Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line

[Trickbot]

1 line? Blue + gold = 1?

[RiverwoodCLT]

I saw the Blue Line going over Tyvola today.

[KJHburg]

Morefr

 

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^^From their Twitter feed this morning. 

Edited October 21, 2018 by KJHburg

[Desert Power]

On 10/20/2018 at 7:14 PM, Trickbot said:

1 line? Blue + gold = 1?

I don't their usage is very similar

[grodney]

On 10/20/2018 at 5:15 PM, nakers2 said:

 on the other hand I think it's proving to some that having a car on the side is still a safe plan here in Charlotte. 

I had no problem using the Bus Bridge that was put in place.  It took a few more minutes.  No big deal.

[Hushpuppy321]

So glad things are up and running on the BLE & Streetcar again.  Whew!

[kermit]

^ Me too! Last week was a serious pain in the ass.

[kermit]

Rode in the front seat today and gathered some speed data:

Sugar Creek to Old Concord straightaway beside the tracks: 50mph (per drivers speedo). No physical reason why 60mph can’t happen here.

N Tryon median (far from grade crossings) 40mph, this appears to include grade crossings where car drivers are behaving properly (plus a bunch of false alarms)

It looks to me that better crossing protections (4 way instead of 2.5 way) could easily  bump N Tryon speeds up to 50

Edited October 23, 2018 by kermit

[Matthew.Brendan]

Interesting. I’ll have to try and catch a peek sometime. Is the speedometer digital? I’m assuming so, analog would be really funny. 

Would love to see what speeds are averaged from Sugar Creek into Uptown. Certainly nowhere near 50

Maybe I could try a GPS tracking app on my phone....

[grodney]

25 minutes ago, Matthew.Brendan said:

Maybe I could try a GPS tracking app on my phone....

I did that in "Bike" mode on my Endomondo sports tracker on Tue May 1 at 12:02pm from 25th St Station southbound to 3rd St Station.  Not the highest quality phone/gps/app so a little jumpy, but you get the idea of speed and accel/decel.

The dips are Parkwood Station, 16th St (grade crossing? -- I can't remember), 9th St Station, 7th St Station, CTC station, and finally ending just before 3rd St Station.

2.01 miles in 10:11.

 

Edited October 23, 2018 by grodney

[archiham04]

^16th st was an at-grade crossing on May1... right now the crossing is closed.

[kermit]

My train just went into emergency break mode and came to a stop on top of the 85 Connector overpass. I was in the front seat again so I saw the operator give the universal WTF expression. She picked up the radio to ask the dispatcher what was up, but we started moving again before she started the conversation. There was no crossing issue or construction ahead.

The unrelated buzzarenss of today was that I literally go months without a ticket inspection, this morning there were two.

None of this is a big deal but gezzus, there is only one rail line. Get your crap together CATS, operate this one in a way that gives the city confidence that you will be able to operate three more.

on a positive note, the trip from 9th st to UNCC appears to be down to 28 minutes, about 3 shorter than during the summer. Only 6 more minutes to go before they get the trip time down to what was promised.

Edited October 25, 2018 by kermit

[CTiger]

5 minutes ago, kermit said:

My train just went into emergency break mode and came to a stop on top of the 85 Connectir overpass. I was in the front seat again so I saw the operator give the universal WTF expression. She picked up the radio mike to ask the dispatcher what was up, but we started moving again before she started the conversation. There was no crossing issue or construction ahead.

The unrelated buzzarenss of today was that I literally go months without a ticket inspection, this morning there were two.

None of this is a big deal but gezzus, there is only one rail line. Get your crap together CATS, operate this one in a way that gives the city confidence that you will be able to operate three more.

on a positive note, the trip from 9th st to UNCC appears to be down to 28 minutes, about 3 shorter than during the summer. Only 6 more minutes to go before they get the trip time down to what was promised.

On the ticketing - I have seen the light rail police writing up fines for people riding without tickets almost daily at the East/West station over the past two weeks or so.   I even saw them put a guy who was drinking on the train in cuffs.  Has anyone else who rides the LR daily noticed an uptick in security/ticket inspections?

