staffer

when the Northeast line is completed, the 36k ridership does NOT mean triple current ridership from I-485C to Center City. The same seat could be occupied by different patrons I-485N to UNC-C, University City to 9th St, 7th Street to East/West, I-485 S to Convention Center and 36th St to UNC-C all during a morning commute. That's five riders. As mentioned above as business and residential build out, the entire ridership will NOT be Pineville area to Center City.

One of the biggest transportation bottlenecks relates to special events -- concerts, baseball, football, basketball, hockey, whatever. To the extent that transit gives easier access to these events, isn't that congestion relief at its best? What is the other solution (besides moving the Hornets out of town)?

Below is the proposed UNCC transit alignment. By the time the Blue Line extension opens, I expect there to be a lot of construction on the north side of the line, between the existing campus and Tryon. That is where a lot of future buildings will be going. While I know this is a sore point with many here, the proposed location for the football stadium is on the far northeast corner of the image below. See a full campus map here, though it does not show the transit line,

Charlotte held public meetings March 3 & 4 on the preliminary engineering for the Northeast Corridor extension. The city has posted a 45-minute video of the session as well as a 33-page .pdf that was presented.

you sell your children

I do not see running service through the UNCC campus as being a "diversion". It would clearly be the largest trip generator along the line, and requiring bus transfers for any of the tens of thousands of potential users on campus (students, faculty, staff, visitors, etc) greatly cuts down ridership. While one should not minimize stream protection, everything has to be weighed in balance.

There is a fundamental flaw in trying to compare the student fee component of Chapel Hill Transit with UNC-Charlotte's proposed football student fee. I have a good perspective as I was involved with Chapel Hill Transit 1973-1980, and paid my son's way through UNC-Charlotte 2001-2005 (He's back for a second degree at UNC-C, but paying his own way this time so I will ask him what he thinks about the student fees). Chapel Hill Transit has historically been funded with heavy property tax support from Chapel Hill and Carrboro, state and federal assistance for operating and capital, a large allocation of funds from UNC-parking receipts, and some student fees. When the decision was made a few years ago to go free fare, the elimination of farebox receipts was funded from the $25 student fee, and a heavy infusion from University receipts, as the University realized it was cheaper to buy seats on buses than to try to build a large number of new parking decks and road expansion - this freed up land for buildings (yes, some more parking decks have been built too.) In the case of UNC-C football, the $300 fee (per semester or per year?) apparently has to cover most of the cost of the program.

that presumably is Edwards Mill, although the Bevers 1871 map has a different name for a millpond where House Creek and Crabtree Creek intersect behind the mall.

The area around Jeffreys Grove School was historically populated by freed slaves. The school itself was a black school prior to integration (it was rebuilt crica 2000). The land for the school was donated by black families in the area. I believe there were also black settlements on Ray Rd as well. There was an old sheep farm that ran through where Wilderness Road meets Village Grove Road, it was developed in the early 1980s. Wilderness itself did not exist pre 1983 (I moved to that area in 1984 and learned a lot from neighbors at the time)

Round trips are now available! Got this release: "Charlotte, N.C., February 19, 2008 - When customers board the LYNX Blue Line on Wednesday, February 20, they will find a new fare at the Ticket Vending Machines (TVMs.) Round trip tickets for the price of $2.60 will be available for purchase on a daily basis. "We heard from many of our customers who were looking for such a fare when making trips on light rail," said Olaf Kinard, CATS Marketing and Communications Manager. "Now passengers heading to work, destinations and events will only have to purchase one ticket." Round trip fare for seniors, individuals with disabilities and youth in grades K-12 is $1.30. Here is how the round trip fare will work. The first ride, the ride away from the station where the ticket was purchased, has to be completed within 90 minutes. After 90 minutes, a customer can no longer use that ticket to ride away from the station where the ticket was purchased. If a fare inspector finds a patron riding away from the station of purchase outside the 90 minute window, that person could be subject to a citation. The second ride, back towards the station of purchase, can be taken any time before the end of the service day in which the ticket was purchased." Is the service day the same as the calendar day? Meaning can you use your return ticket on a 12:30 am trip? Daily passes seem to expire at midnight, if you read the fine print.

some LYNX service changes effective February 25: "The LYNX Blue Line is adjusting several trips to serve its customers better. The two weekday morning trips leaving I-485 Station at 9:02 and 9:22 a.m. that currently terminate at the Scaleybark Station will be extended to the Seventh Street Station. Two afternoon trips at 6:07 and 6:22 p.m. will no longer end at the New Bern Station, but go all the way to the end of the line at I-485. The one a.m. trips leaving the Seventh Street Station on weekdays and Saturday will also be extended all the way to the I-485 station." This effectively extends the 7.5 minute inbound peak hour from 9 am to 9:30 am, and outbound from 6 pm to 6:30 pm.

video of the 1/24 cable show is now up at City Source, the South Line segment runs from 0:44 to 2:52. Not really any "new" news, however. The segment talks of a 2013 open, rather than the 2015 reported in this thread recently.

The Triangle forum has a thread now covering a site visit to Charlotte Thursday by 60 Wake/Raleigh officials, part of which was a South Line tour.

While the park may be empty after 9 pm, might it be likely that many fans (other than those w/small children) may stay in the downtown area post game if there are other things to do that are meal/entertainment/bar related?

4th of July fireworks, I would hope.

The history of the site has Duke Power written all over it. Southern Power (Duke's original name) capitalized Piedmont Traction (later Piedmont and Northern RR) which acquired the site in 1911 and held it until 1969. William States Lee (The Elder) managed the RR and the property on behalf of the Duke interests for decades.

financial details from the 1/28 council agenda

First of all, we don't really know exactly what Keith Parker said, just what the reporter noted. Maybe in tonight's Channel 16 cable show (7 pm) we'll find out more (it should be online in a day or two) since the focus will be on the Northeast Line. If indeed the completion date is 2015, maybe the stage is being set for a earlier phased opening to 36th Street or Sugar Creek, where the issues are far different than from Sugar Creek out to wherever the line is to end. The state and federal funding are the biggest hurdles. It may not be until the new Congress convenes in 2009 that there is some serious decisionmaking about the level of major urban transit grants.

the 2030 plan adopted in 2006 calls for the NE line to be completed in 2013. It called for North Corridor completion in 2012. So the 2013 date is correct.

The article also noted a deferral of the expected completion date for the NE Corridor from 2013 to 2015.

according to an email I got from the City of Charlotte, this week's City Source on Cable Channel 16 and online, new 7 pm Thursday 1/24 will cover "a look ahead at plans to extend the LYNX Blue Line to the Northeast Corridor." Also, while giving this presentation last week, CATS CEO Keith Parker told the audience that Charlotte is discussing with Cabarrus County an eventual extension of the Northeast Corridor to the Speedway.

I can top that. if the city will give me rights to the entire 3rd Ward, I will build a 100,000 seat NASCAR track. It will have a roof, with a landfill on top. The indoor track will also be built to specifications for Premiere League Football, where I propose Manchester United will relocate.

Charlotte City Council agenda for tonight has an item "Northeast Corridor Preliminary Engineering" under briefings. Yesterday's Charlotte daily newspaper indicated council was schedule to take some sort of vote on the subject on January 28.

When I ate at Reid's last Monday I noticed they had a "Blue Line special", which for that day was a dollar off a Turkey, swiss and pickle sandwich. You had to show your Blue Line ticket. I bought the sandwich.