Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line

[Justadude]

The big O is reporting that only 145 tickets were issued all of last week, which accounts for less than .1% of all riders

That's an amazingly small number. Of course, it helps that the crackdown was announced in advance, but still... .1% is nowhere near the 10% we were speculating a few weeks ago.

[Charlotte_native]

Let's just hope all of this is part of an assumed 'adjustment' period that any complex system like this would deal with in its first 3 months of operation. If they don't get kinks, ticket machines, and scheduling worked out soon then they've really got issues, but I can't say I'm surprised (other than the ticket machines) if they are still trying to adjust the system now that it is in true operation. It is hard to really trouble shoot something like this until you are really full-time and not just blind testing. So much of what goes planning the operations of a system like this, until it is in use, is just guess work to be honest. Once people are actually using it there should be no surprise if they don't come at times, and in numbers, that assumed models thought.

[grodney]

That's an amazingly small number. Of course, it helps that the crackdown was announced in advance, but still... .1% is nowhere near the 10% we were speculating a few weeks ago.

Number of tickets issued is not the same as, and is probably almost totally unrelated to, the number of fare evaders. I'm just saying.

[roningreensboro]

Don't mean to break subject but does anyone know the rate for parking at the 485 Deck for a day?

[uptownliving]

It's been 20 minutes on weekends since it opened, right? I have a paper schedule I picked up in the first week of operation, and it is 20 minutes on that.

But yeah, even with reliable service, I hate seeing any possible wait time over 10 minutes. 15 absolute tops. Speaking as a casual user.

Yeah it has been 20 minute headways on the weekends from the begining of operations back in November. The exception to that is during Panther's games or Arena events when they stack the trains up and run them more frequently.

Anyone can access the trains schedule online for exact times. They also post schedule changes online due to construction on the line...which there has been a lot going on lately. They tend to do construction on the weekends or non peak hours which affects the trains ability to keep on schedule. Hopefully that should be wraping up soon.

I think it is time for them to post the paper schedules at the stations so that people can plan accordingly. It is an exercise in futility to stand at a station if you don't know when the next train is coming. If you know when the train is coming before you get to the station...then you can spend time doing what you want...instead of staring off into space at the station.

[tozmervo]

Don't mean to break subject but does anyone know the rate for parking at the 485 Deck for a day?

The parking deck is free, as are all the park and ride lots.

[uptownliving]

Small note on the TVMs at the stations. CATS is planning to raise the height of the ticket machines. They are required by ADA to have at least one machine at the current height. The rest will be raised up....how much higher I am not sure.

[monsoon]

I think it is time for them to post the paper schedules at the stations so that people can plan accordingly. .....

There are already paper schedules posted at the stations. The ones at Tyvola are in a glass cases permanently mounted. Neither the north or south bound trains came even close to the posted times.

[uptownliving]

There are already paper schedules posted at the stations. The ones at Tyvola are in a glass cases permanently mounted. Neither the north or south bound trains came even close to the posted times.

Where at the Tyvola station are the timetables posted? I was there the other day and didn't see anything posted. I ended up calling 704-336-RIDE to get the time of the next train...which incidently arrived on time.

[grodney]

I just went and watched the Stonewall station from my office window. Both inbound and outbound are scheduled at 12:35pm, and both arrived at 12:35pm, within 15 seconds of each other. So that's good news I guess. For a sum set of 2 data points.

Who knew that Stonewall has the same times inbound and outbound on weekdays? Cool.

[monsoon]

Where at the Tyvola station are the timetables posted? I was there the other day and didn't see anything posted. I ended up calling 704-336-RIDE to get the time of the next train...which incidently arrived on time.

There are two. Mounted on poles right by the North side TVM.

[tozmervo]

I just went and watched the Stonewall station from my office window. Both inbound and outbound are scheduled at 12:35pm, and both arrived at 12:35pm, within 15 seconds of each other. So that's good news I guess. For a sum set of 2 data points.

Who knew that Stonewall has the same times inbound and outbound on weekdays? Cool.

Actually, that particular pass helps me catch my train at Carson. I know when I see a northbound train go through Carson, the Southbound is only a minute or so behind. Basically I know whether or not I need to break into a sprint!

[Charlotte_native]

Basically I know whether or not I need to break into a sprint!

Who knew the light-rail could also provide excercise! CATS is helping keep us in shape...

[Justadude]

Number of tickets issued is not the same as, and is probably almost totally unrelated to, the number of fare evaders. I'm just saying.

I agree... I just expected to see a much higher number of evaders in the first sweep-through of what has otherwise been a very lenient system. If they actually had at least one inspector on every train, as was their stated goal, then the number of evaders couldn't be much higher than 0.2% (double the number of people who were caught, since there would have been individual cars without inspectors) during that period.

