The high cost of Charlotte’s streetcar
The Gold Line struggles with lower-than-projected ridership, which drives up cost per passenger; Plus: Changes ahead for the Red Line
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The latest federal data show the CATS Gold Line costs 6x as much per passenger as running buses
by Steve Harrison
WFAE
Since the second phase of the Gold Line streetcar opened nearly three years ago, it’s been plagued by a number of problems:
Cars parking in its path, causing delays.
Not enough train operators, leading to reduced service.
And just not enough riders overall.
A Federal Transit Administration report gives some insight into the Gold Line’s financial challenges.
The FTA’s most recent report for the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) — covering fiscal year 2022 — has one eye-popping metric: how much it costs to move a passenger one mile.
For the Lynx Blue Line light rail, it was $2.10.
For CATS buses, it was $3.14.
For the streetcar? $18.71.
That’s right — nearly $19 to carry one passenger a mile.
There are many reasons for that.
One is that there just aren’t that many people riding the Gold Line. And the people who are riding it are riding short distances. And finally, the streetcar is far more expensive to operate than a bus.
(Before the Gold Line was built, CATS used to operate a free shuttle bus along Trade Street called the Gold Rush.)
How CATS got to nearly $19 a mile
Here is how the math breaks down.
In the first 10 months of the second segment of the streetcar being open, CATS spent $7.12 million in operating costs, according to the FTA. (That doesn’t include the $150 million to build the second phase of the Gold Line.)
The streetcar carried 342,000 passengers in those 10 months, or an average of 34,200 passengers a month.
But even though the streetcar is four miles long, the average trip length was just 1.1 miles. That equals 380,000 passenger miles.
When you divide $7.12 million by 380,000 miles, you get nearly $19.
The riders themselves don’t help defray any of that, as riding the streetcar is free.
Some improvement
The good news for CATS is that streetcar ridership has increased, making it more efficient.
For fiscal year 2023, streetcar ridership grew by nearly 50%.
The FTA hasn’t released its report on CATS for fiscal year 2023. CATS told Transit Time it spent $4.7 million operating the streetcar for fiscal year 2023. It’s unclear why expenses decreased from $7.1 million over 10 months to $4.7 million over 12 months. It could be because CATS reduced service, or the transit system accounts for expenses differently than the federal government.
That would drive down the per-passenger mile cost to a little under $8 per mile.
Why such high costs?
One reason the streetcar is so expensive is that it doesn’t carry as many riders as projected.
Before the second phase of the streetcar opened in 2021, CATS projected it would carry 4,100 passengers on the average weekday. In October 2023, it carried fewer than 1,800.
Transit officials have acknowledged the streetcar ridership has struggled, though they haven’t discussed its high costs publicly.
CATS recently returned to having the streetcar run every 20 minutes. Last fall, it had switched to having trains arrive every 30 minutes because it didn’t have enough drivers.
The transit system hopes offering more frequent service will attract more riders — which, of course, would help drive down that per-mile cost.
Steve Harrison is a reporter with WFAE, Charlotte’s NPR news source. Reach him at sharrison@wfae.com.
Related Transit Time/Charlotte Ledger articles:
“New skepticism about future of the streetcar” (June 1, 2022)
“A rocky start for Charlotte’s new streetcar” (Dec. 9, 2021)
“Can a runner beat the new streetcar?” (Sept. 9, 2021)
More streetcar photos than you can handle (Sept 2, 2021)
CATS planners are re-examining details of the Red Line; look for our full analysis next week
Transportation planners are re-examining many of the details of the proposed Red Line commuter rail between uptown Charlotte and northern Mecklenburg.
At an online meeting on Wednesday, officials with the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) said they are updating the planning for the 25-mile line to reflect changes in development patterns and people’s transportation needs in the 20+ years since the route was first envisioned.
“Pretty much every element of the design has gone through changes in the last 15 years,” said Brian Nadolny, CATS’ senior project manager for the Red Line. “We can’t just dust off the old project and try to build that project.”
The updates include re-examining the number of stations and their locations and refining the frequency of the trains.
Planners said the city is still negotiating with the owner of the line, railroad Norfolk Southern. Funding for the project remains in limbo, too. —Tony Mecia
➡️ Coming next Thursday in Transit Time: Ely Portillo of WFAE takes a closer look at the evolution of the Red Line 🚞
In brief…
Road shrinkage: A 0.6-mile stretch of Matheson Avenue near NoDa will shrink from four lanes to two, after the City Council approved $12.9 million in an effort to slow vehicles and improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists. (Axios Charlotte)
CATS safety award: The Charlotte Area Transit System has been awarded the federal government’s highest honor for “outstanding security measures and emergency preparedness.” Interim CEO Brent Cagle said the system’s efforts to enhance safety are paying off. (Axios Charlotte)
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I hope Gold Line ridership improves. I have found it useful as a resident of the West Side.
The streetcar never seemed to make logical sense no matter how much elected officials and bureaucrats tried to spin it. That route should have also been light rail, IMO. Charlotte would survive without cars on Trade street.