The Streetcar: A Waste Or Not? (bus, moving, train)

[NDL]

While I very much appreciate CLT's investment in mass transit/infrastructure projects, I am not too keen on the Gold Line; I see the streetcar as operating too slowly to be a viable transportation option for areas not immediately outside of Uptown.

As it stands, many South Enders use Uber to commute to Uptown - and the Blue Line is significantly quicker than the Gold Line.

Thoughts?

Has anyone ridden the Gold Line?

[SGMI]

I don't think it makes a lot of sense. I am concerned that there will be frequent collisions with vehicles and it would only take removing one train set from rotation to cause even longer and less practical wait times.

If the weather is nice, an able bodied person can walk anywhere in uptown already. Those green scooters are everywhere. Bus #9 runs frequently to Midwood. There are enough alternatives, that the streetcar is likely to remain a curiosity and not heavily relied upon.

Ironically, the prior "Gold Rush" trolley-busses were frequently used. Maybe in the end, CATS will end up eliminating fares on the streetcar, and simply accept operating it as a public amenity to spur usage.

[cjseliga]

While it's obviously slower than the Blue Line, it was a heck of a lot cheaper.

The only way to do something in that same location and have a ROW (right-of-way) like the Blue Line, would have been to bury it and basically make it a "subway", which would have been crazy expensive, having to tunnel under all those streets!

[CLT4]

Since it doesn't have a schedule, they need the train running every 5 minutes rather than every 20 minutes. Or at least a real-time tracking app.

[NDL]

I appreciate everyone's replies; I didn't catch onto the idea, but I wanted feedback from people more familiar with Uptown than myself.

***

I do not understand running the streetcar into East CLT; again, it will take way too much time to head into Uptown.

What CLT should've done, is allocated that money into funding a Silver Line extension into the planned River District in West CLT.