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staffer

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Posts posted by staffer

  1. My understanding of commuter rail is that the grassy area between the track and the station will become the commuter rail platform, and will be accessible without going through the station. Not sure if another track is planned just serving commuter rail.  But that’s a design that was presented to the passenger rail task force in 2015 and it’s a bit fuzzy in my memory. 

    • Like 1
  2. Special event service from JW Clay Blue Line Station for upcoming races at the Speedway

    http://charlottenc.gov/cats/bus/riding-cats/Pages/CATSSpeedWeek.aspx

     

    Ride CATS to the Monster Energy All Star Race and Coca-Cola 600

    On Saturday, May 19, 2018, and Sunday, May 27, 2018, CATS will operate bus service from the LYNX Blue Line J.W. Clay Blvd. Station to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Monster Energy All Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600.

    With the opening of the LYNX Blue Line Extension, customers attending this year’s races at Charlotte Motor Speedway now have additional locations to board the light rail.  Customers can ride from any of 26 light rail stations to Charlotte MotorSpeedway, beginning at I-485/S. Blvd Station, through Uptown Charlotte to University City. Parking is available at eleven LYNX Blue Line Park and Rides.  When customers arrive at J.W. Clay Blvd. Station, please exit the station and walk across the street to the parking garage.  The bus stop for the Speedway Shuttle is located at the bus bay behind the parking garage.  Look for the bus headway sign that reads “Speedway Shuttle.”

    The bus service will begin the day of the race, starting at noon, and will operate every 20 minutes until 6:00 p.m.

    Fare for the LYNX Blue Line is $4.40 for a roundtrip and your ticket is valid onboard the Speedway Bus Shuttle Service.  Tickets can be purchased from self-service vending machines located at each light rail station, or from the CATS pass mobile app. Tickets can also be purchased via the CATS website. Advance ticket purchases can be mailed or picked up at the Charlotte Transportation Center by 4:00 p.m. the day of the race. 

    Customers parking at University City Blvd. or J.W. Clay Blvd. parking garages must have a valid pass in order to use the park and ride. 

    Passengers may bring small coolers that fit in their laps, but no eating or drinking is permitted onboard CATS trains or buses.  Pick-up and drop-off locations at the Speedway will be near the track’s entrance.  After the checkered flag, buses will line up and wait for passengers before departing back to J.W. Clay Blvd. Station.

     

     

    • Like 3
  3. On ‎4‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 2:23 PM, CLT2014 said:

    http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article208324354.html

    CATS partnering with Lyft to get riders to / from the station to a fenced area along the more suburban areas of the route with limited bus access. While ride share apps are a potential contributor to the decline in public transit ridership nationwide (particularly ditching the bus for a ride share), these areas have limited bus access so this could actually stimulate transit ridership rather than cannibalize transit bus ridership. 

    AMTRAK Station is in the zone for Parkwood !!

  4. 4 hours ago, kermit said:

    They did the math amd realized that for most students purchasing a rt ticket everyday and riding the train to campus is cheaper than paying to park on campus.

    an annual parking permit for residents is $450.00. That works out to (with 32 academic weeks) about $2.80 per day.  Both $6.60 and $10 are WAY more than $2.80.  Of course students get unlimited light rail for $25 per semester so they pay nothing extra per day.  Seems to me the real problem with having free parking in the deck is that students could just leave the car there for the semester. 

  5. 8 hours ago, southslider said:

    The gates are not yet functional, so there's staff visually checking tickets for now. And right now, less than a day pass will even be accepted by staff 3-6pm. And of course, completely free outside of those hours.

    Still think it's a huge mistake to charge for parking when commuters can fill a deck before students would generally arrive.  And very dumb to not accept round-trip tickets once gates are working, since those are most common for events.

    I think the issue is students who would just park there in September and leave the car for days or weeks until they might need it for some activity not on the BLE, or to go home on the weekend or break.

