Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line

[monsoon]

^That machine is still on the Houston website. Seems odd they would leave it on there if they were fighting them with a lawsuit.

[MZT]

When the trains are as crowded as they have been after Bobcats games, it would be a very clumsy effort to check tickets.

[Andyc545]

When the trains are as crowded as they have been after Bobcats games, it would be a very clumsy effort to check tickets.

After the checkers game I went to a week or so ago, they had a ticket checker riding, but couldn't move so he didn't check tickets at all. Does prove a potential problem, though, especially with the way these trains are running on special events.

[Raintree21]

Perhaps at special events or at other busy times, they could post a checker(s) at the big stations like 485 and the TC and they can ask people to show their tickets as they enter the train.

[New Name]

I would like to make an effort to use the bus and LYNX more often. I am very familiar with the LYNX (as most of us here are), and grew up in a city with subways, so I know how to use a closed public transit system effectively. But I will have to start my trips on the #3 CATS bus in Noda, to get to the Transportation Center. Can someone clue me in to the most efficient ways to transfer from bus to LYNX, crosstown, return trip etc. (I guess I am asking about a single ride pass and transferring from mode to mode over the course of a half day.) Can I purchase passes that will allow me to transfer from mode to mode when I board the initial bus?

[Mobuchu]

For a single pass one way, if you buy a ticket on the bus, ask for a transfer pass. It will have a time stamp on it and it can be used to transfer to the train within (I think) 90 min. The same transfer pass can be used for any other bus as well, just not for the same # bus that you got it on.

www.ridetransit.org for maps, schedules, etc.

Edited January 10, 2008 by Mobuchu

[tozmervo]

As a regular 8-5 commuter on LYNX since it opened, I will post this for the benefit of those who don't commute regularly on it:

Rush hour trains have gone from comfortable in early December, to crowded but managable in late December, to, frankly, uncomfortably crowded now in January. (All those parking commitments finally expired on Dec 31 I guess)

I really wish CATS would take a second look at the hold bars - standers could spread out quite a bit more if more bars were made available and straps were added to the ceiling bars. I also wish they'd go ahead and buy those extra trains - the single car trains just can't handle rush hour very well now, much less the anticipated growth. I shudder knowing how much parking capacity is still available at the P&R lots and how busy the trains already are at peak hours. I wouldn't mind the tight fit so much if I knew CATS was maxing out their available capacity.

[monsoon]

They actually have 16 trains they can use on the line. It's amazing they are running singles during rush hour.

[tozmervo]

They actually have 16 trains they can use on the line. It's amazing they are running singles during rush hour.

I think they're all in service (they alternate doubles and singles), but they simply don't have enough to run all doubles every 7.5 minutes.

[Nostyle]

I think they're all in service (they alternate doubles and singles), but they simply don't have enough to run all doubles every 7.5 minutes.

I'm on a later shift this week (10:30 to 7) but today I found myself on a double on the way home. It wasn't nearly as crowded as it would be during rush hour but considering how late it was and that it was a double train, I was happy to see a decent number of riders onboard with me.

[Nostyle]

Tonight on the way home I noticed advertisements on the inside of the train. Hendrick Honda and Reid's had ads that implied discounts/special deals for LYNX riders. I guess CATS decided the advertising idea was a good one.

[Andyc545]

Tonight on the way home I noticed advertisements on the inside of the train. Hendrick Honda and Reid's had ads that implied discounts/special deals for LYNX riders. I guess CATS decided the advertising idea was a good one.

Ironic that a car dealership would advertise incentives on public mass transportation, especially given the circumstances that the train was partially built in the first place.

On another note- I don't mind those ads at all, and if it contributes to the funds for us receieving more mass transit and maintaining them, then I'm all for it. They are subtle and don't interfere at all with the LYNX experience.

[Nostyle]

The Hendrick ad said that you can have your car worked on and in the mean time ride the Lynx as their guest. The Reid's ad implied that Lynx riders get special discounts. I agree, if these kinds of ads help the transit budget, more power to them.

[staffer]

Tonight on the way home I noticed advertisements on the inside of the train. Hendrick Honda and Reid's had ads that implied discounts/special deals for LYNX riders. I guess CATS decided the advertising idea was a good one.

When I ate at Reid's last Monday I noticed they had a "Blue Line special", which for that day was a dollar off a Turkey, swiss and pickle sandwich. You had to show your Blue Line ticket. I bought the sandwich.

[monsoon]

The ticket machines are the bane of this light rail system and the problem is getting worse. Some fellow train people were in town that I know so I took them for a ride on the system. We went to 3 different stations and there were non-working machines at each station. The problem was really bad at 7th street where one of the ticketing machines wasn't selling anything but 7 day passes, so the line was 25 deep at the other machine. Several people were visibly upset when they missed not one, but two trains waiting to get a ticket.

At another station, they needed to replace a roll of ticket stock in one of the machines. This turned out to about a 10 minute operation which seems incredibly long. During this operation I got a birds eye view of the guts of the TVM. What I noticed right off is there are 4 reels of ticket stock inside the machine but apparently different stock is used for various tickets and when the most used type of stock runs out, the machine quits selling that kind of ticket. It's not a good design.

Compounding the problem was the fact they were only using one track to run trains south of South End. So CATS reduced the frequency of the trains down to 20 minutes. One of my out of town visitors chuckled when he saw that a revised schedule had been taped to each machine with some torn off pieces of grey duct tape. "Real Classy" he said. There was also some police tape draped across the side of the station that you were not supposed to use, but CATS had mis-programmed the lighted signs indicating which side of the station was closed. Given all the issues, it took us an hour and 15 minutes to travel from Tyvola Station to downtown and return. A very long time for such a short trip.

