u/FlavivsAetivs

The City of Charlotte wants to divert Rail Funding to Microtransit because it's going to cost too much to do within the Better Bus allocation.

1. On May 14th I had a conversation with MTS and Yaffe Consulting, who are working with CATS on Microtransit trials city-wide. Here's what I learned:
2. Microtransit will be supplementing, not replacing, MTS (county access) & Paratransit.
3. CATS' Microtransit focus is on the South Charlotte Zone (Pineville and the surrounding area).
4. The next CATS Pilot Zone may be Mint Hill.
5. MTS is doing their own limited pilot somewhere in the South Charlotte region.
6. CATS has not been communicating with MTS and Yaffe consulting effectively. Dietrich Brown has had apparently one meeting with Yaffe consulting, and they received limited information. They actually have been trying to contact CATS repeatedly and haven't had any response.
7. A lot of the proposed Microtransit zones apparently will not break the 6-8 boardings per hour that makes on-demand service effective. Many are predicted at 4-6 boardings per hour. Furthermore, their study is based on incomplete data, as CATS does not have origin data.
8. Getting origin data to complete their microtransit study will be a significant cost, and the only cheaper alternative is to use passive cell phone data by purchasing it from carriers/brokers (much like ICE/LEO/etc. do) which will cost ~1/3 as much.

According to CATS they estimate $13 per passenger for a full Microtransit Van. If most zones are predicting half the rate of boardings per hour, costs per passenger will likely be far higher ($18-$52). According to an NC State Study, Microtransit pilots in NC cost anywhere from $11 to $246 per passenger. In comparison, according to the FTA light rail boardings currently cost CATS an average of $16 per passenger and Fixed-Route Bus $11 to $29 per passenger. It used to be $7-8 per passenger before COVID and ridership decline. For the cost of Microtransit you could simply increase frequency on all the Crosstowns and Neighborhood Circulators and get higher ridership. There is only one city that has solved sprawl in the world, and that is Sydney Australia, and they did it by getting every. freaking. bus. to 10 minute frequencies.

So why are we blowing money on Microtransit?

Broadway Showdown has finally released a full length album!

Honestly with the likely reality Dante Anderson is going to lose Black Political Caucus support over her Data Center/I-77 Toll Lane votes, or run for Mayor, really this is my "throwing District 1 City Councilor hat in the ring" post:

We all know that the city's power is limited because we operate under Dillon's Rule, so if we want to pass an ordinance not permitted under existing legislation, it has to be done at the state level. Charlotte has a lot of power, especially economic power, and this can be turned against the legislature with the right leadership to unshackle much of the city's ability to regulate itself. But there are things we can achieve in the mean-time.