  6. OK, we have the "inaugural" of the BLE Friday at 10 am, with 12:15 am basketball doubleheader at Spectrum Arena with UNC-Chapel Hill playing. Probably over around 5 pm.  Then a second doubleheader at 6:40 pm with possible end to the second game around midnight.  What could go wrong?  Is service actually starting BEFORE 10 ? Certainly would be a good idea. Will we have continual peak hour service all day ?  Shorter headways than usual that evening?  I assume this is all planned -- it was known when they set the March 16 opening that this would be one of the biggest non-Panthers game events of the year Uptown.

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  7. Heard in Charlotte yesterday at BLE light rail inaugural that Raleigh Union Station dedication will be April 27. Also got an email from a friend in Raleigh today with same info. Presumably AMTRAK service shifts there that day.  Also heard from two folks in Charlotte that the third Piedmont train will have its first run June 4 (tentative) but no schedule out yet.

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  8. 14 hours ago, DwnTwnRaleighGuy said:

    From what I read, it sounds like the NCRR is going to utilize some of this land for rail realignment. I am not sure if you would want to build anything in the remaining “triangle” shaped land, except maybe parking?

    could be mistaken but I think maybe to add a second through freight track. There will be two center island station tracks when Union station opens this spring, and one through freight track (the track that goes by the current AMTRAK station).  Right now just east of the current AMTRAK station everything narrows to one track until a freight siding several miles east, so not sure if plan is to extend second track further east (would require a new bridge/bridges at overpasses east of current station

  9. 22 hours ago, ctl said:

    Suppose you're on a train headed east (compass direction) from NC State. There are two main tracks between Boylan and Cary. In the new layout at Boylan, a single track diverges to the northeast. This is one leg of the wye. (It was two tracks until early this year.) 

    Suppose you're on a train headed northwest (compass direction) from Garner. There is one main track. Just before the Cabarrus St crossing, a single track diverges to the north and runs along the east side of the new station. This is the second leg of the wye. It is, and has always been, a single track.

    The trackage past the existing Amtrak station is single track, aside from a siding just before you get to Boylan (this siding is used to access the "Prison" freight yard). This forms the third and final leg of the wye. Eventually there will be three tracks at this point... two for the station and a third for freight. The third track will be relocated to the south a bit after the existing station is demolished. 

    coming from the prison there are TWO tracks going northeast -- first the NS track (which meets the CSX track at Southern Junction and crosses the mainline at a diamond and heads to Fuquay and points further south) and then the CSX track which wyes with the track that runs on the east side of the news station.

  10. went to the legislative meeting this afternoon. Mayor Nancy spoke 5 minutes, then Roberta Fox and Tom Eatman.  Fox and Eatman never used the phrase "Phase II", and never mentioned SEHSR.  They called phase II "RUS BUS" repeatedly.  It will have 6 or 8 bus bays and will allow the 30% expansion of bus service in the Wake Transit Plan as being the second downtown Bus Hub.  No mention of shuttles between RUS BUS and Moore Square (pardon me "GoRaleigh Station").  The West Street extension under the tracks (design funded by the referendum on the ballot next week) got a brief mention as apparently there will be a West Street BRT route originating at RUS BUS that doesn't require passengers to cross either an active street or RR tracks if they board at RUS BUS. Not sure where it goes after leaving RUS. Western Blvd ? S Wilmington St? New Bern Ave ?

  11. On ‎3‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 10:22 AM, kermit said:

    ^Thanks!

    "enhanced food and drink" including NC Beer!

    Piedmont 4th frequency looks like early next year. 5th looks like 2019 (based on ridership forecasts given on pdf 6).

    Any idea if Amtrak will actually approve the extension to New Haven? I am struggling to see why they would agree to move $4 million onto their books just for an extension already served by metro north.

    Piedmont 3rd frequency (meaning 4 trains a day RGH-CLT counting the Carolinian) was funded by the just enacted NC budget, service start date probably around 6/1/18, timetable probably out October or November 2017

    • Like 3
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