Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line

[LKN704]

4 hours ago, Durhamite said:

https://www.governing.com/now/washington-metro-is-a-transit-system-in-deep-trouble?_amp=true

The entire system is in bad shape and it’s a CATs problem,y’all keep thinking that it’s ok other places, it is not!  

The difference between DC and Charlotte is that DC has a robust bus system that features several lines (including crosstown service) that run near 24/7 service with 5-10 minute headways throughout the day, making it easier to not have to rely on rail as much. 

Charlotte doesn't have that...you are luck if your bus comes every 30 minutes, and you may just have to take a detour through Uptown. 

[Desert Power]

On 8/22/2022 at 8:28 PM, tozmervo said:

What a phenomenal data resource! You're right. No matter how you cut it, CATS is holding up very badly. I put in a variety of peer city and new south city systems to compare, and, well... CATS is still at the bottom, by quite a bit.

Great chart, particularly since it shows our poor performance pre-pandemic.

 

[dylansukkert]

Loaded train at 9am on a Tuesday morning for the special event. 

[LKN704]

39 minutes ago, dylansukkert said:

Loaded train at 9am on a Tuesday morning for the special event. 

God I cannot stand people who wear backpacks on crowded public transit...a sin of city life imo. It's basically akin to man-spreading across a pair of seats. Please put your backpack between your legs and above your feet. 

I'm surprised mask usage is that low IMO. Mask usage on the DC Metro during the work week is still at roughly 70% per my observation, although it drops considerably on the weekends when tourists come into town. 

Edited August 30, 2022 by LKN704

[JRCLT]

God I cannot stand people who wear backpacks on crowded public transit...a sin of city life imo. It's basically akin to man-spreading across a pair of seats. Please put your backpack between your legs and above your feet. 
I'm surprised mask usage is that low IMO. Mask usage on the DC Metro during the work week is still at roughly 70% per my observation, although it drops considerably on the weekends when tourists come into town. 

…unfortunately we don’t have a virtual inventory or other dimension to store stuff on the go and access it on the go. The comparison of a backpack to manspreading is rather far apart in the necessity department. Where one serves a storage purpose and another for pure comfort.

- Also from a student perspective….it’s literally an essential. (Not everyone is a student but students are still riders).

[LKN704]

1 hour ago, JeanClt said:

The comparison of a backpack to manspreading is rather far apart in the necessity department. Where one serves a storage purpose and another for pure comfort.

No one is advocating for forgoing a backpack, just don't wear it on your back in a crowded train car. I regularly have a tote bag or backpack with me on the train/bus...I just make sure it's away from others and near the floor so I'm not inconsiderate and block others around me. 

Clearly people think is a problem if most major transit agencies in the world are running campaigns asking people to be mindful of their backpacks:

 

[CLTranspo]

I just don’t think Charlotte has enough regular transit riders to develop a transit etiquette culture as larger cities do … hopefully we’ll get there 

[elrodvt]

On 8/29/2022 at 11:54 AM, TheMightyBK said:

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the staffing issues/quality of service is on purpose.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You're a conspiracy theorist. 

[kayman]

On 8/29/2022 at 1:14 PM, Durhamite said:

Got damn, how can you even justify with low ridership? The problem is everywhere and some of y’all just can’t seem to accept the entire public transit system in America is a mess and severely understaffed and underfunded.  Maybe they should shut the entire thing down, that is an option. They simply don’t have the money, you can be pissed.  The level of restaurant service is awful post pandemic, slow, shoddy service, etc.  This is the new normal and don’t give a damn who you put in charge.  Everyone wants to WFH, and for the most part can.  Where are you going to find these new riders outside special events?

They will ultimately get new leadership but the old model and guarantees are gone.  And I don’t think anyone has a solution, it will take years to determine exactly what an effective model will resemble or one that is sustainable.   

 

 

On 8/29/2022 at 5:16 PM, Durhamite said:

https://www.governing.com/now/washington-metro-is-a-transit-system-in-deep-trouble?_amp=true

The entire system is in bad shape and it’s a CATs problem,y’all keep thinking that it’s ok other places, it is not!  

You're wasting your time with some of these posters on this topic. Facts and stats of national ridership trends doesn't matter when they are only looking for evidence for confirmation bias against CATS. 

