Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line

[KJHburg]

^^^ IF They want to encourage ridership they need longer trains or more frequency.  

[Desert Power]

Higher frequencies, doors that open without delay, and trains that arrive on time should all be priorities for CATS.  They aren't.

[grodney]

12 hours ago, Desert Power said:

 trains that arrive on time

For fun, I've started tracking the train schedule performance.  Here's a sneak peek at the early results.  

My favorites so far:

• The afternoon trip on Monday.....during 7-minute headways.....arrived at 485 almost 8 minutes late.
• Tuesday morning the 6:19 incoming at 485 was 8.5 minutes late....but the driver did a 2 minute 5 second turnaround to nearly get back on schedule.  Nice!

My clock is perfectly synchronized to the CATS clock as shown on the TVMs, by the way.

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

Was anyone riding during Charlotte's full campus lock-down yesterday?  I'm curious what CATS protocol is...I'd assume campus police and/or CMPD get in touch with CATS (light rail and bus) to notify them.  For safety precautions maybe make the ending light rail stop JW or University City.

[kermit]

7 minutes ago, CharlotteWkndBuzz said:

Was anyone riding during Charlotte's full campus lock-down yesterday?  I'm curious what CATS protocol is...I'd assume campus police and/or CMPD get in touch with CATS (light rail and bus) to notify them.  For safety precautions maybe make the ending light rail stop JW or University City.

CATS terminated BLE service at Mcullugh and ran a bus bridge to JW Clay from there throughout the lockdown.

[davidclt]

On 5/1/2019 at 7:34 AM, grodney said:

For fun, I've started tracking the train schedule performance.  Here's a sneak peek at the early results.  

I'm not clear on why CATS bothers publishing a schedule given it seems illusory? It definitely doesn't seem aspirational.

Do they really care as little as they seem to? I really do wish they could do this adequately. 

[kermit]

CATS has such  a problem w people using the emergency  exit end of U City station that they have stationed a rent-a-cop under the stairway. I don't know why CATS didn't realize that 'emergency only' routes are gonna get used when they are the shortest path.

How about a redesign instead? The problem is about to get much worse when the apartments across the street from Waffle House open.

Edited May 6, 2019 by kermit

[kermit]

On 4/18/2019 at 3:13 PM, kermit said:

While we are talking about busted stuff...

This grade crossing signal and gate has been gone for more than three weeks. This situation requires every train to come to a complete stop before proceeding.

 

So it’s now been about six weeks since this crossing gate was driven into — there has been no progress at all over the past three weeks at least.

Now there are two additional intersections along N Tryon where trains must come to a complete stop every trip due to gate problems.

Seriously? 

 

[kermit]

At the risk of not being appropriately pc I think it’s interesting that more than 3/4 of riders at the University City station appear to be of Indian descent -- noteworthy only because this was not the case three months ago.  The station is also significantly busier at rush hours these days.

Edited May 9, 2019 by kermit

[ChessieCat]

56 minutes ago, kermit said:

At the risk of not being appropriately pc I think it’s interesting that more than 3/4 of riders at the University City station appear to be of Indian descent.  The station is also significantly busier at rush hours these days.

Transit passes are included in the consulting contracts negotiated between their employers and their clients, the who's who of big employers in this town...

Edited May 9, 2019 by ChessieCat

[kermit]

My 100 series train this morning now has a flip up cover on both door open buttons (red button at top left). 

Looks like the kind of setup  that would have broken off my GI Joe Helicopter before Christmas lunch.

 

Edited May 10, 2019 by kermit

[Desert Power]

Canceled my transit pass for June.  Maybe I will pick it up again in the cooler months.  Waited almost 30 minutes for a train home on Thursday evening around 630.  The reliability and timeliness has gotten really bad.

Edited May 11, 2019 by Desert Power

[southslider]

Most LRT systems have street-running sections. But most don't use control-gates. The Charlotte way has been so extra-cautious to avoid car wrecks that the trains can't run on time.

[kermit]

I would have taken the blue line to dinner tonight but I decided not to because of the 20 minute headways. 

[15895]

16 minutes ago, kermit said:

I would have taken the blue line to dinner tonight but I decided not to because of the 20 minute headways. 

They need real time gps tracking. That way people can plan appropriately when to get to the station 

[elrodvt]

9 hours ago, Desert Power said:

Canceled my transit pass for June.  Maybe I will pick it up again in the cooler months.  Waited almost 30 minutes for a train home on Thursday evening around 630.  The reliability and timeliness has gotten really bad.

No it hasn't. On a recent Charlotte talks Lyles congratulated the city manager for ensuring the trains are always on time.  :-(

2 hours ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

They need real time gps tracking. That way people can plan appropriately when to get to the station 

I agree that would be nice. But, you should be able to rely on the schedule and GPS is a convenience to show time away at the station and to notify your app in the very unlikely event a train has broken.

Edited May 12, 2019 by elrodvt

[southslider]

Trains used to run on time but then BLE added too many street crossings for the LYNX safety model to continue as before.

[Desert Power]

18 minutes ago, southslider said:

Trains used to run on time but then BLE added too many street crossings for the LYNX safety model to continue as before.

BLE ran mostly on time until the All Star Weekend.  Not great, but more often than not on time.

[grodney]

I had a new one last week......the driver over-shot the stop at 3rd St, and when the door opened, it was directly aligned with the yellow bollards that are supposed to be aligned between the two cars.  So exiting passengers had to step through the bollards or use a different door.

[davidclt]

There's a survey out from CATS for the Pineville-Ballantyne Rapid Transit Study: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PinevilleBallantyne - closes May 31st.

[TangoWithTheRango]

^^^ Option B to both please and thank you (from someone living in Pineville).

[JHart]

I don't want those undesirable suburban folks coming into the urban neighborhoods!!

[Desert Power]

1 hour ago, TangoWithTheRango said:

^^^ Option B to both please and thank you (from someone living in Pineville).

I voted option B but I also left a comment that this should not be a priority over things like the Silver/Red line.  Ballentyne to CTC would be almost 40 minutes.

[davidclt]

21 minutes ago, Desert Power said:

I voted option B

I did too for both but noted that frequent, reliable bus service from the neighborhoods was critical. I also suggested they take the train over the mall so one didn't have to cross the vast expanse of parking lot. Why must we do everything as absolutely cheaply (not frugally, cheaply) as possible?

[southslider]

I voted for the more direct options. Time is money-- capital cost to build, operating cost to run, and travel time savings for both competitive funding and commuting ridership.