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Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line


dubone

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53 minutes ago, elrodvt said:

How often do they run? That's not bad but my 89 y/o mom might not like going around and around down that ramp.

There's an app that you can download called "UNCC NextRide," and you can track where all of the buses are in real time! But in my experience over the past few years, its usually a 15 minute wait between buses.

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Anyone else find this article a bit of a hit and run job?

Where are the cars? Two new light-rail parking decks are almost empty. > http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article206221569.html#storylink=mainstage

The way I see it is the extension has only been open a week.  It's going to take years to build out to the level that these parking ramps are going to be in high demand.  But with Park and Ride parking it's not a question of which comes first...you obviously have the parking first.  That way you grow ridership without issue on parking.  Once someone embraces this method they don't have to get hit with parking issues a year from now and wait for a ramp to open up.  

Am I wrong?

 

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I think part of the problem with the parking decks at locations like Sugar Creek Road is you are already about a 15 minute drive from Uptown by that point. By the time you park your car in the Sugar Creek deck, walk to the train, and potentially miss it and have to wait 7 - 10 minutes, you could have probably just driven into Uptown and parked right next to your building, even at rush hour. Compound that with many of the Harrisburg, Concord, Highland Creek, etc... suburban commuters might be hesitant to wait for a train at "Sugar Creek" as the street doesn't have the best reputation for safety. Over time I think some people will park at Sugar Creek to save money on parking in Uptown, but it will take a while. Also, if traffic gets worse in that area over time and it becomes more congested, you may see more people ditch their car at the Sugar Creek deck and ride into work. I don't think it is congested enough yet to incentive people to ditch their car so close to Uptown. 

Is there any data on how many residents surrounding the Sugar Creek and Old Concord stations commute into Uptown for an 8AM to 5PM type of job? I would guess this changes over time, but right now I don't think those neighborhoods contribute much traffic into Uptown daily, hence the University City and Noda stops are getting all the traffic as more Uptown workers live in those neighborhoods. 

Edited by CLT2014
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I have a cow-orker who rode for the first time today.....he lives an 8-minute walk from 36th street station.  He said his uptown deck is already paid through this month, so probably won't ride again until April.  And if he can't get his free Duke pass for April, then he'll have to wait until May.  So yeah, the "expiring passes" and "signing up for passes" thing is real.....at least for one data point.

On a related note, it was cool standing at 3rd St Station yesterday afternoon and seeing people on the other side of the tracks, waiting for a  northbound train.....not something you'd see much in the past (because almost nobody rode from 3rd St to CTC or 7th).

Finally, the CATS routes to IKEA and the circulator at UNCC are all well and good.  But people are lazy.  They want door-to-door, and they don't want to wait on schedules, and they don't want to be concerned with fares or transfers or protocols or whatever.  I think.

 

Edited by grodney
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As the line matures the parking rules are sure to change as the utilization changes. I remember when MARTA expanded to the North and they built parking decks where they charged every car that entered. People quickly figured out that they could park in one of the many lots with open spaces in the nearby shopping centers (this was at the Perimeter Mall stop). So the center owners paid attendants to watch people and boot their cars if they headed to the station. Then they stopped charging completely but people would park in a lot/deck and head to the airport leaving their cars for days on end. So that resulted in a $5/day charge at specific locations. There are many people in Atlanta who drive 30 minutes to park and hop on a train to avoid the last extra traffic crunch and exorbitant parking fees. I can see the same happening here sooner than later. 

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The 9am ish northbound and southbound trains from East West today we’re both single vehicles — northbound was butt to nut.

Announcements at east west still say ‘train to uptown and 7th street’

My train still has the old, south line only map.

Sugar Creek deck has more cars today (maybe 30). It is an improvement.

Old Concord has also doubled its car count over the past few days.

UNCC traffic is pretty weak in the mornings (5people in my car at Old Concord). Although I don’t think students  can get prorated refunds on parking so their may be a student bump starting in Fall. Faculty and staff traffic appears to be pretty trivial (one or two people)  on my trains -- kinda concerned....

 

 

Edited by kermit
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The problem here is that the public good is best served by increasing ridership as much as possible and keeping cars off the road.   They need to have a system that does not provide an incentive to have students cheat their privileges which allow them to still drive, but take a space from someone who is trying to leave the car behind and stay off the roads who would have contributed to congestion.  I agree that those policies and charges will be adjusted over time to help make the most efficient and effective use of the deck.   

