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Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line


dubone

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In light, misty weather they don't provide much shelter... they're so open to the air. I suppose in a downpour with rain coming straight down they'll work OK. The key is that you shouldn't usually need to spend more than 14 minutes there anyhow.

If the rain is bad enough, just stay near the stairwells of the elevated stations.

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Has anyone tested out the LRT with the rain and seen how the art/shelters hold up?

I sure have, I road yesterday in the height of the rain. And after I walked there from the park and ride lot, I was pleasently suprised at how dry I stayed. Whenever the wind picked up I would just go on the other side of the glass dividers in the middle of the shelters, and they blocked the wind and driving rain, I can successfully say I was quite comfortable. However I have a feeling freezing rain would not have been so fun.

Edited by Guest
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I'm lucky because my primary stations are covered better than most. I get on at 485 (where there is always a train waiting for you) and I get off at 3rd street (where the back end of the station is covered by the Hilton's backside). So I always stay dry...although that 3rd street station can be a wind tunnel at times. I've also been caught in rain at the CTC station. It kept me nice and dry as well. I've never been caught in rain at any of the other stations.

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Tyvola is not so good. While the view up there is nice, there really isn't anyplace to get out of the rain if the wind is blowing in just the slightest amount. I saw some people just get in the elevator and ride it up and down until the train got there to keep from getting wet. I guess you could always go under the station, but you risk missing the train by doing so.

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Wow. CATS and The Observer are reporting that in addition to the above normal riders of 12,000 per day during the week, they are consistently seeing 22,000 to 25,000 riders on weekend days when there are special events. CATS is using and exploring new ideas to get advanced tickets out to riders such as internet sales and including them as part of season ticket packages for the Bobcats and Panthers, in addition to the extra ticket booths at 485 and the CTC that is used during high volume days.

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Wow. CATS and The Observer are reporting that in addition to the above normal riders of 12,000 per day during the week, they are consistently seeing 22,000 to 25,000 riders on weekend days when there are special events. CATS is using and exploring new ideas to get advanced tickets out to riders such as internet sales and including them as part of season ticket packages for the Bobcats and Panthers, in addition to the extra ticket booths at 485 and the CTC that is used during high volume days.

The article also notes that the ACC has bought 30,000 tickets for this year's basketball tournament.

Internet sales are a great idea for day passes for the general public, (and coincidentally pushes all the printing expenses to the purchaser! :P )

Edited by staffer
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Yeah, special events are going to have a tremendous impact on ridership. Friday on my way home from work (outbound around 5:30 or so) the ridership was average to below average (being a holiday week) but the inbound trains were PACKED for the Bobcats game, and there was a long line for tickets when I got off at the 485 station. There were also a good number of riders (even outbound) in Wake Forest and UConn garb. Figure you have 40+ NBA games, 40+ checkers games, 8+ Panthers games, the CIAA tourney, Mieneke Car Care Bowl, the occasional hosting of the ACC or NCAA basketball tourney, and soon enough the ACC championship game and 50+ Knights games in Uptown...all of which will help ridership...and that's just sports. Tack on current riders heading uptown for a trip to Blumenthal, Discovery Place, a concert, or a convention. Then add to that the extra riders that will come with the opening of the consolidated Mint Museum, AACC, Knight theater, Bechtler, and NASCAR HOF. Throw in special events like the Taste of Charlotte and Speed Street. Without even mentioning the monday-thru-friday workforce ridership or the expected population increase (and resulting increase in ridership) both in Uptown and along the line, there are going to be lots of destinations/events Uptown to help support ridership in the coming years.

...and who knows, maybe eventually we can add some retail destinations to that list.

:)

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That is a great summary, NoStyle, of the impacts that are coming. It is a major reason for locating many of those amenities downtown, as you have the road, parking, and transit infrastructure to provide access to those things for people all over the region.

I must say that I was optimistic that the Lynx would exceed expected ridership goals, this level of ridership is just unbelievably good. I remember back before construction when there was a CATS open house that we asked about the ridership projections seeming relatively low. The response was that they had to use simulations but that they had no actuals from the city to know if they were under-estimating, but they couldn't justify changing the simulation based on optimism. Now, we have a very solid start that can almost certainly be plugged into the simulations for all the other transit lines. Perhaps now we will have solid justification for federal funds for the Northeast extension of the blue line, and maybe other new extensions like those I have posted and others have posted. It also might help increase the expected ridership of light rail on the SouthEast line and the other technologies like streetcar and commuter rail lines. This success will help us prove to the feds that our lines are worth their supporting funds.

