Charlotte's Light Rail: Lynx Blue Line

[mintscraft56]

23 hours ago, kermit said:

Norfolk's system was badly stunted by RWNJ's in Virgina Beach who blocked the most logical expansion for an LRT ever. The stub line it is left with is well run, but serves a downtown that is not in good shape. Its kinda sad. They carry 310 riders per mile. 

 

Yep. Though, our downtown is doing just fine. The problem is with our light rail system. (Thanks to dang VB) Workers prefer to use cars to travel to downtown because our light rail only extends within our city limits. So, not only is the car traffic bad on a good amount of days, but the light rail is never packed unless its a holiday, a baseball game for the Tides, or a voting day. Luckily for us, our friendlier neighbors down in Chesapeake are open for expansion. So, expect a bigger line one day. 

Edited October 17, 2023 by mintscraft56

[15895]

Since we were speaking on Southeastern Rail transit systems.

Pete Buttigieg was in Miami. He said if the Metrorail extension wasn’t already in the front of his mind, the mayor of Miami made sure he left with that on the top of his mind. 

“The effort to extend the Metrorail north up 27th Avenue is estimated to cost about $2 billion. The county expects to spend the next year to 18 months working on design and engineering with the Florida Department of Transportation, but hopes to eventually seek as much as half that money from the $1 trillion infrastructure law that President Joe Biden signed in 2021, with the rest coming from state and local sources.

“These processes are very competitive, but Miami Dade and this community have demonstrated that they have been able to often succeed in very competitive processes,” said Buttigieg.”

https://amp.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-gardens/article280639595.html

[North Corridor is the line being discussed]

Fingers crossed we get some action on Miami, Philly, Baltimore soon and hopefully some Charlotte Silver Line / Blue Line Extension action/momentum in the coming years. 

[kermit]

4pm train leaving UNCC main, seats were about 1/2 full. Traffic leaving campus is significantly heavier than anytime in the Covid era (and today, heavier than before Covid) 

[Reverie39]

Miami is another system that oddly doesn’t show up on Google Maps transit. I messaged them about it as done for Charlotte and they appear to have responded by adding the little elevated trams that run in Miami’s downtown, but not the heavy rail line itself lol. Fascinating. 

[kermit]

WTF does this (Fare zone only) mean? Does CATS now expect rail trail users to pay $2.20? The same sign is on the other side of the tracks as well.

 

Edited November 2, 2023 by kermit

[kermit]

It may be the specific crew, but the new security / fare check guys are much more personable/ friendly and helpful than the folks from the previous company. They are riding, rather than their previous on-off routine. Doing a good job of keeping track of who they already checked and doing some friendly chatting.

Makes a big difference, nice work CATS.

Edited November 2, 2023 by kermit

[Guest]

Yeah for real the train experience has been transformed for me this past month or so

[kermit]

30+ people waiting on the UNCC main platform. This is not busy in the context of uptown at rush hour, but this is super busy for campus anytime. I think we need more frequencies.

edit: all but 6ish seats full in my car after leaving JW Clay. This is a Tuesday @3pm train.

edit2: large crowd boarded at McCullough, I think a charter school just let out? Standing room only after 3 stops. The high school kids mostly left the train at Old Concord. The train remained standing room (but not packed) all the way till I hoped off at East West.

 

 

Edited November 7, 2023 by kermit

[dylansukkert]

18 hours ago, kermit said:

30+ people waiting on the UNCC main platform. This is not busy in the context of uptown at rush hour, but this is super busy for campus anytime. I think we need more frequencies.

edit: all but 6ish seats full in my car after leaving JW Clay. This is a Tuesday @3pm train.

edit2: large crowd boarded at McCullough, I think a charter school just let out? Standing room only after 3 stops. The high school kids mostly left the train at Old Concord. The train remained standing room (but not packed) all the way till I hoped off at East West.

 

 

I can do you one just as good. 8:57 train into uptown from New Bern. 50+ people waiting at the platform. Half of them couldn’t get on the already packed train. Next three stops into uptown had to leave people on the platforms. Uptown is back. More trains needed in the morning. 

[davidclt]

Fixed it for you:

6 minutes ago, dylansukkert said:

More trains and greater frequencies needed in the morning throughout the day (and the evening).

There should never be a time we're running trains at 30 minutes headways even at 1 in the morning. Additionally, even if a train is coming out of service to absorb a change in the headway, it shouldn't be passing through a station "Out of Service" and should carry people to the stop right before the train barn.

[dylansukkert]

Having to wait 30 minutes for a train out of Uptown after 9pm is absoutletly embarrassing. Plus it wasn’t even on time.  

[Desert Power]

Feels like the Blue Line has really improved its reliability this year combined with a greater security presence.  Not sure if I'll go back to using it for commuting (the frequency is just killer), but I appreciate the noticeable improvement in service.

