Charlotte Area Transit System
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The Charlotte Area Transit System, commonly referred to as CATS, is the public transit system in Charlotte, North Carolina. It operates bus service around the Metrolina area and a historical trolley in Uptown Charlotte, and will begin operating a light rail system, called LYNX in 2007.
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[edit] Bus/trolley service
CATS bus service serves Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, with service in Charlotte, Davidson, Huntersville, Cornelius, Matthews, Pineville, and Mint Hill.
Express buses in the CATS system serve Union County, Lincoln County, Concord, Gastonia, and Mooresville, North Carolina, and Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Within uptown Charlotte, there is a heritage trolley, the Charlotte Trolley. The 2-mile trolley route runs on a railroad right-of-way, which will later be used by the new light rail line. The trolley uses a vintage car, the only remaining original electric trolley car in operation in Charlotte, and is operated between the non-profit organization, Charlotte Trolley Inc., and the City of Charlotte.
CATS also operates the Special Transportation Service (STS) which provides transportation to people with disabilities certified as eligible based on the Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines. STS provides service during the same times and in the same locations as the fixed route bus service.
[edit] Rail transit - LYNX
In fall 2007, the first light rail line—a 9.6-mile (15.5-km) line known as the Lynx Blue Line— is scheduled to open. It will run between Uptown Charlotte and stop short of Pineville, using a railroad right-of-way paralleling South Boulevard in its entirety. The line will have 15 stations. It will share track with the Charlotte Trolley.
Subsequently expected to open is a light rail line to the northeast. It will open in phases, with the first phase to reach 36th Street in 2013 and the second phase to reach I-485, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, in 2018. The corridor will be 14 miles (22.4 km) long, with 14 stations.
On February 22, 2006, the Charlotte Area Transit System announced that its rapid rail lines will be called the "Lynx." (Lynx system map). The name fits in with the city’s cat theme (NFL team is Carolina Panthers; NBA team is Charlotte Bobcats, as well "Lynx" was mainly chosen because the light rail is about "connectivity."
The rapid rail cars will be black, silver and blue. Gold will appear around the "Lynx" logo to tie in the history of the Charlotte region being home to the first major U.S. Gold Rush.
A commuter rail line is also planned. It will go from Uptown to the northern suburbs of Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson, and Mooresville.
Modern streetcars are also planned, with a circulator route around uptown as well as routes radiating out of downtown.
[edit] Bus rapid transit
Bus rapid transit is also being examined by CATS for corridors. It was originally slated to be on the Southeast Corridor to Matthews and the West Corridor to the Charlotte/Douglas International Airport; however, the SE Corridor is expected to be a light rail line and the West Corridor to the airport could either be a BRT or streetcar line.
[edit] Government Infrastructure Investment
Clearly the cost of transportation is not cheap and none of it "pays for itself".
The cost of the I-485 "Outer Loop" is running $15 - $20 million over budget per mile and is over 5 years behind schedule. The cost of maintaining one mile of freeway annually - not including resurfacing or bridge repairs is over $1,000,000 per mile. The amount NC receives for every dollar it sends to the federal government for in highway taxes is $0.47. Last year, the federal, state and local government supplemented airport operations at Charlotte Douglas International Airport over $100,000,000 more than the airport earned. In this sense, according to 2003 CATS data, 86% of operating costs for CATS mass transit currently requires government investment ($8.986M in fare revenue, $63.199M in operating expenses) and subsidized 91% when CATS capital expenditures are included (an additional $37.882M in capital expenditures), though this amount will likely shrink as new infrastructure comes on line and ridership grows. When completed, the cost to taxpayers of providing enough roadway and other public infrastructure to accommodate additional growth in automobile usage would likely be far higher, not including the environmental costs of sprawl and the higher personal transportation cost of driving long distances.
[edit] 2002-2004 Financial and Ridership Data
- 2002
- Passenger trips: 16,587,199
- 2003
- Passenger trips: 18,888,550
- 2004
- Passenger trips: 20,875,635
- 2002-2004:
- Ridership increased 13.8%
Source: National Transit Database'
[edit] External links
- Charlotte Light Rail
- CATS official site
- Charlotte Trolley
- 2003 Consolidated Income and Expenses
- 2004 Consolidated Income and Expenses
- Paul Weyrich - Does Transit Work? A Conservative Reappraisal An argument by a fiscal conservative in favor of rail transit.