Charlotte Center City Streetcar Network

[southslider]

Due to its short length, it only takes a couple thousand riders on the Gold Line daily for it to have as many riders per mile as Blue Line.

Edited April 2, 2015 by southslider

[RiverwoodCLT]

Gold Line Trolley Test

[RiverwoodCLT]

Charlotte tests Gold Line CityLYNX trolley on KMSP-TV Minneapolis-ST Paul April 01, 2015.

 

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Edited April 3, 2015 by RiverwoodCLT

[Matthew.Brendan]

Uhh, honest question, is that normal operating speed?

[kermit]

Uhh, honest question, is that normal operating speed?

 

since it was the first run I am certain it was not.

[Guest]

Uhh, honest question, is that normal operating speed?

Absolutely not. That was like... walking pace.

[dubone]

They can go up to 35mph.  Average walking pace is 3mph.  So it can and will go up to 11x faster than in that video.  

 

It is fun to see it on the tracks, though.   I can't wait to see it running. 

[illustration82]

It seems a little faster in the first video.  I noticed in the second video there is another vehicle pushing it from behind. The first video is probably more of an accurate speed.    

[ajfunder]

Neither are very accurate, the switch move out of the pocket track at CTC will always be slow and the other one is an unpowered clearance test. News 14 has a video of the streetcar more at track speed, although brief, towards the end of the report.

http://www.twcnews.com/nc/charlotte/news/2015/04/1/cats-begins-testing-lynx-gold-line-street-cars.html

[dcharlotte]

I drove down Elizabeth Ave last Friday and noticed just how severely lacking the parallel parking skills of folks in Charlotte really are. Half the cars were parked against traffic and almost all of them were over the white line.

It would be my recommendation that these few spaces are flipped to sidewalk cafe, grass, or other useable space and removed from automobile storage. The area already has plenty of surface lots, parking lots, and more that can meet the demands of the retail spaces currently existing. Car storage right in front of someone's shop is not going to bring them as much business as they think - and they will surely lose a customer after their car gets towed or a huge fine for blocking the streetcar tracks.

 

I say remove the potential conflict and convert the space before service starts.

[CLTProductions]

I'm sure people will learn their lesson after a few trips to the tow lot.

[dcharlotte]

I'm sure people will learn their lesson after a few trips to the tow lot.

 

That's the issue - If someone parks there and gets towed vows to never park there again, there will be another person who can't properly park in the space who will then get towed. Better to remove the conflict all together.

 

Not to mention the bad press for the street car and the likely major delays. If the car is parked there and it takes a tow truck 30 minutes to get to the location, that's 30 minutes a streetcar cannot go up and down the route.

[ah59396]

I'm sure people will learn their lesson after a few trips to the tow lot.

I have little doubt we will be hearing all about the delays of the streetcar caused by parallel parked cars jutting out into the path of the tram. It's such a tight squeeze, if you're parked RIGHT, there is about the width of 3 feet, if that.

I hope we've got tow trucks ready to roll to get this remedied quickly.

[go_vertical]

At the risk of sounding like a grumpy SOB, a lot of people here need a crash course in how to parallel park and this just might be the right teacher for them. When I first moved here I was amazed at how many cars were left feet (instead of inches) away from the curb. Is parallel parking such a new and rare thing here that people honestly don't know how to do it properly?

[dcharlotte]

I couldn't agree more, go_vertical, but I don't think the streetcar tracks is the perfect place to start improving people's parking skills.

[caterpillar2]

At the risk of sounding like a grumpy SOB, a lot of people here need a crash course in how to parallel park and this just might be the right teacher for them. When I first moved here I was amazed at how many cars were left feet (instead of inches) away from the curb. Is parallel parking such a new and rare thing here that people honestly don't know how to do it properly?

It is probably at the bottom of the list for police when it comes to keeping the citizenry safe. It isn't something that I look for in other cities or have ever noticed in my frequent travels, but since 80 percent of the drivers here are not from here, I assume that they bring their bad habits with them from 'there.'   Nevertheless, I agree that a few dents and/or scratches  might cause drivers to learn how to park.

Edited April 6, 2015 by caterpillar2

[kermit]

^ The 9 year old boy in me simply wishes that the Streetcar will always run at full speed (action movie style) regardless of how many cars are parked over the white line.

 

The warning signs are clearly posted, let people learn the hard way.

Edited April 6, 2015 by kermit

[CLTProductions]

I imagine it looking a little something like this 

 

I can't embed the time I want for some reason soooo cut to 1:23

Edited April 6, 2015 by Jayvee

[kermit]

^ that was exactly what I had in mind!

[Nolan]

At the risk of sounding like a grumpy SOB, a lot of people here need a crash course in how to parallel park and this just might be the right teacher for them. When I first moved here I was amazed at how many cars were left feet (instead of inches) away from the curb. Is parallel parking such a new and rare thing here that people honestly don't know how to do it properly?

Sadly, parallel parking isn't a required skill on the NC DMV driving test unlike a few other states, I didn't learn how to until I was in college. 

[tozmervo]

They're testing during the day today and tomorrow. I guess we'll see how things go soon enough. http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/cats/planning/GoldLine/Pages/CityLYNXtesting.aspx

[HopHead]

^I honestly can't wait to hear the complaints from drivers about the street car. It's been over 7 years since the Light Rail has been in service. And we still have stupids driving around the crossing guards. 

[ajfunder]

I only had enough time to drive by (sorry for the quality) at lunch but as reported the streetcar was being tested.

[15895]

Yay!!!! Pictures.

[Niner National]

Really wish we were already using the permanent cars. That thing just looks tacky and gimmicky to me.