I am of the mind that the train ride ride should be free and the parking should be charged.   Of course, buses should always be free, but I'd probably go so far as to say they should pay riders as a thanks for putting up with the unpleasantness. 

  

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Noticed the same thing Kermit did. Old Concord had about triple the cars at 10:30am vs. monday at the same time. The speed seems to have increased. And the random stopping and slowly crawling into the stations on the extension seems to have stopped.  And also last time I seemed to be the only one on. Now there’s about 15 students in my part of the train.

 

So the trends are getting better which makes me feel good in the long run this will be a very busy segment. 

 

I also wish CMC UC had a stop. That’s always been a busy bus stop and I’m sure plenty of people with cars maybe have opted for light rail. But the stations are too far away for most probably. Vs  a parking lot right there 

And the poster who said a valid round trip ticket should be accepted to park at the park and rides is brilliant 

Edited by AirNostrumMAD
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29 minutes ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

I also wish CMC UC had a stop. That’s always been a busy bus stop and I’m sure plenty of people with cars maybe have opted for light rail. But the stations are too far away for most probably. Vs  a parking lot right there 

And the poster who said a valid round trip ticket should be accepted to park at the park and rides is brilliant 

CMC UC does have a stop.   JW Clay station is 1/4 mile walk from the hospital.   

If those people are subjecting themselves to the pure awfulness of a bus stop, a bus ride, and all the rest, they can walk 5 minute to the train.    But obviously the bus will be a better option if they are on one of the routes that does not go where the train does, but they still deserve our sympathy and respect for their suffering. 

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Quick question for a buddy of mine...They live in the University area and have a couple events on Saturday they are going to.  One's in the morning and the other is in the evening.  According to the website, Day Pass or above, lets you park in the JW for free.  His question, since they will need to come home before the evening event...with a Day Pass, is it in & out privileges to park in the deck OR is it a one-time validation (* During the timeframe (24hrs) of when the Day Pass was bought).

*If it is only a one-time validation per ticket...assuming two people are going, they could just use the second Day Pass as the other validation in the evening.  Would still be nice to know for future reference though.

 

Edited by CharlotteWkndBuzz
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5 minutes ago, CharlotteWkndBuzz said:

Quick question for a buddy of mine...They live in the University area and have a couple events on Saturday they are going to.  One's in the morning and the other is in the evening.  According to the website, Day Pass or above, lets you park in the JW for free.  His question, since they will need to come home before the evening event...with a Day Pass, is it in & out privileges to park in the deck OR is it a one-time validation (* During the timeframe (24hrs) of when the Day Pass was bought).

*If it is only a one-time validation per ticket...assuming two people are going, they could just use the second Day Pass as the other validation in the evening.  Would still be nice to know for future reference though.

 

 

I thought I read above it cost money to park there between 3-6PM. Not sure if that helps your friends or not until someone who knows can answer.

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18 hours ago, elrodvt said:

How often do they run? That's not bad but my 89 y/o mom might not like going around and around down that ramp.

I'm not sure but I'm guessing they run the route constantly throughout the day.  And the frequency would depend on how many buses are running each route.  Here's the link to the website:  https://pats.uncc.edu/ninertransit      And on this link you can see in real time where each bus is on campus:  http://nextride.uncc.edu

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File this under ‘premature extrapolation’ 

I have now had four rush hours in the BLE doing a reverse commute (outbound to UNCC in morning). 

Ridership has been fairly consistent all week, about 40-50 passengers per train (based on counting people in the car i am in). I have looked in quite a few trains going the other direction and they look about the same. 

Rough math says 50 x 240 trains per day is  (generously) about 12,000 riders per day. This is about 1/3 below expectations. 

I hope things pick up (and I think they will).

It looks to me like there is less UNCC traffic than expected and a bit more traffic from the midpoints. 

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27 minutes ago, kermit said:

File this under ‘premature extrapolation’ 

I have now had four rush hours in the BLE doing a reverse commute (outbound to UNCC in morning). 

Ridership has been fairly consistent all week, about 40-50 passengers per train (based on counting people in the car i am in). I have looked in quite a few trains going the other direction and they look about the same. 

Rough math says 50 x 240 trains per day is  (generously) about 12,000 riders per day. This is about 1/3 below expectations. 

I hope things pick up (and I think they will).

It looks to me like there is less UNCC traffic than expected and a bit more traffic from the midpoints. 

Are you a math machine?

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22 hours ago, southslider said:

There are three CATS routes between IKEA and UCB Station-- Routes 11, 50, and 54.