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

I'm not sure this has been mentioned before, but a few weeks ago, I was pulling into the U-City deck and they were charging $30 just to enter.  This is specifically on game days (Saturday) when UNCC has a home football game.  The sign said during a specific time frame, but couldn't read it clearly.  CATS rep recommended the park n ride a few stations down.  Also is applicable to the JW deck.  Just a heads up if anyone plans on going to those decks on Saturdays.

[CLTranspo]

I’ve definitely noticed an increase in fare inspections, even outside of peak rush hours. 

[Trickbot]

I think they chenged the station announcements at UNCC at least. It mentions "having your ticket ready for fare inspectors" or something along those lines, which i dont remember being announced in the past

[kermit]

Weekly CATS beotch:

1) the elevator in the U City Blvd deck (closest to the ped bridge) has been broken for over a month now

2) They seriously need visual “Next train” indicators at UNCC (and I assume 485) since it’s not always clear which train sitting at the platform is the next to depart (sometimes the most recently arrived train is the first to depart)

3)  (related to 2) The LED boards in stations are appallingly underutilized. At a minimum the should mostly show the countdown to the next train. The East West station board still thinks it is September 16 and the “next train arriving” announcements are worse than useless.

#DoBetterWithTheSimpleStuff

Edited October 29, 2018 by kermit

[grodney]

The twitters are reporting that 36th St is open.

 

[Dale]

18 hours ago, kermit said:

Weekly CATS beotch:

1) the elevator in the U City Blvd deck (closest to the ped bridge) has been broken for over a month now

2) They seriously need visual “Next train” indicators at UNCC (and I assume 485) since it’s not always clear which train sitting at the platform is the next to depart (sometimes the most recently arrived train is the first to depart)

3)  (related to 2) The LED boards in stations are appallingly underutilized. At a minimum the should mostly show the countdown to the next train. The East West station board still thinks it is September 16 and the “next train arriving” announcements are worse than useless.

#DoBetterWithTheSimpleStuff

Well, a half-billion or so only goes so far.

[SouthEndCLT811]

10 minutes ago, grodney said:

The twitters are reporting that 36th St is open.

 

Great, the path to NoDa Brewing just got that much easier

[grodney]

1 hour ago, SouthEndCLT811 said:

Great, the path to NoDa Brewing just got that much easier

Exactly!  Barely over a half-mile walk from the station!

[Matthew.Brendan]

Is there any lighting under 36th? 

[Dale]

Are the shelters and lighting fixtures old inventory from the 90’s ?

[davidclt]

On 10/29/2018 at 3:27 PM, kermit said:

Weekly CATS beotch:

2) They seriously need visual “Next train” indicators at UNCC (and I assume 485) since it’s not always clear which train sitting at the platform is the next to depart (sometimes the most recently arrived train is the first to depart)

3)  (related to 2) The LED boards in stations are appallingly underutilized. At a minimum the should mostly show the countdown to the next train. The East West station board still thinks it is September 16 and the “next train arriving” announcements are worse than useless.

#DoBetterWithTheSimpleStuff

I am amazed beyond words that they're incapable of using the LED boards in their stations to good effect. The northbound sign at East/West hasn't worked for months and simply displays the incorrect date and time continuously (on a related note, the electronic sign on the TVM on the northbound side is still in "demo" mode). None of the sign at any of the stations I've been to in the last six months has even remotely accurately reflected when the next train will arrive. I am still amazed that CATS won't or can't use the GPS information they supposedly have about their vehicles to either open the data up, or use it to good effect in their own app. And while I purchase my fares on the CATS Pass app (why not just one ride and pay app?), the new TVMs are as bad as or worse than the old ones.

Something else I noticed yesterday after waiting an inordinate amount of time for a southbound train from 7th St, at rush hour . . . (no SB train on the line for my walk from Tryon to the station). When I arrived at the platform, it was heavier than normal with people waiting. There are two kinds of drivers on CATS, those that move quickly but smoothly and those who are herky jerky on the acceleration and the brakes. My train was driven by a herky jerky "cautious" driver. The train which followed three minutes later was very smooth and efficient. I'm realizing the order of drivers affects the throughput on the line ("duh" I hear you saying).

#DoBetterWithTheSimpleStuff indeed!

[CLTProductions]

They’re pretty active on Twitter. I recommend tweeting them incessentantly. Back in the old days when you had to use the ticket machines, the east/west one was broken for days and eventually I just tweeted them like 10 times in one day and they were out the next day fixing it lol