I am amazed that even during the holiday times and rainy and cold times, we are seeing such solid ridership. It is going to be really interesting to see whether Spring will bring a surge or whether it will have no impact on people's decision to ride.

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I took my parents and brother out for a trip on the line on my birthday- Saturday, who are in for the holiday season. My father did some work on the line so it was sort of a home-coming for him and got to see a finished product, that he hadn't been able to see until Sat. We started out going to Pike's to eat and park and ride from the East/West Blvd Station. I put in a 20 dollar bill, b/c I didn't want my parents to pay since they have bought everything while here. I was disappointed, the stupid machine gives me our 4 all-day passes but gives me change for like $1 and some change, given the tickets were only $10.40. When the train arrived, they were all running double trains, however they were so packed, that there literally was no room for anyone else (keep in mind this was going intown on a Sat night and hours after the UCONN/Wake Game that was in uptown [reverse traffic]). Me and my family litterally pushed in, sucked in our guts, and got the doors to close. We rode in, and they loved the view, although they only got a taste of the less impressive night time view. We got off at the CTC station and enjoyed a hockey game, as a lot of people riding LYNX that night did.

After the game, I directed them to the 7th Street Station to board the train there instead, since I knew a lot of ppl would wait at the CTC and by then the train would be packed. My plan was well invested, and me and others boarded, and were fortunate to get a seat. By the time the CTC station came, the train looked as it did going up, keeping in mind these were still double trains. This train was the first time I had ever seen an inspector, and also a surveyor was on board. We decided to ride the length to 485, just to ride, then back up to E/W Blvd. They enjoyed the trip and loved watching the views (stuff we used to see in the car instead). If they lived here again, they saw how they would be able to get a lot of use out of the line. At the 485 station, we had some time to wait for the next train up, so I had talked to the surveyor who got off to ride back. I asked him how ridership was looking and he said that today (Sat) was through the roof, he couldn't even do his job properly b/c of how packed the trains were. He said he was looking upwards of 20,000 riders, and I don't even think that included the packed Checkers/night time full double trains. On the way home, it was light, by then it was 11pm and going into the city. There were a few no-good kids on the ride home, but fortunatly, the same Ticket Checker was riding up and able to see these kids had no tickets, kicking them off the next train. They ran of kicking and screaming like babies. One tried to run back on in a different door, but the inspector pushed him off and the doors closed. He punched the train, which made me very angry that there are people that can 1) act like this in public, 2) ruin brand new equipment like this. I was a little disappointed that the CMPD wasn't contacted reguarding the issue and also they didn't appear to be fined- just thrown off. After that incident, the rest of the ride was pleasant and my family enjoyed the line very much. My father explained to me a few details of the line and we swapped fast facts while riding, which caught others interested. All in all, the LYNX proved to be a HUGE change for our city, bringing so much growth and change, as well as alternatives to expensive parking and wasteful driving with gas. It pulled through for our evening in uptown and south end.

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One (kid) tried to run back on in a different door, but the inspector pushed him off and the doors closed. He punched the train, which made me very angry that there are people that can 1) act like this in public, 2) ruin brand new equipment like this. I was a little disappointed that the CMPD wasn't contacted reguarding the issue and also they didn't appear to be fined- just thrown off.

I am noticing more tagging taking place on the walls of buildings along the line, and gum wads dropped on the platform paver stones. People can be so trashy! It's this kind of stuff that makes the Rhino Times type readers, not want to invest anything into public amenities.

Edited by MZT
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Took my first ride today.

The wife and I took the kids to Discovery Place and rather than park downtown we parked at the Woodlawn P&R and took the train from there. I was a little disappointed in the ticket machines. I still have a hard time believing they could install them without taking debit/credit cards. We wanted two round-trip adult tickets (both my kids are under 5) and only had a $10 bill. AFTER we put the 10 in the machine told us exact change only, so we got our tickets and then two full day vouchers. Nice, I suppose, but I would have liked the change better.

The ride itself was outstanding. The trains were PACKED going and coming in both directions. No one took our tickets, and indeed the family behind us was overheard talking about how you're on the honor system so they didn't bother to buy tickets. The father said that "I guess they're trying to get everyone hooked before they start charging for it." He was amazed that they didn't have some time of turnstile blocking you from entering the platform before you bought a ticket. I've had similar thoughts. Didn't see any police or CATS workers other than the conductors. Wasn't much of a problem during the day when it was so packed, but at night I could see that being a problem, especially since people can pretty much ride for free.

