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Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line


dubone

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3 hours ago, grodney said:

Was this to show us the driver is going 6mph on an open stretch?

To tell the truth I didn't even notice that. I was coming home from after work beers at Wooden Robot and I had skipped lunch so I was just happy to be able to work the camera.

(but yes, there are LOTS of slow orders on the BLE at the moment)

RE Wooden Robot, it was my first time at 36th street. I didn't love it. The big room seemed kinda... unfriendly? It just didn't feel like a well thought out space. Beer selection was also kinda meh. The patio wasn't bad and I love the rail view.

Perhaps my tap room standards are too high now.

Edited by kermit
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14 minutes ago, nakers2 said:

I'm like 99% sure that's the backside of the number display. I think you meant that as sarcasm, but @kermit's reply seemed to imply he thought you were serious. If not, disregard me lol

Yea, it goes back to those beers last night. Today is not a banner day for my reasoning and interpretive skills.

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11 minutes ago, kermit said:

Yea, it goes back to those beers last night. Today is not a banner day for my reasoning and interpretive skills.

I just made a light rail beer run to Heist for cans, and I wondered about Wooden Robot as I walked by.  Thanks for the slightly-hungover-mini-review.  Also haven't been to Protagonist yet.....although I went to NoDa and Triple C last weekend.  Huh.

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2 hours ago, kermit said:

Yea, it goes back to those beers last night. Today is not a banner day for my reasoning and interpretive skills.

No worries, after having a good chunk of my income garnished by purchasing a girl a cocktail at Fahrenheit last night I might be the more responsible Charlottian this weekend....ah who am I kidding, catch me at the Beaver boys. 

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37 minutes ago, kermit said:

Can anybody tell me why CATS thinks its OK to run 20 minute service on the Blue Line on a Sunday when there is a Panthers home game plus the Greek Festival?

Providing decent transit service is not rocket science. Their is lots of PR to be had from providing good service to occasional riders, particularly right before you ask for a large tax increase to fund expansion.

#DoBetterCATS

Don't worry, they have a new "elerts" app 

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2 hours ago, Desert Power said:

Don't worry, they have a new "elerts" app 

It's not April 1st. I thought you were kidding! Alas, you weren't.

So we still don't have a usable CATS/Lynx scheduling app but damned if we haven't gotten ELERTS Corp. to give  us a CATS Branded version of their . . . crApp. What problem or need is this solving exactly?

#dobetterCATS indeed!

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6 minutes ago, davidclt said:

It's not April 1st. I thought you were kidding! Alas, you weren't.

So we still don't have a usable CATS/Lynx scheduling app but damned if we haven't gotten ELERTS Corp. to give  us a CATS Branded version of their . . . crApp. What problem or need is this solving exactly?

#dobetterCATS indeed!

The lack of reasonable schedule information is a huge problem for regular riders outside of peak. The Transit App hasn't been right in months, it  is now worse than useless for the blue line.

WHY IS SIMPLE CRAP SO HARD FOR CATS?????

Edited by kermit
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4 hours ago, kermit said:

Can anybody tell me why CATS thinks its OK to run 20 minute service on the Blue Line on a Sunday when there is a Panthers home game plus the Greek Festival?

Providing decent transit service is not rocket science. Their is lots of PR to be had from providing good service to occasional riders, particularly right before you ask for a large tax increase to fund expansion.

#DoBetterCATS

 

If I ever move back to Charlotte (from DC), I would never use the light rail. I just don’t have patience when I could literally be at my destination within the time it takes just waiting at the station. 

Plenty of free parking around uptown. Or just pay a nice, what, $12, for a parking deck. Lots of people have parking passes for work anyway. 

Its not enough to play big city. That feels like the goal of CATS sometime; ride the train and feel like you’re in a big boy city. The focus needs to be on being a competitive alternative to the car. 

Not sure if the extension is still stopping at intersections but Increased speed, reliability and frequency need to be the focus. I’d prefer frequency over more lines. 20 minute frequencies is such crap. 

