Transit Time: Reader mailbag 📫
Feedback from our readers on recent articles
You’re reading Transit Time, a weekly newsletter for Charlotte people who leave the house. Cars, buses, light rail, bikes, scooters … if you use it to get around the city, we write about it. Transit Time is produced in partnership between The Charlotte Ledger and WFAE.
Your turn: Readers weigh in on changes to federal transit funding, options on transit lines and an alternate route for the Silver Line
It’s time to open the Transit Time virtual mailbag, with emails on articles from the past month. Comments were edited for length and clarity.
To share your thoughts, you can always reply to this newsletter or send us an email, and we might feature your comments in the future.
Does linking transit funding to marriage and birth rates make sense?
In response to “New transit hurdle: Federal funds to be tied to high marriage rates” (Feb. 6), which described how the Trump administration wants to steer transit money to cities with high birth and marriage rates:
“Single people and people without children also use public transport. It’s ridiculous to tie the two together. How about solutions that work to help all people instead?”
“This will be bad for a lot of Republicans, because a lot of red states, red regions and swing states have much older populations, either because they lost young people to places with better economies or they attract a lot of retirees. That lowers their birth rate. West Virginia, South Carolina, Maine, Florida and Arizona all have older populations, many of whom vote Republican. Genius idea!”
“I’m not seeing ‘common sense’ in some of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s objectives, but let’s hope for the best for Charlotte. We can all run out and get married if needed, lol.” —Paul Hart
“Thanks for the coverage and for interviewing a national expert on the topic. Definitely thought-provoking. Hopefully, Charlotte comes out on top.” —William Michael Agee
“Please do your readers a service and suggest pushback from across the country to reverse this crazy rule. Don’t just go along.” —David Foulser
“I honestly thought this was your April Fools’ Day edition!” —Matt G.
Choices, choices: Which of the 4 proposed transit scenarios is best?
In response to “Most likely CATS plan favors rail from airport to Bojangles Coliseum” (Jan. 23), which examined the four plans the Charlotte Area Transit System proposed for transit corridors.
“I recommend getting a professional international consulting company to come and decide the most optimal plan. They have experience with many international and U.S. city transit plans. The city bows to pressure from local interest groups. Again, the city planners ‘hope’ to encourage growth where they want it. Too much politicking in Charlotte over transit! Let’s develop an efficient, practical, forward-thinking transportation policy!” —Terese Morris
“Buses desperately need a huge infusion of cash and TLC. Lots can already be done by increasing the reliability [and building] shelters along the routes. Implement technology using cards and stop using cash, which slows the boarding so much.” —Jean-Claude Thill
“Really difficult to pick a plan when there is little information regarding levels of service for rail or potential bus network overhauls. Running more buses on our current network, which is convoluted in design at best, will do nothing to support this growing city. Once again, I feel that CATS is bringing us a half-baked idea that does not provide enough commitment for real improvements. Thanks for the great coverage.” —William Michael Agee
“We need to invest more money on rail travel. The current bus system is under-utilized, and I do not think any of the recommended changes will increase riders. It would be a game-changer to have lines that stretch from Matthews through uptown and to the airport as well as out to Ballantyne. If we are able to connect those areas, ridership will grow exponentially.” —Julie Ayers
“CATS/City of Charlotte are withholding information again. There were no ridership estimates, though those could be skewed by city staff anyway. They continue to contend there will be some type of direct connection from Wilkinson Boulevard to the airport, though the airport disagrees. I presume their recommendations are driven by expected development, since that is what seems to drive most everything the city recommends.” —Dave Ogden
“The Silver Line to Matthews/Stallings is a no-brainer. If DOT is going to continue to postpone improvements to the Independence Boulevard corridor, then light rail becomes the primary commuter option. Remote work aside, there are still thousands of people who commute to uptown regularly.” —Stan Schwartz
“The Silver Line needs to terminate at the CLT airport. Money spent on a line that terminates 1 mile away is wasted.” —Bob Sauls
“Rail to the airport from uptown is vital. Building the Red Line is finally fulfilling the initial promises that secured any light rail in Charlotte. The Gold Line has already been constructed, thereby fulfilling much of the promises to inner city communities, but it should be finished up on the westside. Sadly, somebody did not think through how impossible it is to operate a streetcar with many stops not timed to streetlights in the midst of car traffic. No wonder it fails in the ridership metric.” —William P. Brandon
“This current plan looks like such a reversion to the old: There is no apparent problem that this airport-to-Ovens construction looks poised to solve, unless the goal is to create an apartment/condo boom around the BoPlex, where the current road infrastructure is singularly poor. Getting the Silver Line south of North Sardis would bring real ridership numbers, as opposed to the Gold Line, whose regular passengers could have each been given a Tesla for less public money.” —Christopher Cudabac
“The Blue Line all the way to Ballantyne would connect rail to 4.5 million square feet of office space, connecting workers in uptown and South End to this office space. It makes no sense to stop the Blue Line at a dying mall in Pineville, unless you consider that the Pineville mall is just a large parking lot for commuters.” —Scott Brennan
“The Gold Line extension to the east would be a tremendous waste of public money and has little support in the community. The existing Central Avenue bus line runs faster. Re-allocate those funds to the Silver Line. Designing the airport station a mile from the terminal is very short-sighted, and if it requires transfer to a bus, no one is going to ride it. Imagine trying to navigate that with small kids or an elderly person, plus luggage.” —Frank Warren
“Absolutely insane that [interim CATS CEO Brent] Cagle thinks that $845 million to extend the Gold Line is chump change. The Gold Line has been a train wreck from the beginning, including the Hawthorne bridge, improperly sized rails and the congestion it causes by stopping at lights and blocking traffic.” —Doug Neal
“A train to and from the airport to uptown/Matthews is a must. Extending the Blue Line to Pineville at a station that’s not a mall makes sense. Must have a rail station at the airport, similar to Atlanta.” —Dan N.