 

 Yes, but from a business standpoint, having a bus that runs straight to and from the store might be a good investment for IKEA, especially if you have people coming from uptown to go furniture shopping, big items would probably still need to be shipped, but some small knickknacks could easily be brought on the bus and train. 

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5 hours ago, kermit said:

File this under ‘premature extrapolation’ 

I have now had four rush hours in the BLE doing a reverse commute (outbound to UNCC in morning). 

Ridership has been fairly consistent all week, about 40-50 passengers per train (based on counting people in the car i am in). I have looked in quite a few trains going the other direction and they look about the same. 

Rough math says 50 x 240 trains per day is  (generously) about 12,000 riders per day. This is about 1/3 below expectations. 

I hope things pick up (and I think they will).

It looks to me like there is less UNCC traffic than expected and a bit more traffic from the midpoints. 

 

300237AA-06B2-4050-B3C7-79BB2092D715.jpeg

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16 hours ago, sakami said:

As the line matures the parking rules are sure to change as the utilization changes. I remember when MARTA expanded to the North and they built parking decks where they charged every car that entered. People quickly figured out that they could park in one of the many lots with open spaces in the nearby shopping centers (this was at the Perimeter Mall stop). So the center owners paid attendants to watch people and boot their cars if they headed to the station. Then they stopped charging completely but people would park in a lot/deck and head to the airport leaving their cars for days on end. So that resulted in a $5/day charge at specific locations. There are many people in Atlanta who drive 30 minutes to park and hop on a train to avoid the last extra traffic crunch and exorbitant parking fees. I can see the same happening here sooner than later. 

More importantly 400 and downtown connector now take almost 2 hours to get from Dunwoody to Airport some afternoons after the toll lanes closed in 2013/14. Plus with development around the stations in Sandy Springs, Medical Center and Dunwoody, it makes sense to use the decks and trains. No worry to fret in Charlotte. The decks are proactive, they dont NEED to be full.

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10 hours ago, nakers2 said:

 Yes, but from a business standpoint, having a bus that runs straight to and from the store might be a good investment for IKEA, especially if you have people coming from uptown to go furniture shopping, big items would probably still need to be shipped, but some small knickknacks could easily be brought on the bus and train. 

The public bus stop is already at a bench with trees and lighting, where a sidewalk comes out from IKEA to IKEA Blvd. From a business standpoint, IKEA shouldn't have built so far from the public street in a transit station area.

7 hours ago, soumith050118 said:

change CTC/Arena station to CTC/Spectrum Center station. It's not called TWC Arena anymore, and Brooklyn has Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center station

TWC was never in the station name and Spectrum won't be either.  Unless naming rights are sold for stations, they won't have private place names.

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14 hours ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

 

I thought I read above it cost money to park there between 3-6PM. Not sure if that helps your friends or not until someone who knows can answer.

The gates are not yet functional, so there's staff visually checking tickets for now. And right now, less than a day pass will even be accepted by staff 3-6pm. And of course, completely free outside of those hours.

Still think it's a huge mistake to charge for parking when commuters can fill a deck before students would generally arrive.  And very dumb to not accept round-trip tickets once gates are working, since those are most common for events.

Edited by southslider
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In regards to UNCC traffic being lighter than expected, it's probably due to the line opening in the middle of a semester.  Students that would most likely use the BLE to get to campus have already bought parking passes for the year, they're not going to give up those expensive passes to ride the train.  I also remember this happening when the Blue line first opened in 2007.  The weekend it opened up was crazy busy but on that Monday I believe there was only around 8 thousand people to ride, not much more the following days and weeks, now they're averaging what, 16,000 riders a day?  It takes a while for people to adjust their schedules to use these lines, give it time to mature and let the rest of the construction (sugar creek, 36th street, etc.) wrap up before getting worked up about ridership.  

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5 minutes ago, jtmonk said:

In regards to UNCC traffic being lighter than expected, it's probably due to the line opening in the middle of a semester.  Students that would most likely use the BLE to get to campus have already bought parking passes for the year, they're not going to give up those expensive passes to ride the train.  I also remember this happening when the Blue line first opened in 2007.  The weekend it opened up was crazy busy but on that Monday I believe there was only around 8 thousand people to ride, not much more the following days and weeks, now they're averaging what, 16,000 riders a day?  It takes a while for people to adjust their schedules to use these lines, give it time to mature and let the rest of the construction (sugar creek, 36th street, etc.) wrap up before getting worked up about ridership.  

Exactly!  Students who paid $450/yr for their pass are definitely going to finish out the year and drive.

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