Until as a nation we tackle equitable labor rights & livable wages, these type of things are going to linger around negatively impacting everything. 

 

[kayman]

I don't even work for CATS, but geez...

DC Metro, CTA, MTA, RTD (Denver), DART, Valley Metro (Phoenix), Link Transit, etc. are regional transit authorities with independent boards & regional funding sources.  Houston, Miami-Dade Metro Transit,  LA Metro are the only other Tier 1 rail transit that are departments but of their respective counties or states. NJ Transit, UTA, & MTA are state-level authorities. Unless it's you're going to look & compare at those county level department transit systems, CATS is the lone city department-level, Tier 1 transit system in the US.  It's apples-to-oranges to others aside from the county-level transit departments with CATS.

I'm awaiting some of you complaining offering solutions rather than more complaints about CATS.  Complaining without proposed solutions or actions to fix it are just pointless...

 

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by kayman

[kermit]

1 hour ago, kayman said:

I don't even work for CATS, but geez...

DC Metro, CTA, MTA, RTD (Denver), DART, Valley Metro (Phoenix), Link Transit, etc. are regional transit authorities with independent boards & regional funding sources.  Houston, Miami-Dade Metro Transit,  LA Metro are the only other Tier 1 rail transit that are departments but of their respective counties or states. NJ Transit, UTA, & MTA are state-level authorities. Unless it's you're going to look & compare at those county level department transit systems, CATS is the lone city department-level, Tier 1 transit system in the US.  It's apples-to-oranges to others aside from the county-level transit departments with CATS.

I'm awaiting some of you complaining offering solutions rather than more complaints about CATS.  Complaining without proposed solutions or actions to fix it are just pointless...

 

 

OK, I'll bite. What is a fairer way to contextualize CATS recent frequency trimming, reliability issues (ghost buses, recent maintenance backlog), planning issues (we are not closer to costing out a transit plan than we were a year ago), project delays (Southend station), execution issues (real time tracking app) and lack of transparency (BS stories about bus driver absences, and the unexpected frequency reduction on the Blue Line last week)?

I have offered a solution,  Hire more fudgeing staff (or at least show us the receipts from the city not providing additional money to do that)

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by kermit

[kayman]

34 minutes ago, kermit said:

OK, I'll bite. What is a fairer way to contextualize CATS recent frequency trimming, reliability issues (ghost buses, recent maintenance backlog), planning issues (we are not closer to costing out a transit plan than we were a year ago), project delays (Southend station), execution issues (real time tracking app) and lack of transparency (BS stories about bus driver absences, and the unexpected frequency reduction on the Blue Line last week)?

I have offered a solution,  Hire more fudgeing staff (or at least show us the receipts from the city not providing additional money to do that)

 

Tell that to the MTC in writing. 

[15895]

2 hours ago, kayman said:

I don't even work for CATS, but geez...

DC Metro, CTA, MTA, RTD (Denver), DART, Valley Metro (Phoenix), Link Transit, etc. are regional transit authorities with independent boards & regional funding sources.  Houston, Miami-Dade Metro Transit,  LA Metro are the only other Tier 1 rail transit that are departments but of their respective counties or states. NJ Transit, UTA, & MTA are state-level authorities. Unless it's you're going to look & compare at those county level department transit systems, CATS is the lone city department-level, Tier 1 transit system in the US.  It's apples-to-oranges to others aside from the county-level transit departments with CATS.

I'm awaiting some of you complaining offering solutions rather than more complaints about CATS.  Complaining without proposed solutions or actions to fix it are just pointless...

 

 

But why compare some of those agencies (such as WMATA, CTA and MTA) when they serve regions over ~10,000,000+ people? And those regions have city/county level agencies that are larger than CATS anyways if you still wanted to see a system more similar in size to CATS but in those areas. but it just doesn't make sense to compare them to Charlotte. Compare and contrast sure. 

But again. Charlotte is performing way, way worse than *anywhere* else. That's why this whole "rather than offering complaints" gas lighting narrative isn’t fair. It's not like Charlotte is at the bottom of the pack. CATS is way worse than the bottom of the pack. like. 50% below the bottom of the pack. That is perfectly valid to raise concerns over without being brushed off as "oh, they're just naggy and can't be pleased".

