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Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line


dubone

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5 minutes ago, SgtCampsalot said:

You're better off taking the Route 11 bus from the CTC or on N Tryon St, then disembark right in front of NoDa Brewing. Walking from the current BLE is a major hike for most.

 

Build the gold line to reach Plaza-Midwood then have it wrap around through NoDa & to Tryon Street. That is a cool fantasy. 

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8 minutes ago, SgtCampsalot said:

You're better off taking the Route 11 bus from the CTC or on N Tryon St, then disembark right in front of NoDa Brewing. Walking from the current BLE is a major hike for most.

I'd rather walk the 1.3 miles than figure out how to ride a bus!  hahaha, but yeah that's an interesting  suggestion.  I might have to suck it up and conquer my fear, especially if any important beer releases happen before access is good from 36th St!

 

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So this is weird.....the schedule published here (http://charlottenc.gov/cats/bus/schedule-change/Documents/18-03/501 LYNX.pdf) doesn't match the online schedule here: http://charlottenc.gov/cats/rail/routes/Pages/default.aspx .

In particular, the online shows a weekday 3:06pm from UNCC, while the PDF does not.

It actually makes a difference for my normal daily commute.....which is the only reason I noticed it.

 

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10 hours ago, nakers2 said:

 Joking aside though, despite having graduated just last year, I really hope that college kids don’t turn this into more or less a “party train“  and it can both be a dignified way to get to and from uptown, as well as a responsible way to get home after a few drinks on weekends.  I have been quite drunk on numerous occasions, yet have never felt it necessary to steal anything off the platform.

I heard a few groups of kids making plans for how they were going to use it. They were so excited. One group in particular is excited about bringing their bikes so they can ride uptown. 

Youth infestation in the making. Interesting to see what comes of it.

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10 minutes ago, HighRiseHillbilly said:

I heard a few groups of kids making plans for how they were going to use it. They were so excited. One group in particular is excited about bringing their bikes so they can ride uptown. 

Youth infestation in the making. Interesting to see what comes of it.

 

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JW clay was full up to the third floor today, couldn’t see inside University but the Old Concord lot was about empty, and Sugar Creek didn’t seem to busy either. Somewhat dissapointed but still hopeful. Maybe people just aren’t ready to trust the train to get there right on time yet. 

On an interesting note, I saw a single car train today, haven’t seen that for years. I’ll be heading back during the start of rush hour so I’m looking forward to seeing how the 7.5 min timing goes. 

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18 minutes ago, nakers2 said:

JW clay was full up to the third floor today, couldn’t see inside University but the Old Concord lot was about empty, and Sugar Creek didn’t seem to busy either. Somewhat dissapointed but still hopeful. Maybe people just aren’t ready to trust the train to get there right on time yet.

Not much different than the south line. 485 is always full but the park and rides get progressively emptier as you go towards town (although they have been getting fuller every year). 

Old Concord is in a very awkward location for drivers. Sugar Creek is suffering from invisibility thanks to construction (but it is also behind a few too many stoplights to be hugely attractive to the I-85 crowd.  I also think it will get a good bit of traffic from the Plaza side of the line.

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20 minutes ago, kermit said:

Not much different than the south line. 485 is always full but the park and rides get progressively emptier as you go towards town (although they have been getting fuller every year). 

Old Concord is in a very awkward location for drivers. Sugar Creek is suffering from invisibility thanks to construction (but it is also behind a few too many stoplights to be hugely attractive to the I-85 crowd.  I also think it will get a good bit of traffic from the Plaza side of the line.

I rode up town to get some lunch, and I’m on the way back now, I noticed significantly more people waiting on the platform going southbound still,  probably just commuters either getting used to it, maybe waiting for their parking passes expire this month or something, multiple factors I’m sure.  At least we know the weekend crowd is hooked,  but unfortunately for CATS the weekend crowd probably has the highest percentage of fare jumpers. 