[kermit]

1) Sigh… https://www.wfae.org/politics/2024-01-07/n-c-dot-orders-cats-to-pull-all-older-light-rail-trains-from-service-over-new-wheel-problem

2) Weird reporting, wheel flat spots are not uncommon or a big deal. Seems like there is something else here for the state to respond like this?

[Nathan2]

9 hours ago, kermit said:

1) Sigh… https://www.wfae.org/politics/2024-01-07/n-c-dot-orders-cats-to-pull-all-older-light-rail-trains-from-service-over-new-wheel-problem

2) Weird reporting, wheel flat spots are not uncommon or a big deal. Seems like there is something else here for the state to respond like this?

Steve Harrison has always seemed like he has a hard-on for crapping on transit in Charlotte. Weird reporting or not, It feels like CATS is still very far away from providing more reliable and frequent service. 

[CLT Development]

7 hours ago, Nathan2 said:

Steve Harrison has always seemed like he has a hard-on for crapping on transit in Charlotte. Weird reporting or not, It feels like CATS is still very far away from providing more reliable and frequent service. 

enormous hard on for it. He's Pitchin' a Ringling Bros just to crap on transit.

Edited January 8 by CLT Development

[Crucial_Infra]

^ Haha I had no idea the guy’s history but came to that same conclusion just by looking at his picture 

Edited January 8 by Crucial_Infra

[CLT Development]

20 hours ago, kermit said:

1) Sigh… https://www.wfae.org/politics/2024-01-07/n-c-dot-orders-cats-to-pull-all-older-light-rail-trains-from-service-over-new-wheel-problem

2) Weird reporting, wheel flat spots are not uncommon or a big deal. Seems like there is something else here for the state to respond like this?

I do have to say my train ride home tonight had a pretty persistent click/tap as the train went and now I know what that is.

[carolinaboy]

13 hours ago, CLT Development said:

I do have to say my train ride home tonight had a pretty persistent click/tap as the train went and now I know what that is.

I hate it when my grocery cart does that. Can't imagine that being the vehicle I'm riding in.

[Reverie39]

Baltimore’s light rail service: What we know about the indefinite suspension – Baltimore Sun

Baltimore light rail got indefinitely suspended in December due to fire issues and as far as I know has not yet resumed service. Really not good and probably doing a lot of damage to future ridership. There are always lessons to be learned from things like this, so I hope CATS is paying attention.

[TheMightyBK]

3 hours ago, Reverie39 said:

Baltimore’s light rail service: What we know about the indefinite suspension – Baltimore Sun

Baltimore light rail got indefinitely suspended in December due to fire issues and as far as I know has not yet resumed service. Really not good and probably doing a lot of damage to future ridership. There are always lessons to be learned from things like this, so I hope CATS is paying attention.

I believe Baltimore resumed service last week.

[kermit]

My ride to work this morning was on a 100 series train (which were supposed to be pulled out of service for inspection). Shrug…

 

Edited January 12 by kermit

[Reverie39]

19 hours ago, TheMightyBK said:

I believe Baltimore resumed service last week.

Ah okay that's good to hear. Google wasn't turning much up 

[kermit]

There was some tiny progress towards CATS modernizing their ticket / pass system today. UNCC told their pass holders (all students and faculty/staff who buy an annual pass) that the pass will be moving to the wallet function of the CATS app.

This is a positive since the current system is very honors system oriented (checkers just look at the id, there is no checking to see if it is current). Perhaps CATS is finally starting to move towards a more robust system than currently exists (the only buying an online ticket when you see an inspector being the biggest loophole).

FWIW, the original plan when the BLE was opened was everybody would tap when boarding, and the UNCC is would be tapable. Despite the ‘tappers’ being installed on quite a few vehicles for a few months, this never materialized.

[kermit]

I like to think I am pretty tolerant of urban grit, but 9th Station after dark (it was around 7:30) is an -adventure-. Never really felt unsafe, but there were about 10 people on the platform, none waiting on a train, several yelling, sometimes at nobody, several engaged in arguments (“I didn’t call you a B”). Just a bunch of what the Brits would refer to as "anti-social behavior".

I have been using the station after dark since the BLE opened and this the most uncomfortable I have been there. The remarkably poor lighting in the area (particularity towards 11th street) is part of the problem, as is Daniel Levine’s inaction on his apocalypse museum exhibit.

Edited January 12 by kermit

[Windsurfer]

10 hours ago, kermit said:

I like to think I am pretty tolerant of urban grit, but 9th Station after dark is an -adventure-. Never really felt unsafe, but there were about 10 people around the platform, several yelling, sometimes at nobody. I have been using the station after dark since the BLE opened and this the most uncomfortable I have been there.

Are there any police cameras at the stations? Not sure if they'd help, but seem to help here in London where folks know they are potentially being watched.