Raleigh, Durham, Richmond, Austin, Nashville the list goes on and on over CATS being tremendously underperforming against. Let me know which system is even close to CATS in terrible performance over nearly 5-6 months now. In actuality, many of Charlotte's closest regional and national peers/rivals are actually doing really, really well despite the issues facing all agencies (staffing shortages, telework, etc.). 

Edited August 31, 2022 by AirNostrumMAD

[kayman]

1 hour ago, AirNostrumMAD said:

But why compare some of those agencies (such as WMATA, CTA and MTA) when they serve regions over ~10,000,000+ people? And those regions have city/county level agencies that are larger than CATS anyways if you still wanted to see a system more similar in size to CATS but in those areas. but it just doesn't make sense to compare them to Charlotte. Compare and contrast sure. 

But again. Charlotte is performing way, way worse than *anywhere* else. That's why this whole "rather than offering complaints" gas lighting narrative isn’t fair. It's not like Charlotte is at the bottom of the pack. CATS is way worse than the bottom of the pack. like. 50% below the bottom of the pack. That is perfectly valid to raise concerns over without being brushed off as "oh, they're just naggy and can't be pleased".

Raleigh, Durham, Richmond, Austin, Nashville the list goes on and on over CATS being tremendously underperforming against. Let me know which system is even close to CATS in terrible performance over nearly 5-6 months now. In actuality, many of Charlotte's closest regional and national peers/rivals are actually doing really, really well despite the issues facing all agencies (staffing shortages, telework, etc.). 

Uh no. The only one gaslighting is the bolivating nonsense you just posted. If you have so much proof of the stats of despair in performance of CATS then put it in writing to the Metropolitan Transit Commission, the governing policy board of CATS.  They can do something productive by putting on public records rather you shooting shots at other posters online. 

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by kayman

[kermit]

3 hours ago, kayman said:

Uh no. The only one gaslighting is the bolivating nonsense you just posted. If you have so much proof of the stats of despair in performance of CATS then put it in writing to the Metropolitan Transit Commission, the governing policy board of CATS.  They can do something productive by putting on public records rather you shooting shots at other posters online. 

 

What exactly is the problem with beotching about CATS here? At least this discussion has the potential to clarify any problems that we beotch about.

I have interacted with the MTC as well as CATS officials via the citizen transit committee. The response I received from CATS was more than a little condescending and wholly dismissive of my concerns ("its a very difficult labor market" and "there are operational issues" [that you could not possibly understand as a non-CATS employee] (this was related to signal issues on the BLE -- I certainly have the necessary background to interpret that information but they just didn't want to share it)). Given these interactions I have been conditioned to believe that CATS and the MTC are uninterested in the concerns of regular riders, so I feel like I would be wasting my time. I am sure that is not always the case, but it just feels like complaints vanish into the ether. At least here we have actual discussions, and I can learn things from those discussions.

Edited September 1, 2022 by kermit

[kayman]

2 hours ago, kermit said:

What exactly is the problem with beotching about CATS here? At least this discussion has the potential to clarify or dismiss any problems that we beotch about.

I have interacted with the MTC as well as CATS officials via the citizen transit committee. The response I received from CATS was more than a little condescending and wholly dismissive of my concerns ("its a very difficult labor market" and "there are operational issues" [that you could not possibly understand as a non-CATS employee] (this was related to signal issues on the BLE -- I certainly have the necessary background to interpret that information but they just didn't want to share it)). Given these interactions I have been conditioned to believe that CATS and the MTC are uninterested in the concerns of regular riders, so I feel like I would be wasting my time. I am sure that is not always the case, but it just feels like complaints vanish into the ether. At least here we have actual discussions, and I can learn things from those discussions.

There are many professionals in the transportation planning field locally that are very aware of what's said on here about CATS. 

However, when certain individual posters want make flagrant accusations, projection of gaslighting, & insulting other people's intelligence (when they have been doing the gaslighting themselves on several topics including the racial bias & intentional sabotage of the 2020 US Census count of several non-white demographic groups by the Trump administration; we see the data daily,  so go argue with the data not me. )  As a result, those type of antics shows nothing here will be can taken seriously by actual planning professionals. 

Nothing will change overnight in any government entity, but constantly political agitation in form of public comments will bring attention to things that should change.

I've provided all the insight needed for changes to occur, but one refuses to do it constantly then that's one them...

