Transit Time: Reader mailbag 📫 + more streetcar photos than you can handle
Readers weigh in on transit plan, traffic congestion, flying cars and CATS
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 among The Charlotte Ledger, WFAE and the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute.
Your turn: Transit Time readers weigh in
Time to open the Transit Time virtual mailbag, with emails on articles from the past couple months. To share your thoughts, you can always reply to this newsletter, and we could feature your comments in the future.
In response to “How the city is tackling traffic congestion” (Aug. 12):
“Do something about all the school drop-off/pick ups. Some states (N.J. for one) totally ban doing this. Any pick-up/drop-off for doctor, etc., have to be scheduled the day prior. We are paying for school buses, then paying for cops to direct traffic at schools and adding to pollution with all the cars sitting in line.”
“I laughed when I read the quote that our center city streets rank eighth out of 20 in surface quality. When you’re spending hundreds of millions on streetcars and light rail and resurfacing everything around it, you might hope it would be better than eighth. Providence Road has to be last along with many others heading south. It’s ridiculous.”
“Bikes are such an efficient way to get around. People need to be riding bikes to commute and carpooling more. Many of these congested areas lack an easy way to do either. Some work has been done to create bike lanes in the city, but connectivity to roads south can be rough. Traffic calming and bike/pedestrian ways would make that safer so people can also do their local traveling on bike.”
In response to “Are CATS’ financial projections too rosy?” (Aug. 5)
“I just wish everyone would be realistic. I’m all for these projects, but we have to be realistic about what they cost, where they money comes from and what else doesn’t get funded as a result.”
In response to “A glimpse into the future” (July 29):
“Councilman Tariq Bokhari is right. Why would we build an $8 billion (likely a lot more) fixed rail project, estimated completion date 2040, when it will be immediately, laughably outdated? For that kind of money, it would pay to take some futuristic, calculated risks. I admire the councilman for his foresight. Let’s hope the rest of Charlotte’s leadership choose to lead instead of follow other, less creative cities.”
“The Boring Co. is not mass transit. Basically, this is a tunnel with a lane in each direction for eventually automated Teslas. Very small capacity. Any politician that spends a dime on that nonsense for the 1% should be recalled.”
“It’s not sexy, but spending a fraction of the Red Line rail money to build out direct ramps and stations using the toll lanes on I-77 is the practical and effective solution up here. Direct access via ramps and frequent service would likely be a winner. … Of course, a Red Line hydrail would be a boon — imagine the benefit to existing centers of the northern towns and greenfield developments between them. But somehow, I don’t have high expectations. A pity.”
“Regarding flying cars: I, for one, do not really want to live in a future where Charlotte’s traffic issues leave the street and go to the air. Besides the obvious issues of how you manage traffic in the air without everyone becoming airline pilots or trusting yet-unproven automation, I would like to be able to enjoy the skyline and the sky without drones and flying cars clogging up the view.”
In response to “Are cars the answer to better economic mobility?” (July 22)
“Excellent analysis. Seems our city leaders are hell-bent on the transit plan when much cheaper alternatives exist. Nice to see an actual real piece of journalism these days.”
“I so long for someone to ask each city leader, commissioner, planner, mayor, etc., how often they actually use mass transit themselves. If not near daily, they aren’t particularly credible to me. Or maybe mass transit is meant just for plebeians, not the ruling class?”
“My general impression of Charlotte’s planning is that they haven’t had a new thought in decades and are simply copying what’s happening elsewhere. I’ve been here a long time. I remember when we built an experimental domed coliseum with matching concert hall with the best acoustics money could buy. These two buildings have paid for themselves many times over.”
In response to “The real reason why light rail is bypassing the airport” (July 15):
“The airport is a key factor in Charlotte’s growth and standing, and any proposed changes and/or additions need to be carefully evaluated. … A key question in this matter not covered is where and how the airline passengers would access this Silver Line to the airport. It might work great for uptown bankers to use, but what about passengers not in uptown who don’t want to drive through uptown traffic and have to search/pay for limited, expensive uptown parking just so they can ride light rail to the air terminal? Not for me.”