At any rate, it was clean and the trains were running on schedule. You can't beat the views either, great view going into downtown, the amount of cranes on our skyline right now is astounding and I'm surprised how much punch the Park and the HoF is going to give our skyline from that angle. Riding through SouthEnd I am amazed at how much transformation (and how far down) that area is going through right now. I don't think people in this town realize how urban that area is becoming.

Light rail itself is doing amazing things for the city, I was pleasantly surprised by how many businesses and buildings have been spruced up along the lines, even the ones not directly at a stop. I think we're seeing the beginning of a wonderful transformation to our city.

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No one took our tickets, and indeed the family behind us was overheard talking about how you're on the honor system so they didn't bother to buy tickets.

Ah, you mean the Deutchbag family. I hope they didn't have kids - they're setting a fine example.

CATS is supposed to have a huge crackdown soon when all the ticket machines are running reliably (which, at this rate, may give the war on terrorism a run for its money). I'm just going to point and laugh when they start handing out tickets. For that "family" $50 apeice could add up pretty quickly.

...is that too mean?

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It appears many of us are getting our first ride on the Lynx during the holidays. I'll share my family's trip today.

My wife and two kids wanted to go to the 2:00 Bobcats game today and of course wanted to take the train to the arena. We drove up from Ballentyne to the I-485 Station, arriving about 12:45 pm. The area is very clearly marked and very clean. You turn in right into the complex and go straight into the deck. When we walked up a flight of stairs, we ran into a long line waiting to buy tickets at a tent. There were two other machines there too, but people didn't seem to be using the machines, electing to stand in line. We passed up the long, non-moving tent line, and walked across a bridge to the station area. It's very clean, but the line to buy tickets was about 5-6 people deep. I don't believe all the machines on the platform were working. We waited for perhaps 10 minutes to get to the machine. I quickly bought 2 adult and 2 youth tickets with my $20, not noticing the small "exact change" text after I bought it. I did get a ticket receipt that said I had a $16.40+ refund (my change). I was told I could get this refund at the CTC. The machines seem to take 8 to 10 seconds to print each ticket, which is outrageous. For large families, this takes forever. It seems to take about 10 seconds after the last transaction to return to the main menu for the next customer.

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q15/sas...85station_1.jpg

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q15/sas...85station_2.jpg

We all got on the train and found our seats. It was so clean. Liked the colorful "Shroud of Turin" design on the ceiling. We picked up a good number of people at each station. It was standing room only by Scaleybark. Everyone seemed to be in a great mood. Lots of parents and kids, with many wearing Bobcats colors. Heard lots of positive comments and cameras clicking away taking pictures of Charlotte. For the most part, everyone jumped off at the CTC/Arena stop at Trade Street.

We easily walked down the steps and were at the arena. We'd never been to the Charlotte Arena before and were looking forward to it. We hadn't purchased tickets, so we stood in line for about 15 minutes at the only ticket sales window (2 others were closed). There was another long line to enter the arena to our right, but that was people who already had tickets. After about 10 minutes in line, they told us that we could come in to buy tickets indoors where there's 8-10 windows with no waiting, but we just needed to stand in the security check line first, or we could walk around the building to get to more outside windows. We stayed in line and bought our tickets a few minutes later.

Pretty excited when we walked in.

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q15/sasbrb/arena.jpg

Really love all the art throughout the building. Had possibly the worst seats in the house, sitting 1 row from the top, but they didn't cost us a lot. There seemed to be only 8,000 - 10,000 there at the most (boxscore says 12,223), with entire sections empty. I thought more would be there for a 2:00 pm game, but I was wrong. We moved down halfway down for the 2nd half.

Once the game was over (Bobcats won 107-103 in OT!), we ran over to the CTC to get my change for the $20.

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q15/sas...ena_station.jpg

We walked back up to the CTC/Arena station and once again, met a line of about 10 people.

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q15/sas...ing_tickets.jpg

Several people walked to the other end of the station, but came back saying that the machine was broken saying that "single one-way trips" were not available. That made no sense. I waited it out at the machine and thought I saw something on the menu saying something was not available. I had no problems buying one-way tickets for us. Finally caught the train about 5:10 or so. It wasn't quite dark yet, so we could see all the development going up and areas being cleared for more development. Can you imagine what this area is going to be like in 2 years? 5 years? It's incredible! The day before we drove out to the Home Depot Design Center (great!). When we left, we drove Uptown and counted at least 8 or 9 cranes just in the area around the Convention Center.