All in all they left saying "nice try" but needs a lot of work to make it more reliable. I think immediately CATS ought to just start selling a 6 hour pass at the same price as a 1 way ticket so people don't have to use the machines twice until they do something to get this problem fixed.

[Nostyle]

Glad I got my monthly pass.

By the way, I looked at one of my old weekly passes. They're not 10-ride passes. They're all-you-can-ride weekly passes but for Lynx only. I can get one at the Wachovia kiosk in the Wachovia Atrium for a company discount. I'm not sure where the average joe on the street can get one, or if they've even really made an effort to promote them.

[swampfox43]

The ticket machines are the bane of this light rail system and the problem is getting worse. The problem was really bad at 7th street where one of the ticketing machines wasn't selling anything but 7 day passes, so the line was 25 deep at the other machine. Several people were visibly upset when they missed not one, but two trains waiting to get a ticket.

Me and a friend ate at Pikes for lunch yesterday and then decided to take Lynx from the E/W station to the Garden Landscape show at the convention center.

With no ticket problems, we waited approx. 12 minutes for a train, only to find out that people had been waiting over 15 minutes already. So in essence, it took 27 minutes for a train to arrive.

Now to the 7th St station debacle that Monsoon mentioned. Why oh why do they only have ONE ticket machine on each side of the tracks at this location? People were running to the other end of the platform thinking there was another ticket machine and then running across the tracks to buy on the other side. It's just crazy!!

We only had 4 people ahead of us in line to buy tickets with no train in sight and we STILL missed the train. AT this time the machines were working, but the riders (some of them elderly) just couldn't figure it out. And people dropping all their nickel change on the ground while trying to scoop it out of the "way too low" change dispenser. The ticketing process (as mentioned many times in earlier posts) is the biggest problem facing Lynx. Poorly designed and implemented.

I will continue to use it, and love doing so, but I think the best solution I have heard mentioned thus far is the idea of selling a 6 hour pass. We should all ban together to push this brilliant idea.

[Nostyle]

My wife and I, along with her cousin's family, took the train from 485 to Bland today for lunch. The trains weren't running on the posted schedule, apparently because many of the northbound stations were being worked on. The ticket machine gave us no problems at either station, fortunately. The train seemed to be running on a 15-minute schedule, not a 20-minute schedule. The trains were all PACKED (a single train northbound but a double train southbound), which is great for an uneventful Sunday. Lots of kids onboard. Apparently the novelty of taking your kids for a ride on the train hasn't worn off yet.

[Temeteron]

My friend and I rode the rail for the first time yesterday! It was an amazing experience....We ate at Greek Isles and then took the Bland Station stop to City Center......then back to Bland Station....It was crowded for a Sunday. One of the guys on the train told me that it has 130% usage of what CATS had expected for the light-rail.

[Charlotte_native]

I didn't ride yesterday, but did walk to Reids at 7th Street Station to get groceries in the morning. We walked our dogs, so I stood outside and waited while my partner shopped. CATS had employees at the station talking to folks about the ticket machines and, I'm not sure, I didn't walk over to see, maybe sell tickets directly (?). They were doing something.

With all the bad press and controversy leading up to the vote and then the opening, you'd think this would be something to be worked on night and day until it is fixed. I guess that is the difference between public and private sector work. A business or corporation would be doing everything possible to get this done.

Edited January 14, 2008 by Charlotte_native

[monsoon]

^They are caught between a rock and a hard place. I think it is obvious they did not do the due diligence required when they decided to use this particular vendor's machine (of several they sell) and in most cases they ought to tell them to take them out go to another source. However if they made this move they would be crucified in the media so they are pretty much damned if they do and damned if they don't. However machines that perform as poorly as these and can't even seem to do something as simple as take a credit card leaves one to wonder exactly what is going on here. When I finally got on the return train at 7th street this was what people were talking about on the train. That is the PITA ticket machines.

If it is not fixed, it remains to be seen what effect this will have on Lynx in general. Most likely it won't be anything good. Either they won't be able to eject people for not paying fares or people will drive in order to avoid the hassle.

In addition, CATS has to learn that it can't take tracks off-line as they did on Saturday if they expect people to become reliant on the system to move them around. 1+ hours to get from Tyvola to DT and back is not rapid transit by any means.

[mad_park]

If it is not fixed, it remains to be seen what effect this will have on Lynx in general. Most likely it won't be anything good. Either they won't be able to eject people for not paying fares or people will drive in order to avoid the hassle.

I predict people will soon stop watching trains leave the station while they are waiting in line due to malfunctioning machines. Is the ticket checker really going to cite someone if they say they waited 10 min trying to get a ticket and couldn't afford to be late for work or an appointment AND they offer up the cash they had hoped to insert into the machine? If he does, then that would make a great story in the Observer.

[roningreensboro]

My girlfriend and I rode the Blue line on January 1st from 7th street to 485 and the machine was down at the 7th street station. So we rode to the next station up and brought a ticket and got back on. However she was very confused as to what she did with the ticket. She went to college at Northwestern and was accustom to buying a ticket and inserting it into the machine then the machine letting you pass. After telling her to just hold onto it because a guard "may" check for tickets. She thought it was stupid, as do I, and felt like some sort of gate entrance would work better and more machines.

Edited January 14, 2008 by roningreensboro

[monsoon]

^Actually the honor system is used on quite a number of LRT systems. As explained above several times, it works well when implement properly. The reason for it is that it is significantly less expensive to implement than a controlled access system.

[tozmervo]

I think the honor system won't really show its worth until enforcment begins in earnest. Of course that can't begin until the machines work. Always comes back to those dang TVMs.