(Also, it’d be nice to have 24/7 bus routes between light rail stations with park & ride lots on Friday and Saturday if that’s not already a thing) 

Edited by AirNostrumMAD
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On 8/30/2019 at 3:26 PM, kermit said:

CATS replace all of the art-glass stuff in the shelters at Tom Hunter earlier in the week I think every panel had been shattered since at least May

Its Friday and all of them are still in good shape.

Perhaps  CATS  was able to get stronger glass (?). All the panels at Tom Hunter are still intact and looking good.  I haven’t seen any new breakage on the BLE in a while.

Good job CATS / Why didn’t you do it right the first time? (I am deeply conflicted)

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21 hours ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

 

If I ever move back to Charlotte (from DC), I would never use the light rail. I just don’t have patience when I could literally be at my destination within the time it takes just waiting at the station. 

Plenty of free parking around uptown. Or just pay a nice, what, $12, for a parking deck. Lots of people have parking passes for work anyway. 

Its not enough to play big city. That feels like the goal of CATS sometime; ride the train and feel like you’re in a big boy city. The focus needs to be on being a competitive alternative to the car. 

Not sure if the extension is still stopping at intersections but Increased speed, reliability and frequency need to be the focus. I’d prefer frequency over more lines. 20 minute frequencies is such crap. 

(Also, it’d be nice to have 24/7 bus routes between light rail stations with park & ride lots on Friday and Saturday if that’s not already a thing) 

Do you actually ride the metro everyday for work (rush hour) like I did while living in DC (for years)? Most times from the end of the line (Orange/Vienna and Blue/Largo) to Downtown (L'Enfant Plaza and Metro Center)).  I know a few people in DC (family) who work downtown and drive everyday from Largo/Bowie area (it's a mixed bag of results).  It's also about options and even DC metro can be quite unreliable at times.  Especially having to ride from downtown to end of the line each day (crammed trains, etc...sometimes having to wait for the next train).  A lot of people don't own cars or have their own form of transportation in Charlotte.  I think you're focused on "ME" instead of providing multi-faceted long term solutions. 

Shat like this winning thesis conclusion, 20 minute frequencies is such crap. Not if yo ass ain't got no choice....20 minutes ain't that long.  And riding the train from Largo to downtown DC can take anywhere from 1-1:30 hours based on parking the car, etc.  I guess Charlotte should have waited to become of a city of 4+ million (big city), then decide to retro control growth.  The other thing is (when you get seat on the train (riding) or waiting,  you can actually do real shat!).

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Strange things afoot at UNCC main:

single-unit 113 looked dead in the shoot (haven’t seen a train parked in these tail tracks since the first month of service). Meanwhile I am riding home in single-unit 108. Based on the numbers I doubt they were connected earlier.

shrug...

 

7EF52F59-E204-420F-93C6-60C88A77274C.jpeg

EDIT: Plus saw another single until train later in the ride -- how much stuff is busted?

 

Edited by kermit
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They almost made it 12 hours without a service disruption.

 

Also on Tuesday, the 6:13am from South/485 almost made it to Tyvola before the headlights died. Everyone had to get off at Woodlawn in the dark, near-80 degree weather and wait for the next train, which was 15 minutes behind.

Edited by BDM_Charlotte
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2 hours ago, BDM_Charlotte said:

They almost made it 12 hours without a service disruption.

 

Also on Tuesday, the 6:13am from South/485 almost made it to Tyvola before the headlights died. Everyone had to get off at Woodlawn in the dark, near-80 degree weather and wait for the next train, which was 15 minutes behind.

Yeah I'm always on the 6:28 and that crush of people boarding at Woodlawn had me knowing that the previous train broke down.  I did not enjoy the personal space violations at that hour, ha ha!

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On 9/9/2019 at 5:52 PM, elrodvt said:

Durhamite, Regardless, it's a really poorly run system and you can expect people to vent.

Excuse me if the data is already out there, but what metric and/or data are you basing this on in comparison to other or similar systems?  Not anecdotes  but real data like on-time rates, etc.  Seems pointless and reckless to malign and spew negative info without data points.   I enjoy this forum but a lot of folks zoom-in on photos to beotch about a wrong colored bolt on a 20 story building under construction ( a bit carried away at times).

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