Don't Back Down

Something like nine months ago (in November of 2007), the Lynx Blue Line opened to great fanfare - and not a few Bronx Cheers. Those who thought that the entire mass transit system of Charlotte would be paid for - not to mention built - by that time had a few shocks in store, as the budget kept going up and up ,while the delivered goods kept going down and down.

The sleek cars were definitely nice and all, but ultimately there was a certain disappointment. Original plans had called for trains that could handle three cars. Scaled-back plans had many trains running with two cars, and some sporting only a single. Parking lots along the farthest reaches had been trimmed as well, because with citizens screaming for another referendum, it seemed like the only way to make ends meet was to trim the fat. That was done, and now things have been up and running for the better part of a year. To make things even more interesting, gas has gone up with no apparent end in sight. What does it all mean?

The Good

First, there have been no major outages. Though there were some problems with the automated ticket vending machines in the early days, those are pretty well gone at this point. I'm sure that there have been some, but none that have really been newsworthy since the trains started rolling near the end of last year. That is very likely a good thing - it could also mean that no one is buying tickets, so they don't actually know that they are broken.

Second, the crowds are actually a lot higher than expected. Original projections were for just over 9000 weekday trips. We've seen more than 13000. That's a nice start by most any stretch of the imagination. Unfortunately, it leads directly to some of the problems that are bound to crop up.

The Bad

Most important of all is the under-building of the project. It's not a secret that I was never really for the line, because I didn't think it would help much. I'm actually surprised that we've seen so many weekday trips, but that's a good thing. What is unfortunate is that the trains were trimmed from three cars to two.

If you need an example of this, take a look at the long-abandoned City Hall Station in the New York Subway system. Intended to be the crown jewel in the system, this showpiece never really made it, because the trains quickly outgrew the shortened platform, and as a result, the station was closed and abandoned. Whoops. It looks like the same thing is going to happen in Charlotte.

The platforms along the Blue Line, all built to handle two-car trains, are very rapidly going to need to handle three-car trains. While some, such as the South terminus, may be able to be expanded fairly easily, I'm not sure how that's practical on the bridge stations, at least without great cost. This is one of those situations where a little forethought, along with a look at history, would have saved a good deal of money.

Hand-in-hand with this is the parking issue. Even now, with the one- and two-car train plan, the Southernmost lots fill up early, meaning the lots are already too small. So again, a lack of planning (or adequate foresight) means that more money needs to be spent, at inflated prices, to make things work. Surely someone could have recognized that the I-485 lot would be the most popular? That's just common sense.

To Be Determined

No one yet knows where the next lines will run. There are those who think that a line to the West (to the airport) makes sense. While this makes some sense, I'm not sure if there is development in this direction. It certainly would seem like it would be nice for those coming to Charlotte through the airport, but let's face it - Charlotte-Douglas isn't really a destination airport. Most travelers there are passing through, not coming in. Perhaps a busway along Wilkinson would be better for now (and a whole lot cheaper). The people in the North think that Commuter Rail would work, but they don't want to pay for it (who does?). Frankly, I've ridden commuter rail, and I don't think it would work in Charotte. There isn't the density to support it at this point, and a ton of money is going to be spent on not very many people. The reason that the Blue Line is as successful as it is can be attributed to development. Commuter doesn't give you that.

That leaves us the Northeast (UNCC and University City) and the Southeast (Independence and Matthews), both of which have a lot more development and certainly the traffic. Personally I'm a fan of seeing something to the Southeast, simply because that's where I am, but let's look at it objectively. There is a lot of land to the Northeast that is ripe for redevelopment - not unlike the South. The area around University City is being redeveloped now, with Ikea set to open soon. Sending more development this way would just cause this area to explode, and the Tryon Street corridor could really use it. Independence could certainly use something, but pumping money into the freeway project would probably help more than rail. I'd rather see the streetcar project down Central, which would allow better development around the Eastland Mall area.

Putting the dollars into the North and West just makes less sense.