Even assuming this was a poorly-organized crackdown that only caught 1 out of every 10 evaders, it's still less than 1%... that is startlingly low IMO.

[orulz]

It seems from the anecdotes on this board that, even though it was supposed to be "crackdown" week, inspectors were still just kicking people off trains if they had no ticket, rather than issuing a citation in most cases.

[MZT]

It seems from the anecdotes on this board that, even though it was supposed to be "crackdown" week, inspectors were still just kicking people off trains if they had no ticket, rather than issuing a citation in most cases.

Even when tickets are issued, I would not be surprised if first offenders can usually get waived. The goal is to get people to pay and ride, not spook them into fearing the train Gestapo and avoiding the train.

Edited February 12, 2008 by MZT

[davidclt]

It seems from the anecdotes on this board that, even though it was supposed to be "crackdown" week, inspectors were still just kicking people off trains if they had no ticket, rather than issuing a citation in most cases.

On one of the Thursday afternoon inbound trains last week, the inspector wrote three tickets while I was on board. On my afternoon commute yesterday, the Fare Inspector wrote two. On my commute this afternoon it was the first train I've been on in a week where my ticket wasn't checked.

I had an interesting conversation with one of the contractors on the line a few weeks ago about the TVMs. He indicated that CATS got the TVMs at a substantial (~75% off) discount from what they normally cost and that it was only partially cost engineering at fault with the TVMs. He said ACS' software is (needlessly) complex and involved and there was only going to be so much the vendor would do to fix it.

[dubone]

What happened to lowest QUALIFIED bidder? 75% off can surely not have been taken seriously. Of course we should have expected to get the leftovers from the leftover engineers, which apparenly must be in France. Obviously we fell for the bait and switch, as now they are talking about buying more!

Why can they not just return the machines and find money for better ones? While getting the people there is a top priority, getting their money has to be somewhere up there, right?

[monsoon]

^One would hope the Charlotte city council would say no to the request for 10 additional machines until the time the current machines operate adequately, but my expectation is that they won't. I don't ride the system much, but every time I have been on it I have seen broken machines and people asking for help on how to use them speaks volumes for how many issues these things have.

Maybe the city council members should be given the home work assignment go ride the train 10 times on 1 way tickets before they make any further decisions.

[Justadude]

What happened to lowest QUALIFIED bidder? 75% off can surely not have been taken seriously. Of course we should have expected to get the leftovers from the leftover engineers, which apparenly must be in France. Obviously we fell for the bait and switch, as now they are talking about buying more!

Given the political climate in the years leading up to the opening of the line, I'm not surprised in the leasrt that CATS took the cheapest thing offered to them. If they had paid normal prices it would have been splashed all over the local media as an example of administrative incompetence.

[monsoon]

.... If they had paid normal prices it would have been splashed all over the local media as an example of administrative incompetence.

I honestly don't think that would have happened and CATS has demonstrated that it is not afraid of the media. However I do agree they didn't do their homework on these machines.

[uptownliving]

At the City Council meeting this week the City Manager said he would not exercise the option to purchase more TVM machines until the staff was satisfied they were working up to standard. It is pretty safe to say that the entire City Council is not happy with the current TVM and they are all well aware of the issues with the machines that we have talked about on here. However the city has to operate within the legalities of the contract it has with the vendor, ACS. If there comes an opening in the contract where the city could drop the machines at little cost and procure new ones I'm sure they would do that. Right now they have to give ACS a chance to make the machines work well before they could take any actions on getting new machines.

[dubone]

I hope they get a huge loss from this. There is a reason you don't dump products, as you erode your reputation for a very long time.

The mayor himself said a machine broke down on him. What are the odds of something like that? It is obviously happening too often.

I trust that they are pressing ACS to make the improvements, but I hope we are negotiating with a very hard stance and take up the chance for returns if their efforts to make the machines reliable continue to fail.

[Raintree21]

In another twist, the FTA has downgraded it's rating for Miami-Dade in the same manner that it did for D.C. CATS had better be scrambling to get the NE line projections just right if it wasnts to get funding.

[monsoon]

For those not familiar with it, Miami operates the only other heavy rail line in the Southern USA outside of Atlanta. They also have a people mover that navigates the central business district and there is a commuter rail that heads all the way up to Palm Beach county. (through Broward)

It's another sign the Feds are not interested in funding transit systems these days and probably won't be able to for years. I am thinking for the NE line that Charlotte might have to go it alone (maybe some state money is forth coming) and they might want to consider doing it in a piece meal fashion. i.e. Finish the line through downtown, then extend it to Noda, extend it again to the Asian Mall, then begin the push up Tryon to UNCC.