In response to “New transit projections, but plenty of unknowns” (July 1):
“The biggest issue with anti-light rail folks is that they are so incredibly short-sighted. If the Blue Line wasn’t built, none of the development along South End would have occurred, from the numerous apartment complexes, to breweries, to Fortune 500 companies building headquarters and tech centers. Instead of complaining that ridership doesn’t pay for the operating costs, there needs to be a bigger calculation as to what the impact has been from a tax revenue perspective from all of those developments. The sheer multiple of what it is now versus what it was when South End was a bunch of commercial/industrial/strip club lots has to be monumental. Yes, they are big numbers, but the city can’t afford to be short-sighted if this amount of growth continues.”
“How many sexagenarians and septuagenarians are likely to support a plan that’s completed in 2041? They will be too old to ride the rails, and their grandkids and great-grandkids will find the rails obsolete, favoring hovercraft or advanced vehicles.”
In response to “Charlotte’s scooters are making a comeback” (June 17):
“Yes, except many scooter riders have no respect for traffic. Literally had one run a red light across a sidewalk only to cut in front of me 1/2 a block later because he was going against traffic. Seriously, are you a pedestrian or a vehicle? Choose one!”
Fulfilling the desires of the Gold Line curious
Is your curiosity about Charlotte’s new streetcar insatiable? Do you fantasize about stepping aboard one of the cars in the newly opened line between Elizabeth and Historic West End? Have you been craving your fix of the hottest streetcar photos since the Gold Line opened on Monday?
Well you’ve come to the right place. The photos we’ve got of the new $150 million streetcar project are going to satisfy your desires — here, discreetly, in your email inbox. No other newsletter can say it offers more pulse-quickening Charlotte streetcar action than Transit Time.
The line opened in 2015 at 1.5 miles. Now it’s 4 miles — so it has nearly tripled in length. Social media this week indicated that if you go all the way, the experience takes 35-45 minutes.
Yep, you can’t spell “Charlotte’s in heat” without the letters S-T-R-E-E-T-C-A-R.
Let’s get started:
Curvy: So … it is too much of a stalker move to snap a bunch of photos as a Gold Line streetcar turns left from Elizabeth Avenue onto Hawthorne Lane in front of Novant Health’s Presbyterian Hospital? Asking for a friend:
Green means go: Looking good, streetcar, at North Myers Street heading into uptown:
Leaving Trade and Tryon: Can you imagine the reaction of early settlers in the 1700s, when Trade and Tryon were mere trading paths, if they saw one of these babies barreling down the street? Priceless:
At Johnson & Wales: I’d say this streetcar is cooking up something spicy:
Please don’t stop: It’s the end of the line at Beatties Ford Road and French Street in Biddleville. Oh yeah, mix it up and go the other way:
Keeping it family friendly: This is just too hot — near the end of the line with Plaza-Midwood in the background, a guy walking a dog, street lamps, a strong and confident streetcar strutting down Hawthorne Lane. We’re keeping this one safe for work:
Whew. OK, that’s it for now. Transit Time will be back next week with more hot streetcar content. —Tony Mecia
In brief…
City Council member’s family hurt in bus stop wreck: Charlotte City Council member Tariq Bokhari said this week that his wife and two of his children were hit by a truck while waiting for the bus on the first day of school. The children were "scraped up," Bokhari said on Twitter, while his wife suffered a concussion and was unable to move her neck because of "terrible pain."
“I want to relay a message of the greatest importance: school is back in session, and many places don’t have sidewalks and there are no safe options. Slow down. There’s nowhere you need to be that’s worth changing someone’s family forever,” Bokhari said. (Twitter)
New way to pay for transit in Charlotte: The Charlotte Area Transit System rolled out a new mobile payment app, CATS-Pass (make sure you use the “-” if you’re searching for it, as the old app was called “CATS Pass”). In addition to letting you buy and use tickets for the bus and light rail on your phone, the new app will — “in the coming months,” according to CATS — include real-time GPS tracking of buses. (CATS)
Biketoberfest: Sustain Charlotte is holding “Biketoberfest” on Oct. 24, a “unique, scavenger hunt-style event” designed to encourage Charlotteans to discover fun, easy ways to get around Charlotte without driving. The after party is at Triple C Brewing. Details here.
Correction
An article in last week’s Transit Time incorrectly reported last week that Paul Shumaker and Morgan Jackson would be lobbying the N.C. General Assembly for the Transformational Mobility Network, on behalf of the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance. The alliance has hired Shumaker and Jackson to be public affairs consultants. Alliance staff and a team from Moore & Van Allen will lead all lobbying activities.
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