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Charlotte opens 1.5-mile streetcar line
I struggle with the whole vintage streetcar and no fare thing. Maybe the tourists are happy, but it doesn’t seem like the people of Charlotte will be well served. So how well is this being integrated with the rest of the city transit system and other transportation infrastructure, such as inter-city passenger bus/rail/air travel?
Another stupid waste of money. Is there no end to this insanity? I feel for the taxpayers of Charlotte who are going to have to pay the entire cost of this boondoggle.
Dennis, the first phase runs from the Charlotte Transportation Center which is the main city bus terminal (routes everywhere in the city) including Sprinter service to the airport) and the main station on the existing LYNX Blue Line and the future (2017) Blue Line extension to UNCC. The current line connects CPCC (the largest college in the state) and Novant Presbyterian Hospital to Uptown. It also connects a fledgling retail district on Elizabeth Avenue to Uptown.
The replica vehicles are only temporary. They were built for the Charlotte Trolley line which was replaced by the LYNX Blue Line. They are being used on the starter project to save the expense of buying new vehicles. The plan is to extend the line through Uptown to Gateway Village, Johnson and Wales University, Johnson C. Smith University, and Historic West End as well as Plaza-Midwood on the eastern extension. When this extension opens (most likely 2019) the city will replace the three replica vehicles with seven modern vehicles. Fares will be charged once extended but the streetcar is replacing a free ride circulator bus and its current route is to short to warrant a fare.
The extension will also connect the planned Charlotte Gateway Station to the existing Charlotte Transportation Center including the LYNX Blue Line. Gateway Station will be the new home for Charlotte Amtrak (Piedmont Service, Crescent, Carolinian), Greyhound Bus, Commuter Rail to the north (LYNX Red Line), rapid transit to the southeast (LYNX Silver Line) and to the airport.
Robert, each Charlotte taxpayer had to pay $10 for this streetcar line. Honestly as a Charlotte taxpayer I am willing to pay this expense for infrastructure that benefit the city for decades to come.
Dennis, I almost forgot to mention that four of the six existing stations have bike share stations.
Also to clarify, Time Warner Cable Arena is across the street from the Charlotte Transportation Center. In the photo above you can see the main light rail station on the bridge in the background. The light rail and streetcar are connected by a non revenue spur around the arena.
Alex, thank you for the great explanation and added detail. This makes it plain that this is the first step ina well thought out expansion of the system and not just a touristy gimmick. So based on your comments the current cars are newly built replicas of vintage machines and probably handicap accessible?
Dennis, the three replica cars were built around 2003 by Gomaco and went into storage in 2009. They were built with modern materials but at the same time built to look historic (very beautiful woodwork on the interior). They have ADA compliant wheelchair lifts on both sides of the vehicle. Since their operation with the Charlotte Trolley they have been retrofitted with pantographs (trolley polls were removed) and air conditioning was added.
If federal funding comes through phase two will begin construction early next year. The plan is to extend the line beyond phase two’s four mile length eventually reaching ten miles at full buildout. The streetcar will be an important circulator between neighborhoods, Uptown, and transit centers once the entire 2030 transit system is fully built out.
Ah, Gomaco cars…cool! A good Iowa company, although a strange
As I was saying (fat f
As I was saying, strange product mix…paving equipment and streetcars. They built their first cars back in the 80’s from measurements from cars at Old Settlers grounds in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.
A fine company indeed. Gomaco also upgraded the operating mechanisms on Charlotte’s only surviving original streetcar, car #85, in 2007. Unfortunately, the FRA deemed it’s wooden frame unfit to run on the LYNX line because it didn’t meet crash standards with LRT vehicles. It has been stored in perfect running order, thanks to Gomaco work, awaiting a possible return to service on an out of service Piedmont and Northern (now owned by NCDOT) line where the Charlotte Trolley group hopes to restart operations.
I always wondered how they got into the streetcar business, but they do fine work.
The full story is stranger than fiction. It seems that the National Park service was looking for a couple of new “vintage” streetcars for a project in the old mill country in New England and had put it out for bids. Times were tough in Iowa in the mid 80’s and as I heard it Gomaco put a bid in on the project almost as a lark. To their surprise they won it. They came to Mt. Pleasant to take measurements from a couple of Brill built Rio de Janieiro (sp?) open bench cars that they had (I volunteered on the streetcars at the time) because they we like the open cars common to New England at the turn of the century. I’m not sure where they got the running gear components from, but the end result is they finished the cars and started a new business line.
I know our running gear components came from some scrapped Milan, Italy streetcars. Very fascinating background and I must say they do a fantastic job with their vehicles. They incorporate top-of-the-line technology but preserve a form of historic craftsmanship in every streetcar they build, especially in the woodwork.
Seems the discussion has gotten away from the original intent. But I greatly appreciate Alex’s explanations, all of which justify this beginning phase of satisfying a comprehensive and imaginatively futuristic transportation plan. As one who lived in Charlotte from 1942-56 and still loves it (and will ride on its new streetcar this week), I praise the visionaries who are developing a mass transit plan there while so many cities of comparable size sleep through all of it as if traffic is going to diminish in the coming few decades. Not so, they will wake up one day to find out. I don’t believe Alex referenced the immense property-related issues that are right now being tied into the streetcar development. But it appears the economic impact along the streetcar line is going to be stupendous. Read recent Sunday issues of The Charlotte Observer for fuller details. Charlotte is on the ball!