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 light rail, speed cushions and road widening
It’s time to open the Transit Time virtual mailbag, with emails on articles from the past few months. To share your thoughts, you can always reply to this newsletter, and we could feature your comments in the future.
In response to “Momentum builds for regional transit authority” (Sept. 14):
“For a person that lives further away from downtown, it makes sense for me to look at jumping on the light rail and going into town versus trying to find parking. My concern is, of course, cost. I look around and listen especially to the young people who use it and others that seem to use it while I'm on it (maybe twice a year). No one using it seems to be paying for it. The young adults I hear say it's uncool to pay for the light rail. My guess is that we are extremely upside down on the cost of this. There is no way we are hitting expected income returns from the rail system because no one is paying.”
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In response to “The rubber is hitting the road” (Sept. 7)
“Speeders who don’t slow for asphalt humps generate a loudly resounding THUNK heard indoors and out nearby. Will the cushions be quiet?”
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In response to “What if we treated car crashes like plane crashes?” (Aug. 31)
“I’m very sorry for that young fella and his family … but that expensive list of ‘solutions’ is ludicrous. Bad decision-making is the root cause of the accident — nothing at all wrong with that intersection. Charlotte can’t afford all of that. The City Council spent our hard-earned tax dollars on street/highway signs when they unnecessarily changed all those street names!”
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In response to “Consultants’ fees add to light rail costs” (June 29):
“A good $70,000 a year analyst could do all the modeling the city and county need. Incompetence is another reason costs are escalating so rapidly.”
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In response to “NCDOT is looking into widening Providence Road” (June 8):
“This city has a problem. It approves and encourages all this development without improving the infrastructure first. Case in point: South Boulevard has been under construction for years upon years, as the city scrambles to bring sewer capacity in line with the thousands of apartments that have sprung up. The same thing is about to happen in NoDa. Fix the infrastructure before approving all the development. It’s not that hard, but somehow Charlotte officials cannot see this.”
“Not widening Steele Creek Road until 2029 is absolutely ridiculous. Traffic on that road is already a nightmare, and new construction is continuing to happen.”
“NCDOT’s proposed ‘10-year waitlist” is a joke, as is the funding from the legislature. It seems as if N.C.’s #1 economic engine and largest metro area, Charlotte, is not a priority. Since the local governments do not extract appropriate ‘user fees’ or budget for infrastructure improvements from developers (who for some reason get a free pass and keep over-stressing the existing infrastructure to their profit but to the public’s detriment) we, the residents, suffer. Until local governmental bodies begin to give a damn by prioritizing quality of life over tax revenue and our elected representatives at each level of government are held responsible, NOTHING will happen.”
“Figure out bus routes and how to make them attractive to commuters. After 10+ years, whatever plan and budget will be rubbish anyway. Buses would be a great solution if you can get riders.”
“Widening roads is not the answer. All that does is move the traffic and encourage more drivers. Instead, build mass transit, encourage work from home and wider distribution of commercial work spaces. There’s no reason for half the city to travel into uptown by car every day.”
“Please stop saying widening Providence Road would be an ‘improvement.’ That’s a value judgment. ‘Widening’ is the factual way to say that.”
“Trying to ‘fix’ congestion by widening streets is like trying to ‘cure’ obesity by punching another hole in your belt. You ‘fix’ congestion by, over time, creating more places where not everyone has to drive to get anywhere.”
“To widen is to invite more development, which invites more widening. Intersections need help, but congestion needs a different solution, lest we want to be Atlanta or Nashville.”
In brief…
Fewer emissions inspections? The draft of North Carolina’s budget under consideration in Raleigh would exempt vehicles from annual emissions inspections — except in Mecklenburg. A state senator said Mecklenburg is the one county with emissions that haven’t fallen to acceptable levels. Safety inspections would still be required. (Observer)
Airport workers march: About 300 people marched in support of airport workers on Tuesday, part of an effort to raise pay and improve working conditions for employees of airline contractors. (WFAE)
Yep, OK to ride horses: It’s legal to ride a horse on the street. (Observer)
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