 

Edited September 1, 2022 by kayman

[TCLT]

There are many professionals in the transportation planning field locally that are very aware of what's said on here about CATS. 
However, when certain individual posters want make flagrant accusations, projection of gaslighting, & insulting other people's intelligence (when they have been doing the gaslighting themselves on several topics including the racial bias & intentional sabotage of the 2020 US Census count of several non-white demographic groups by the Trump administration; we see the data daily,  so go argue with the data not me. )  As a result, those type of antics shows nothing here will be can taken seriously by actual planning professionals. 
Nothing will change overnight in any government entity, but constantly political agitation in form of public comments will bring attention to things that should change.
I've provided all the insight needed for changes to occur, but one refuses to do it constantly then that's one them...
 

[Madison Parkitect]

12 hours ago, kayman said:

There are many professionals in the transportation planning field locally that are very aware of what's said on here about CATS. 

However, when certain individual posters want make flagrant accusations, projection of gaslighting, & insulting other people's intelligence (when they have been doing the gaslighting themselves on several topics including the racial bias & intentional sabotage of the 2020 US Census count of several non-white demographic groups by the Trump administration; we see the data daily,  so go argue with the data not me. )  As a result, those type of antics shows nothing here will be can taken seriously by actual planning professionals. 

Nothing will change overnight in any government entity, but constantly political agitation in form of public comments will bring attention to things that should change.

I've provided all the insight needed for changes to occur, but one refuses to do it constantly then that's one them...

 

Found Lewis' burner account.

[kayman]

12 hours ago, TCLT said:

 

49 minutes ago, Madison Parkitect said:

Found Lewis' burner account.

WOW! Such an unseasoned response. Bored now...

Edited September 1, 2022 by kayman

[BJKM]

3 hours ago, kayman said:

 

WOW! Such an unseasoned response. Bored now...

Well we do have a Bland Street Station after all…I’ll see myself out 

[kayman]

31 minutes ago, BJKM said:

Well we do have a Bland Street Station after all…I’ll see myself out 

That sounds like a very "raisins in a potato salad" like response.  I'm good with this convo. Bye...

Edited September 1, 2022 by kayman

[Durhamite]

14 hours ago, kayman said:

That sounds like a very "raisins in a potato salad" like response.  I'm good with this convo. Bye...

Lol, take a look at RTD (Denver):

https://www.denverpost.com/2022/09/01/rtd-free-fares-month-ending-activists-push/amp/

Maybe a free fare August? That’s what the “consults” are going to recommend after the city pays them a million dollars.  Maybe these keyboard urbanplanet transit gurus got a quick fix? Oh wait, just fire the head guy, that will fix it.  
 

[15895]

4 hours ago, Durhamite said:

Lol, take a look at RTD (Denver):

https://www.denverpost.com/2022/09/01/rtd-free-fares-month-ending-activists-push/amp/

Maybe a free fare August? That’s what the “consults” are going to recommend after the city pays them a million dollars.  Maybe these keyboard urbanplanet transit gurus got a quick fix? Oh wait, just fire the head guy, that will fix it.  

That’s irrelevant to anything discussed by anyone here and has nothing to do with CATS or Lynx unless you have some point to be made? 

 

[LKN704]

Was service suspended for some reason last night?

Went to dinner with some family and friends at Indaco in Atherton Mill last night. Our table had a direct view of the Blue Line, and I didn't see it go by once. Granted, I got up to go to the bathroom twice whilst there, so I suppose it could have gone by while I stepped away, but still. Even a member of my party (who has no knowledge of transit whatsoever) mentioned that they thought it was strange they didn't see the train pass. We were there for almost 2 hours. 

[tozmervo]

1 hour ago, LKN704 said:

Was service suspended for some reason last night?

Went to dinner with some family and friends at Indaco in Atherton Mill last night. Our table had a direct view of the Blue Line, and I didn't see it go by once. Granted, I got up to go to the bathroom twice whilst there, so I suppose it could have gone by while I stepped away, but still. Even a member of my party (who has no knowledge of transit whatsoever) mentioned that they thought it was strange they didn't see the train pass. We were there for almost 2 hours. 

They were on Labor Day schedule (so Sunday timetable), which means 20 minutes until 8pm, then 30 minutes after that. So it's possible you just missed the very few there were. (otherwise no issues were reported on their twitter)