“Under any of the four scenarios, there will need to be some serious education of Charlotteans about what Bus Rapid Transit is. (Hint, hint, Ledger.) Most people here have never been to a city with BRT or ridden a BRT system. Without this context, it will skew the perceptions unnecessarily. While I favor rail, BRT really can be a very close second and has many advantages. But if people don’t understand what it is, they’re just going to say ‘no’ out of hand.” —Darryl Logsdon
“Spending billions on a Silver Line between the city and the airport is crazy. Who is going to lug their luggage from their hotel to the downtown light rail station, ride light rail to a light rail station not at the airport terminal and lug their luggage to another mode of transportation to get into the airport terminal when one can get an Uber or taxis from their downtown hotel to the airport terminal? What makes the most sense is to stay with the current east-west light rail line between Pineville and UNC Charlotte and build out a north-south Red line/Silver line combo between Davidson and Matthews. This would be the base for the future and is doable with a 1% additional sales tax. Let's hope our city planners can see the big picture and local entities don’t fall on their swords to get money for their own neighborhoods (money grab).” —Garland Green
“THANK YOU for doing a great job and asking the most obvious question to Brent Cagle: What is the ridership projection???” —Jeffrey H.
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◼️ Poll results: readers favor Silver Line to Bojangles Coliseum and extending Blue Line to Pineville
We also asked readers to vote on which of the four alternatives they preferred. It is an unscientific survey, and 295 people weighed in. “Scenario 1” received 49% of the votes, and “None of the above” came in second, with 25% of the vote.
Here was the question:
Which plan released this week do you think makes the most sense?
Scenario 1: New Silver Line as rail from airport to Bojangles Coliseum. Extend Blue Line rail to Pineville.
Scenario 2: New Silver Line as rail from airport to uptown and as bus rapid transit from uptown to Matthews. Extend Blue Line rail to Pineville.
Scenario 3: New Silver Line as bus rapid transit from airport to Matthews. Extend Blue Line rail to Ballantyne.
Scenario 4: New Silver Line as bus rapid transit from airport to Matthews. Extend Blue Line as bus rapid transit to Ballantyne.
The results:
How about a new route for the Silver Line?
A group of transit backers is championing a route for the Silver Line that follows existing freight tracks (in blue), compared with the longtime favored route (in red). (Image courtesy of Urban Charlotte Coalition)
In response to “What if the Silver Line’s route is all wrong?” (Jan. 16), which described the efforts of a small group of transit advocates to have CATS study an alternate route for the Silver Line — one that goes along existing freight tracks between the airport and Matthews.
“Let’s see: cheaper, faster and would actually serve the airport. Really? Some attention being made to intermodality? Shocking! The concept is not groundbreaking. Anyone who has taken Amtrak on the Northeast Corridor is used to seeing commuter rail, heavy passenger rail and freight rail in the same corridor, often sharing station stops. So what is the problem? Whose ox is being gored by revisiting the options? These processes take years, and it is ludicrous not to adapt to changing conditions.”
“I live close to Matthews, and I’m very frustrated with the plan for the Silver Line light rail. Asking residents in our area to pay sales tax so that the rest of the county reaps rewards is completely unfair.” —Kim D.
“My husband and I have been traveling in Europe for the last 3 weeks. Haven’t driven a car once. We encourage City Fathers to move quickly to solve our transit problems. Using existing rail lines seems an idea worth pursuing. We desperately need non-car options.” —Susan Patterson
“I think it would be negligent for our city/county planners and councils not to investigate this proposed route further. If no one has talked to CSX in decades, why not reach out and have a discussion about the ability to lease land or access along the existing rail lines? Having the transit line come closer to communities and the airport without significantly increasing impact given existing rail lines makes SO MUCH sense.” —Danny Arnette
“Makes perfect sense, because the rail is already there. It’s cheaper (assuming a good negotiation with CSX) and will take less time to implement. I’ve noticed the tracks along Monroe and wondered about it. Maybe the best selling point is the proximity to the airport.” —Stephanie Gardner
“Anything to get cars off Independence.” —Matt Wackerhagen
◼️ Poll results: Readers favor CATS taking a second look
We also asked readers if CATS should re-examine the Silver Line corridor. The results are not scientifically valid, but a large majority of the 286 people responded “yes”:
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