   They are actively marketing it is about 3/4 mile downhill from the JW CLay LYNX stop.  (which makes it an uphill walk back to the station) 

[grodney]

Apparently there's a new alignment?  I swear I did not photochop this.  I simply asked for directions from Work to Woodlawn Station, then hit the little transit icon.  Walking/biking/driving directions were all as-expected.  Note the text directions on the left are fine.

 

[tozmervo]

1 hour ago, grodney said:

Apparently there's a new alignment?  I swear I did not photochop this.  I simply asked for directions from Work to Woodlawn Station, then hit the little transit icon.  Walking/biking/driving directions were all as-expected.  Note the text directions on the left are fine.

[Matthew.Brendan]

I haven’t commuted into work on the train in a while but have taken it several times this week. The unnecessary slowing down while traveling is as bad as ever. I really don’t understand this other than sheer timidness of the operators. It’s just embarrassingly bad, every single trip. 

[kermit]

13 minutes ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

I haven’t commuted into work on the train in a while but have taken it several times this week. The unnecessary slowing down while traveling is as bad as ever. I really don’t understand this other than sheer timidness of the operators. It’s just embarrassingly bad, every single trip. 

I don't have any actual information but I really think the speed problem is a product of insufficient crossing gate timing (the gates are too slow to start dropping). Rather than fixing the underlying technical problem CATS has just told drivers to be extra cautious and limit speed. I am just speculating, but it appears clear the problem is fixable, CATS just needs to find the will to fix it. 

[videtur quam contuor]

I rode it on a Sunday afternoon two weeks ago and awaited this problem and there was none. Just a datum point.

[kermit]

43 minutes ago, tarhoosier said:

I rode it on a Sunday afternoon two weeks ago and awaited this problem and there was none. Just a datum point.

Part of the problem is herky-jerkyness (although I see that less these days). The other part of the problem is that it takes 32 minutes to get from 7th street to UNCC rather than the promised 22. That is a pretty big difference -- and it makes the trip longer than driving.

[kermit]

So I am still ticked about the extra 10 minutes that CATS has tacked onto the BLE commute. I do think it will be important to connect the slowness of the BLE to disappointing ridership -- I have heard from several people who decided to abandon the BLE as a commute mode because driving was faster. I rode in the front of the train yesterday and I was reminded that the bulk of the slowness is produced by slowing before each grade crossing -- something that the original Blue Line does not do.

Toronto recently made some very inexpensive changes to their King Street streetcar route (mostly to reduce the number of cars sharing the route) and found that a 2 minute (average) reduction in trip time has resulted in an 11% increase in ridership: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/08/15/latest-king-st-pilot-data-shows-higher-ridership-shorter-commutes.html

Given Toronto's experience I'll reiterate that CATS needs to pull its head out and rework the BLE to squeeze out those 10 minutes -- if they can't rework all the gates to go down sooner then close some grade crossing on N Tryon. If they don't ridership is gonna suffer, which will place transit expansion in peril.

[JacksonH]

On 8/2/2018 at 8:12 PM, AirNostrumMAD said:

Arlington VA is beyond dull and sterile. I live in SouthWest, DC.

Not cool at all. Always lifeless when I’ve been there. Although I do love the bike path and Theodore Roosevelt Island is amazing. 

 

i haven’t been to Buckhead in maybe 7 years. I remember the roads being huge. Though I honestly don’t remember it enough to have an opinion. 

I lived in Arlington for many years.  I was never bored.  I worked in DC and people I worked with that lived in DC would say Arlington was boring but they never actually went there or knew little about it.  They would put on this silly snob routine about living in DC and act like the thought of stepping into Virginia was degrading.  That image above is of Rosslyn.  Rosslyn does not equal Arlington and does not define Arlington.  It's only a small piece of Arlington.  It is primarily an office district.  People in Arlington, who do not work in Rosslyn, do not hang out in Rosslyn.  They go to Clarendon and Virginia Square, which are full of activity every day and every night.  I was just there last week and had some terrific food (as always).  There is a huge variety of ethnic restaurants and bars and such in the Clarendon/Courthouse/Virginia Square area.   By the way, what is all this obsession with skylines?  Skylines do not define a city, people do.

Edited August 16, 2018 by JacksonH

[Matthew.Brendan]

24 minutes ago, kermit said:

So I am still ticked about the extra 10 minutes that CATS has tacked onto the BLE commute. I do think it will be important to connect the slowness of the BLE to disappointing ridership -- I have heard from several people who decided to abandon the BLE as a commute mode because driving was faster. I rode in the front of the train yesterday and I was reminded that the bulk of the slowness is produced by slowing before each grade crossing -- something that the original Blue Line does not do.

Toronto recently made some very inexpensive changes to their King Street streetcar route (mostly to reduce the number of cars sharing the route) and found that a 2 minute (average) reduction in trip time has resulted in an 11% increase in ridership: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/08/15/latest-king-st-pilot-data-shows-higher-ridership-shorter-commutes.html

Given Toronto's experience I'll reiterate that CATS needs to pull its head out and rework the BLE to squeeze out those 10 minutes -- if they can't rework all the gates to go down sooner then close some grade crossing on N Tryon. If they don't ridership is gonna suffer, which will place transit expansion in peril.

Yes yes yes.... the speeds are incredibly frustrating. 

[15895]

28 minutes ago, JacksonH said:

I lived in Arlington for many years.  I was never bored.  I worked in DC and people I worked with that lived in DC would say Arlington was boring but they never actually went there or knew little about it.  They would put on this silly snob routine about living in DC and act like the thought of stepping into Virginia was degrading.  That image above is of Rosslyn.  Rosslyn does not equal Arlington and does not define Arlington.  It's only a small piece of Arlington.  It is primarily an office district.  People in Arlington, who do not work in Rosslyn, do not hang out in Rosslyn.  They go to Clarendon and Virginia Square, which are full of activity every day and every night.  I was just there last week and had some terrific food (as always).  There is a huge variety of ethnic restaurants and bars and such in the Clarendon/Courthouse/Virginia Square area.   By the way, what is all this obsession with skylines?  Skylines do not define a city, people do.

I think I’ve been pretty much everywhere in Arlington and I still have that same opinion. Very underwhelming compared to how people hyped it up. I’m going to have to stick with Sterile and boring. 

 

Ive been to all those places. I just vastly prefer SW/NW so much more than Arlington.  I also think Center city Charlotte is wayyy better than Arlington too (other than the fact Arlington is beside Washington).

 

The more places I visit in the USA, the greater I think Charlotte is. For an American city, Charlotte is amaze balls. And people on the interwebz are ruining cities such as Minneapolis where they hype it up and rag on CLT.... makes me wonder how this supposed paradise of Denver will be. Imma visit there soon 

Edited August 16, 2018 by AirNostrumMAD

[CLT2014]

14 minutes ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

Yes yes yes.... the speeds are incredibly frustrating. 

They got to fix it. You can drive faster even at peak rush hour.

We don't need the "slow" extension + the Gold Line to nowhere as easy opportunities for the inevitable opposition to transit expansion to have as campaign resources. 

Edited August 16, 2018 by CLT2014