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I'm wondering if the extension has a positive impact on development South of Uptown?  I know we will see a major impact North and that South is already booming beyond sewer capacity.  However, people South just doubled how far they can go on light rail.  That would definitely make me more interested in living on the line.  The more lines built, I'd assume there would be an exponential impact on development (again, it would work for me personally).  All of this assumes they get functional apps and ticket machines...

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3 hours ago, grodney said:

I'd rather walk the 1.3 miles than figure out how to ride a bus!  hahaha, but yeah that's an interesting  suggestion.  I might have to suck it up and conquer my fear, especially if any important beer releases happen before access is good from 36th St!

 

1 hour ago, kermit said:

me too

Silver spooners!

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19 hours ago, AuLukey said:

A couple observations from riding the entire length of the line Saturday:

1. As many have mentioned, a lot of areas look incomplete or forgotten about. It definitely feels like they rushed to finish to make sure they didn’t have to push out the opening date again.

2. The area between Sugar Creek and Old Concord Road is yeeeash. I actually overheard a few people mention “no way would I ever get off at this (Sugar Creek) stop!” I know a lot of areas on the original line weren’t developed at the time, but this portion of the line looks pretty hopeless.

3. Nobody seems to know how to board public transit. I think CATS really is just lacking proper markings on the platforms. There needs to be lines and arrows so people know where to stand to board and where not to stand as not to be in the way of departing passengers. Plenty of other mass transit lines around the country have clearly marked indicators to make it easier for people to understand.

4. The “do not stand here zone” at the edge of platforms should probably also include those words. Too many people had to be continually ushered away from the edge.

5. Of the three trains that we rode on throughout the day, only one had an updated map.

6. Opening on the same weekend as the NCAA tournament, the parade, and the bar crawl may have made the line look extremely successful; but I got the impression that the overcrowded cars and stations turned a LOT of people off to the idea of ever using the light rail again.

7. People actually think “light” rail means it is solar powered and, therefore, that is why it is called Lynx, not light rail... I overheard a middle aged gentleman explaining this to a group of people. It took every last iota of my patience not to correct him for the betterment of society.

8. People. Are. Asshats. Not all people, but just enough to ruin a good thing for everyone else. My two friends and I are riding back to the beginning of the line, we sit in the seats that face each other; we have two king-sized pillows, a shopping bag, and a purse. We leave enough room for someone else to sit with us if they’d like, someone eventually does. Well, this woman on the other side of the aisle sits in the aisle seat, puts her feet up across to the other seats, and then proceeds to act like she’s asleep every time more people would board the train. A couple said something, she ignored them. This went on for about seven stops before a lady, who had two kids with her, just kept tapping her on the leg until the woman finally moved her legs with an over-the-top eye roll and sigh. Then she puts her purse on the seat next to her; so the kids had to sit on the same seat together with their mom... People blow my mind sometimes.

Sorry, that’s a LOT more than I meant to type!

It seems to me that there are some pretty glaring issues with CATS.  Incompetency might be a bit strong, but there's definitely a lack of foresight.  A lack of something as basic as an updated transit map in one of its trains is pretty inexcusable at this point, never mind the lack of functional crosswalks at Parkwood Station, general lack of signage/direction everywhere, and THREE different apps.

I mean, most of those things should fall under Logic 101, and none of them should come anywhere close to breaking the budget.  You've got to wonder what those in charge are thinking sometimes....

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^ I have no inside knowledge but my impression was that CATS was so focused on making sure BIG things didn't go wrong (keeping trains rolling) that they overlooked LOTS of small things (apps, maps and signs). Believe it or not, Friday went much more smoothly than the 2007 debut of the South line (where crowds stood on platforms for as much as an hour (in the rain!) to get a chance to ride). Also keep in mind that some of the f'ups were the city's fault (e.g. station access issues). 

