Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line

[jjwilli]

Maybe try going through this Advisory Board and emailing all of the members?  Doubt they have much teeth but could be another avenue. Seems like they have some openings too!

https://charlottenc.gov/cats/about/boards/Pages/CTAG.aspx

[XRZ.ME]

Quote

LYNX Blue Line service is currently suspended in both directions due to a large military vehicle stuck on the tracks near Sharon Rd West and South Blvd. We will advise when service has resumed and/or update with additional information when possible. Thank you for your patience.

What's this large military vehichle?

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

1 minute ago, XRZ.ME said:

What's this large military vehichle?

One of Trump's parade tanks got stuck headed from DC to Fort Bragg on South Blvd. 

[grodney]

I'm normally on the 6:28am northbound from 485, so I don't see how busy the Light Rail is.  Today I got to 485 at 9:40, and it was full/overflowing, and Sharon Rd West was full/overflowing, and Arrowwood was full/overflowing, so I went up to Scaleybark.....also full/overflowing.  A guy there assured me this is normal.  Is it really?  This is summer even, when 10% of the workforce is on vacation. 

Or is there something going on uptown today?  

[CLTranspo]

I live beside Arrowood and it fills up every day. Not sure for Scaleybark but seems like it’s usually full as well. 

[QClifer]

I believe there is a side parking lot for the Tyvola station on S blvd that never fills up, next to first citizens bank. Archdale has a huge parking lot on S Blvd that never fills up either.

[lancer22]

1 hour ago, CLTranspo said:

I live beside Arrowood and it fills up every day. Not sure for Scaleybark but seems like it’s usually full as well. 

Scaleybark is full to the brim every day by about 9:00 AM.

[grodney]

Wow that's crazy....I had no idea.  Guess I should have continued up South to check Archdale etc before giving up and going to Scaleybark.  Lesson learned not to plan appointments before going in to work.

[Desert Power]

Was really great how yesterday evening, with so many people visiting, all of the train stations were broadcasting a 40 minute delay.  How does Lewis keep his job?

[CLTProductions]

12 minutes ago, Desert Power said:

Was really great how yesterday evening, with so many people visiting, all of the train stations were broadcasting a 40 minute delay.  How does Lewis keep his job?

He really is a joke. I’ve noticed INFINITELY more delays, issues and just general crap since he took over in 2015. Its just embarrassing. Not sure how we compare to other light rails but it’s nearly impossible to plan around the schedule because it is never on time

[KJHburg]

Change at the top management of CATS and LYNX is needed if there any hope in pursuing new lines and taxes for such.  I thought that for some time but continuing problems with the existing system is not going to get voter buy in for more rails.   

[Nick2]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

Change at the top management of CATS and LYNX is needed if there any hope in pursuing new lines and taxes for such.  I thought that for some time but continuing problems with the existing system is not going to get voter buy in for more rails.   

For real. The public has to really like the existing rail for there to be any hope for future funding to get approved. Higher frequency and way fewer delays are super necessary to achieve this. 

I also think running the street car for free for a year (or maybe permanently) after the modern cars are running and phase 2 is open will help the image of that since people are already pretty sour on it.

CLT needs rail for the future. Those who are in power are responsible to make sure it happens. The best time to expand transit infrastructure was yesterday and the second best is today. 

Edited July 21, 2019 by Nick2

[CLT2014]

3 hours ago, Jayvee said:

He really is a joke. I’ve noticed INFINITELY more delays, issues and just general crap since he took over in 2015. Its just embarrassing. Not sure how we compare to other light rails but it’s nearly impossible to plan around the schedule because it is never on time

Being on time is critical. Denver's light rail system started posting poor on time reliability and people are voting with their feet. Light rail ridership is down almost -14% for the first five months of 2019 versus the same period in 2018. https://www.denverpost.com/2019/07/13/rtd-light-rail-ridership-denver-colorado/

Washington DC is having similar issues with reliability.

Our investments in light rail will look like a failure for a ridership perspective if people can't trust it to get them home on time. 

