Talk:Charlotte Area Transit System
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Why was the table of financial data for 2002-2004 removed? It was public domain, the source was cited, and NPOV.
Moving it is not a bad idea, but anything that involves facts, knowledge, or information regarding "Mass Transit" for "Charlotte" should not be deleted when it is properly sourced.
I don't see the same person who keeps deleting valid sourced info for the "Mass Transit" section, deleting the "Economy" section when that section has a grand total of.... ZERO sources to back it up.
[edit] Use of Excessive Labeling - "Anti-Rail"
Reinstated text deleted by user who accused author writing deleted text of being blanket, "anti-rail." Writer is a pro-rail user, but has lived in Charlotte since 1979, and understands, after living, and using rail heavily, for 11 years in various cities such as: Melbourne, Australia, Barcelona, Gdansk, Poland, San Francisco, Miami, Salt Lake City, and visiting countless others, what is the best text for the "Controversy" section, as it relates only to Charlotte, and given the high degree of discernment and foresight, given vast global experiences in cities that have urban rail. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hoopsworldscout (talk • contribs) 05:22, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
"Also, most European cities, even with populations, and population densities well above that of Charlotte, tend to have "bus-only" transit systems. The exception in Europe are the mega-cities, such as Barcelona, London, Rome, etc, that have very high populations, and populations densities, 10-30 multiples or more to that of Charlotte-Mecklenburg.[8]" - this statement is plain wrong, as many medium sized and even small cities have a rail system in Europe. In addition to that there are regional train connections everywhere, so the situation is barely comparable. If you want to point out the countries that are weak on rail, like spain, do so without generalizing, but don't neglect to mention that there are many cities in Europe which have a rail system and are just half the size of Charlotte. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.134.83.67 (talk) 12:21, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
....Like what cities?... You may find a city or two that has one rail line or two, but very hard to find one with a rail system close to Char-Meck's population, much less pop density. Also, please sign your comments...Hoopsworldscout (talk) 20:03, 24 November 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Needs work
This article needs a fair amount of work. The numbering system has been changed and many local routes are now numbered as express routes. Is the Controversy section needed in whole since the LYNX article also has the same bit? The Charlotte Trolley bit is also outdated. (It's coming back in March, 2008 by the way.) The information at the top of the article, before the Table of Contents probably should be brought into thte article as it's specifics and not the general information that needs to be there. --Drmike (talk) 21:42, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
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- "On August 19th, 2007 the Charlotte Observer revealed that mass transit on Charlotte's existing bus-only system has increased ridership by 66% since 1998, but its operating budget had increased by 170% after adjusting for inflation."
It is a well-know fact among public transit professionals that - with few exceptions - service increases do not attract additional ridership "in proportion." In this respect, the "Observer" story was a classic "Well, d'oh." This needs to be pointed out. Ldemery (talk) 20:14, 31 December 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Systematic comparison with "elsewhere"
"Many medium sized and even small cities have a rail system in Europe."
"You may find a city or two that has one rail line or two, but very hard to find one with a rail system close to Char-Meck's population, much less pop density."
This type of argument is not particularly useful...
Charlotte proper has an estimated 664,000 residents, and the "Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)" has an estimated 1,583,000.
The recently-opened LYNX Blue Line has a system length of 15.5 km. The initial ridership forecast of 9,000 boardings per weekday implies about 3 million per year. If the "average passenger" travels 8 km, then the implied annual passenger traffic density is 1.4 million passenger-km per km of route. In other words, about 1.4 million people travel, "on average," over each km (or mile) of line per year.
The reported ridership is about 12,000 per weekday. That implies about 3.5 million boardings per year, and about 1.9 million pass-km per km of route per year.
The forecast for 2025, 18,300 boardings per weekday, implies about 5.5 million boardings per year, and about 2.8 million pass-km per km of route per year.
(I will refrain from presenting statistics for various Swiss light railways which 1.) serve remarkably small populations, and 2.) carry remarkably light traffic. These data are available online "from the source" - Statistik Schweiz - but not in English.)
Augsburg, Germany: 2003. Population 390,000. Rail system length (tramway): 35.5 km. Passenger traffic: 30 million. Implied annual passenger traffic density: 3.4 million pass-km per km of route.
Basel, Switzerland: 2002. Population 190,000 (urban). Rail system length (tramway): 49.2 km. Passenger traffic: 88.2 million. Implied annual passenger traffic density: 3.7 million pass-km per km of route. (The Basel tramway carries a very large number of very short trips - the average travel distance was 2.1 km.)
Bergen, Norway: Population 240,000. 9.8-km light rail line under construction. Passenger traffic forecast (26,000 / weekday) implies 7.5 million per year. Implied annual passenger traffic density: 3 million.
Much more data of the type above is available. Ldemery (talk) 07:27, 31 December 2007 (UTC)