I wish that CATS had put a bit more attention on the details (the app and schedule issue are pretty unforgivable), but ultimately I think they made the right choice in prioritization (assuming they had to choose). I do hope they get their act together on the little stuff (apps, maps, renting retail space, parking utilization, etc.)  before Lewis starts politicking for the Big Bang tax hike. I also have the feeling that the crossing gates along N Tryon are still a bit hinky, dialing those in, and making the UNCC trip about 3-4 minutes faster also needs to be a priority.

I do agree with your perspective, CATS needs to get its sh't together. We live in the age of Uber, so not having a useful and reliable real-time tracking app (plus countdown clocks on platforms) is pretty unforgivable.

EDIT: glad to hear (below) that the trip to UC is faster today than it was on Friday.

 

Edited by kermit
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8 minutes ago, kermit said:

^ I have no inside knowledge but my impression was that CATS was so focused on making sure BIG things didn't go wrong (keeping trains rolling) that they overlooked LOTS of small things (apps, maps and signs). Believe it or not, Friday went much more smoothly than the 2007 debut of the South line (where crowds stood on platforms for as much as an hour (in the rain!) to get a chance to ride). Also keep in mind that some of the f'ups were the city's fault (e.g. station access issues). 

I wish that CATS had put a bit more attention on the details (the app and schedule issue are pretty unforgivable), but ultimately I think they made the right choice in prioritization (assuming they had to choose). I do hope they get their act together on the little stuff (apps, maps, renting retail space, parking utilization, etc.)  before Lewis starts politicking for the Big Bang tax hike. I also have the feeling that the crossing gates along N Tryon are still a bit hinky, dialing those in, and making the UNCC trip about 3-4 minutes faster also needs to be a priority.

I do agree with your perspective, CATS needs to get its sh't together. We live in the age of Uber, so not having a useful and reliable real-time tracking app (plus countdown clocks on platforms) is pretty unforgivable.

 We live in an age of instant gratification, people hate waiting, I think cats need to try to allocate some funds to have the trains run at rush-hour frequency throughout the day, or at least every 10 minutes or so, their goal should be to make it to where people don’t have to keep checking the schedule, they should be able to go onto the platform and assume a train will be there relatively soon. 

 As far as the ride to uptown goes, I think driving, at least you have something “to do“ when you’re just sitting on the train, it can seem longer than it actually is, but I timed the ride from University to uptown today, and it was only about 25 minutes, on the way back it was right around the 22 minute mark.  And that was with rush-hour train traffic, and a driver switch at Parkwood. 

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42 minutes ago, JacksonH said:

If you had seen the area now known as South End thirty years ago -- and you look too young for that -- you would realize that nothing is hopeless.  That was no man's land!  There are actually big projects either proposed or under development for the Sugar Creek area.  The Station House project (a rather large development) will be going up very close to the Sugar Creek lightrail station.  The developers of the Greenway District are also doing the Station House, and they're trying to get the city to do some work that will enable them to expand the Greenway District all the way to the Station House so they can connect the two projects into one huge residential/office/commerce/park district.  There will be lots of people living and playing in that area down the road.

http://www.charlottemagazine.com/Charlotte-Magazine/January-2018/Charlotte-Art-League-Announces-Its-New-NoDa-Home/

http://www.uptownevolution.com/category/uptown-living-blog/

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article184429013.html

 

 

There is a big difference to me. Especially the area between Sugar Creek and Old Concord. It doesn't really matter because there is no stop between them, but gentrifying that area, or massive transformations, would be no different than (thanks to the poster who always makes me mind me then's and than's) Brooklyn Village being torn down for gentrification. This section of the corridor goes through poverty and an established community. The gentrification of South End didn't really dislocate anyone nearly as much as gentrification would do to the area around Old Concord and Sugar Creek. 

 

I too am interested in the new ridership numbers so far, even though it's probably not reliable data yet. I bet the next semesters of UNCC, the stations will become more popular with students who debate paying hundreds for parking passes or opt to take light rail (most likely everyone who commutes to UNCC has already purchased their parking passes for this semester)

 

And All stations have been busy on the original blue line the last few months. Even Carson is getting decent amounts of people.  I can't think of any stations that are too light these days. 

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