Looking up Trade at all the construction from the CTC/Arena Station

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q15/sasbrb/ctc_trade.jpg

Charlotte arena from CTC/Arena Station

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q15/sasbrb/ctc_arena.jpg

Had a reporter from News14 shooting b-roll at the station and in the train. My daughter enjoyed looking at the artistic differences on the (plexi?)glass at each station. Very cool.

I enjoyed the train acceleration and swoop to the left into the center of the street on South Blvd as you approach the Scaleybark Station. I even like the large orange discs beside the track. I can think back to my childhood living on Scaleybark, walking to school at Collinswood and riding my bike up to Bells for burgers. But I digress...

We got back to our station and made it home in time for dinner.

Overall, a fantastic trip. I never once felt threatened or worried about my safety waiting at the stations, on the train or Uptown. This is going to do more good for Uptown and the surrounding areas and for Charlotte in general than any of would have ever believed. Each year, hundreds of thousands of residents and visitors won't think twice about riding the train into Uptown to go eat, attend a game or show, visit a museum. It's all so exciting.

Now, where are all the grumps who were against this?

Edited by Brendan
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I noticed yesterday that our expensive red clay plates appear to be succumbing to the weather. The ground all around them was red from the rain hitting the clay and there were large chunks of the clay laying on the ground beside each disc. I hope they are able to last for the price we paid for them. The onion rings at Wendover and Randolph don't appear to have this problem.

One thing I noticed last night was that even after the last train at 1:30am, there were quite a few people still at the stations downtown hoping that they could ride a train down the line to their cars. I think CATS should rethink their hours on big event nights and weekends or at least experiment a little to see if ridership would justify longer hours.

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Now, where are all the grumps who were against this?

They are still out there, and still grumpy -- just a bit less public. They seem wholly unaware that just 7% of the electorate shares their view. Check out this meckdeck entry from yesterday and the comments:

http://charlotte.johnlocke.org/blog/?p=2059

The whining these days is mostly focused on the crime that the rail is "certain" to attact and the probability of rail / auto / pedistrian accidents (this has always puzzled me, they run on a very predictable path -- how stupid do you need to be to be hit by a train?). The other good laugh is provided by the frequent commentator that suggests that the ridership numbers must be inflated (clearly she has never looked inside the lynx as it passes)

While its easy to laugh at their pettiness and illogic today, we need to be prepaired for these folks to reappear....

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One thing I noticed last night was that even after the last train at 1:30am, there were quite a few people still at the stations downtown hoping that they could ride a train down the line to their cars. I think CATS should rethink their hours on big event nights and weekends or at least experiment a little to see if ridership would justify longer hours.

I thought they were going to run a late train for NYE? It seems pretty absurd that they wouldn't have.

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I thought they were going to run a late train for NYE? It seems pretty absurd that they wouldn't have.

they did run a late train. The 1:30 am train was 30 minutes after the ususal end of the night run, and a full hour after the 12:30 train which is usually the last one to go all the way to I-485. Inbound same thing.

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I noticed yesterday that our expensive red clay plates appear to be succumbing to the weather. The ground all around them was red from the rain hitting the clay and there were large chunks of the clay laying on the ground beside each disc. I hope they are able to last for the price we paid for them. The onion rings at Wendover and Randolph don't appear to have this problem.

One thing I noticed last night was that even after the last train at 1:30am, there were quite a few people still at the stations downtown hoping that they could ride a train down the line to their cars. I think CATS should rethink their hours on big event nights and weekends or at least experiment a little to see if ridership would justify longer hours.

Another tidbit about those discs- because of the overbudget concerns and hacking of some of the funding for the line, these discs were never "wind tested", or they never endured any tests to how much wind these can stand up to. If you look closely, it's a very small footprint for the discs where they are connected to the ground. Now I do like the discs, actually, but I will say that if there is high winds in the future, you may not want to be around these discs. Yes- they are reinforced concrete, but no one really knows how much wind these will actually stand up to before falling down. If they ever do fall, there will likely be some major lawsuits.

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I thought they were going to run a late train for NYE? It seems pretty absurd that they wouldn't have.

they did run a late train. The 1:30 am train was 30 minutes after the ususal end of the night run, and a full hour after the 12:30 train which is usually the last one to go all the way to I-485. Inbound same thing.

Yeah, the 1:30am train was later than the usual stop time. Only thing is, the bars don't close till 2:00am and the streets were still pretty crowded at 2:30-3:00am. Having at least one last train at around 2:15-2:30am would have been smart.

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