[JacksonH]

28 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

Being on time is critical. Denver's light rail system started posting poor on time reliability and people are voting with their feet. Light rail ridership is down almost -14% for the first five months of 2019 versus the same period in 2018. https://www.denverpost.com/2019/07/13/rtd-light-rail-ridership-denver-colorado/

Washington DC is having similar issues with reliability.

Our investments in light rail will look like a failure for a ridership perspective if people can't trust it to get them home on time. 

I was just in Denver and was very impressed with what I saw.  I can't speak for the whole system, but I was staying downtown and I took the train from the airport to Union Station and back, and I used the free (and very full) bus service that goes up and down the 16th St. Mall corridor in downtown from Union Station.  The whole trip from airport to hotel cost me $10.50 for the 23-mile trip.  You can't beat that.  And the train was pretty full.

The population of Denver is about 720,000, with a metro of 2.8 million.  That's roughly the same size as Charlotte  But Denver has a very extensive metro rail system that goes to many parts of the city and out to far-flung satellite towns like Boulder and Littleton and Arvada.  It would be the equivalent of Charlotte already having trains running to SouthPark and Ballantyne, and from Rock Hill to Mooresville, Gastonia to Concord and Monroe.  Looking at the system map, which I've attached, and considering that Denver and Charlotte are similar in size (except for the fact that Denver didn't raze and destroy its downtown in the '60s like Charlotte did and now has a very busy and vibrant DT), I had to wonder how Charlotte got soooo far behind.

As I've said before, I live in San Diego.  We have a 55-mile light rail system (called the San Diego Trolley) that's currently being extended, adding another another 11 miles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego_Trolley), plus a 41-mile commuter rail (the Coaster; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaster_(commuter_rail) ).  So a total 107 mile system versus only 19 miles in Charlotte.  San Diego is only about 30% bigger than Charlotte, but has 463% more rail.  Again, how did Charlotte get SO far behind?

Edited July 21, 2019 by JacksonH

[easzman]

So how is a leadership change made at the top of CATS & LYNX? Will it take a decline in ridership?

I agree the new trolley should be free for at least a year or permanently to offset the horrible delay and everlasting mess on Trade & Hawthorne. 

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

3 hours ago, JacksonH said:

I was just in Denver and was very impressed with what I saw.  I can't speak for the whole system, but I was staying downtown and I took the train from the airport to Union Station and back, and I used the free (and very full) bus service that goes up and down the 16th St. Mall corridor in downtown from Union Station.  The whole trip from airport to hotel cost me $10.50 for the 23-mile trip.  You can't beat that.  And the train was pretty full.

The population of Denver is about 720,000, with a metro of 2.8 million.  That's roughly the same size as Charlotte  But Denver has a very extensive metro rail system that goes to many parts of the city and out to far-flung satellite towns like Boulder and Littleton and Arvada.  It would be the equivalent of Charlotte already having trains running to SouthPark and Ballantyne, and from Rock Hill to Mooresville, Gastonia to Concord and Monroe.  Looking at the system map, which I've attached, and considering that Denver and Charlotte are similar in size (except for the fact that Denver didn't raze and destroy its downtown in the '60s like Charlotte did and now has a very busy and vibrant DT), I had to wonder how Charlotte got soooo far behind.

As I've said before, I live in San Diego.  We have a 55-mile light rail system (called the San Diego Trolley) that's currently being extended, adding another another 11 miles (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Diego_Trolley), plus a 41-mile commuter rail (the Coaster; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coaster_(commuter_rail) ).  So a total 107 mile system versus only 19 miles in Charlotte.  San Diego is only about 30% bigger than Charlotte, but has 463% more rail.  Again, how did Charlotte get SO far behind?

There are many factors:

1-Charlotte had always been MUCH smaller than Denver and has recently caught up in population. RTD was established in 1969.

2- Most importantly it is the state capital AND biggest city AND the metro has more than 50% of the entire state's population, so the state asked and distributed most of its federal funds to Denver. 

3-Geographically its much more flat and easier to build for many reasons. Perhaps most importantly, Denver was a railroad hub from the start and many of their lines were not built from scratch.  

