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Charlotte light rail ridership back to 2008 levels
The Blue line has always been a tough sell to most Charlotteans because they can’t fit it into their commutes. I was in the Northeast suburbs and would have had to commute to downtown via bus to catch the Blue Line on the west side of downtown, only to take it a few stops and grab a bus back east to get to my employer in South Park. That said, the direct lines from Northeast Charlotte to South Park weren’t any faster, so I drove everyday anyway.
This project was always very different from, say, the Twin Cities Green line from Minneapolis to St. Paul where there are buses on short headways constantly throughout the day, and where the light-rail has usurped the need for that congestion because of planned meets from feeder bus lines. If the line to UNCC is completed so the more populous Northeastern suburbs can get traction, things could change dramatically. Trying to grab commuters from SC where the gas prices are almost always lower (the Blue line) seems like a losing equation.
It’s a start in the right direction and my limited experiences aboard the full route of the Blue Line have been excellent. I commend Charlotte for its progressiveness, leading the way in an area underserved by urban rail transit (with a few notable exceptions like Atlanta, Miami-West Palm Beach and Nashville). Charlotte is already proving that such traffic will succeed and when the line is extended northward the cars may be full all the time. Visionary leadership there will ultimately devise an expanded system reaching eastward and westward paralleling Trade Street, still one of the two infamous “Crossroads of the Carolinas” (the other is Tryon Street which the Blue Line augments). Congratulations to Charlotteans for doing it right!. May their tribe increase!
I like Mr. Cox’s attitude. May things expand in the right directions!