I also am sad at how much of old Charlotte was torn down, but Denver had much more to offer from the start in terms of old buildings. Denver has torn a lot down too. In 1910 Denver had 210,000 people compared to Charlotte's 34,000. Its not that Denver got so far behind, in my opinion Charlotte has done a ton of catching up. Prioritizing CATS certainly is a next step to continue with that effort. 

 

Edited July 22, 2019 by CarolinaDaydreamin

[kermit]

13 hours ago, easzman said:

So how is a leadership change made at the top of CATS & LYNX? Will it take a decline in ridership?

All previous CATS leaders (in the rail era) either retired (Tober) or left for better jobs (Parker and Flowers). The MTC has never fired a leader.

Honestly I don't think that anyone at the MTC, city or country is aware that CATS is currently being run badly. I have never had the sense that anyone who runs transit here ever rides it. As we have seen here they certainly never listen to feedback from riders.

Edited July 22, 2019 by kermit

[elrodvt]

Not defending Lewis but I wonder if maintenance funding is an issue. It would be interesting to compare to a like sized system. If it is a maintenance issue it should have been communicated long ago.

[kermit]

34 minutes ago, elrodvt said:

Not defending Lewis but I wonder if maintenance funding is an issue. It would be interesting to compare to a like sized system. If it is a maintenance issue it should have been communicated long ago.

They haven't published any quarterly reports for a while but maintenance gets paid out of the transit sales tax revenue. Revenues have been strong and since they pulled the plug on the Red Line they have a bunch of cash. There should be no maintenance costs on the BLE yet and the South Line should still be in decent shape. In short, funding for rail maintenance should not be an issue.

My theory is that Lewis was unwilling to push the lead BLE contractor on punch list items (fearing additional delays) and they accepted a not-finished system. Compounding that were bad design choices (not Lewis' fault) that Lewis is unwilling to change for fear of looking bad (e.g. crossing gates on N Tryon). Finally, I have a feeling that Lewis's thing is expansion, not operations. Unfortunately he does not appear to see that the two things are related.

Edited July 22, 2019 by kermit

[southslider]

The bulk of operating delays are related to North Tryon motorists ignoring stop bars and crossing gates.

[lit]

6 hours ago, southslider said:

The bulk of operating delays are related to North Tryon motorists ignoring stop bars and crossing gates.

When one person makes a mistake, it’s just a mistake. When hundreds of people continue to make the same mistake over and over, something obviously has to change.

 

Since we can’t send everyone back to school overnight, could we change the intersections themselves? For instance, maybe the gates could remain in the “down” position until the turning lane has a green arrow, even if there isn’t a train approaching?

[kermit]

10 minutes ago, lit said:

When one person makes a mistake, it’s just a mistake. When hundreds of people continue to make the same mistake over and over, something obviously has to change.

 

Since we can’t send everyone back to school overnight, could we change the intersections themselves? For instance, maybe the gates could remain in the “down” position until the turning lane has a green arrow, even if there isn’t a train approaching?

or just two gates on each side which parallel the tracks which would seal the tracks from all drivers, not just those in the left turn lane.

[southslider]

On 7/22/2019 at 5:25 PM, lit said:

When one person makes a mistake, it’s just a mistake. When hundreds of people continue to make the same mistake over and over, something obviously has to change.

 

Since we can’t send everyone back to school overnight, could we change the intersections themselves? For instance, maybe the gates could remain in the “down” position until the turning lane has a green arrow, even if there isn’t a train approaching?

I like the lower-cost idea of keeping the gates down.  Another one would be to add big STOP letters on the turn lanes before the skinny stop bar.

[grodney]

On 7/22/2019 at 10:30 AM, southslider said:

The bulk of operating delays are related to North Tryon motorists ignoring stop bars and crossing gates.

My brief study indicated that trips from 485 station to uptown lost time to the schedule on EVERY trip......thus, nothing to do with Tryon.  See "Time Lost" column below.  Of course N Tryon might cause even worse delays!

 

[kermit]

Old Concord rd station parking lot is now 100% full.

U City deck is still languishing at well less than 30% full (but, summer lull aside, it does appear to be adding riders slowly)