1. Build Gateway Station. It has been NINE (soon ten) MAYORS. The state has a 2030 deadline that we will currently not meet. It's time to throw some spine behind achieving our transit goals, and to stop offloading risk on to private consulting and engineering firms which leech as much taxpayer money as possible. The reason for this is because nationwide we gutted our government departments. We'll start hiring engineers and transit planners to expand CATS staff so we can actually effectively define requirements to our private partners, oversee the process efficiently, and audit the delivery. Contractor costs in the US are twice as high as in the EU because we don't have the staff and expertise to oversee the process.
2. Direct the MPTA to deprioritize Microtransit. There are a few regions of Charlotte that could benefit from Microtransit. However, Microtransit costs 5-12 times more than fixed-route service, and replacing the neighborhood circulators when we could just dramatically increase frequency on them and the cross-towns makes no sense. Especially when they're going to take rail funding for it, when it already won't reach Matthews. Restoring frequency is how you increase ridership, this has been proven in cities across the US. (Honestly I seriously wonder if this whole thing is going to devolve into some self-driving vans bullshit like they screwed over the Beltline in Atlanta with.)
3. Direct the MPTA to redesign the Silver Line and fight the airport. This one is simple. We redirect the Silver Line so it continues along the Norfolk Southern Right-of-Way instead of diverting to Wilkinson Blvd. We build a two-sided platform in conjunction with the FRA and NCDOT to add a stop to the Crescent and the Piedmont trains on one side, and the Silver Line on the other. The section of the line on Airport property can legally be funded with Airport revenues according to a 2018 FTA ruling, which would save money on the project. The Silver Line to Matthews... CAPT is working on a plan but honestly the forcing out of CSX's CEO last fall has me concerned that they will no longer be as receptive to commuter and regional service as they used to be.
4. Amend the UDO. Charlotte's Unified Development Ordinance was a major step forward, but more can be done to unlock the city's full potential. A few changes include eliminating setback requirements, footprint to lot size ratios, locations of driveways and garages, and units per acre. While this doesn't fix every problem with urban density, it enables developers to break a mold forced on the city, and opens the doorway for when legislation to eliminate parking minimums (Charlotte can already waive this but only for Tier 3/TOD, which I would expand) and legalize single-stairwell passes. Increasing surface permeability and maintaining urban canopy (big ol' trees) will remain priorities.
5. Update the Road Design Manual. Charlotte's Road Design Manual is sadly just guidelines, not actually mandatory requirements, but modifying our RDM and then making sure CDOT is adhering to it with oversight would allow us to make significant progress in making our streets safer. Updated requirements would eliminate 13-foot lanes and 17-foot medians, require concrete separation for bike lanes, elevate crosswalks in school zones to force drivers to slow down, protect pedestrians with neckdowns and concrete bollards, and widen sidewalks.
6. Procure smaller emergency vehicles. Our Fire Trucks and Ambulances actually grew to fill wide, 13-foot lanes. These massive vehicles aren't needed, and some Fire Departments in the US are already switching to compact, cheaper, more fuel efficient trucks. New Emergency Vehicles would all be required to operate in a 11 foot lane, the same as our buses, which would allow us to reduce lane widths city-wide to lower speeds. I'd also push to eliminate procurement of "military" vehicles and equipment for Police. Oh, and Police vehicles would be required to have high visibility neon yellow on all four sides like in Europe, and "ghost lettering" would be illegal.
7. Switch from inclusionary zoning to vouchers. The reality is that forcing percent minimum affordable units really doesn't affect affordability for the city's residents. There's not a ton we can do to address the nationwide rent and housing crisis, but we can provide vouchers to make living in the city more affordable to low-income residents.
8. Audit employee on-the-clock time. Look, this is a genuine issue. I am for higher minimum wages. I am for the unions. But this has to come with a realistic trade for accountability and effective time management. Labor costs are a huge reason why transit, infrastructure, etc. projects are ballooning nationwide. The solution to this is twofold: on the one hand, you do have to do enforcement, but the flip-side is that people need to be proud to work in government again. Real bonuses, not resolutions and recognition. The recognition will come with achieving the goals people now think are impossible because we've allowed government to languish.
9. Redirect road widening money to transit/restore alternative revenues. The 1c sales tax diverts 40% of the money to new road projects. There's nothing that says we can't take previous existing road widening funding and divert it to rail. Another thing we can do is bring back the vendors in the CTC and expand our ability to rent out space at all light rail stations and the other four Transit Centers. This is how many European and Asian transit systems generate revenue to offset operating costs. The trick is avoiding "convenience store" like vendors which can often draw the crime that makes transit's public image bad. Restaurants, Bars, and higher-end vendors would serve better. Also, FARE ENFORCEMENT. It's not hard, there's other cities which have effective models without using fare gates. We just have to keep up the pressure to stop wasting security staff hours (ties into previous point) and allowing enforcement to drop off after like a month every time there's an incident.
10. Study Boulevardizing I-277 and I-77 (No Toll Lanes). We'll redesign I-77 to go up Billy Graham and I-85. The land will be sold off to developers to generate the cash for the project. High density development in the heart of the city on this land will generate increased tax revenue to fund services and pay employees fairly. Some of the money can be used for reparations to the descendants of those displaced when the highways were originally built.
11. No to Hyperscale Data Centers, Yes to Renewable and Nuclear Power. I think this is clear enough. Fuck Generative AI/LLMs. The kinds of AI used in the hard sciences and social sciences is cool though. I haven't worked with it but I have friends who use machine learning in chemistry or codicology.
12. De-Flock our cameras. Pass an ordinance prohibiting installation of camera systems that use networking, data collection, and artificial intelligence to track and identify individuals. This will hit Ring too.
13. Build the coop grocery store in West Charlotte. It's ridiculous the city won't kick the rest of the funding over to make it happen. We've already poured 1.5 million into it and we promised 3 million more. Easy win.
14. Pedestrianize Elizabeth Ave and Camden Rd. This one's just obvious at this point. You just use movable bollards so the Bus, Gold Line, and Emergency vehicles can still access it.
15. Imminent Domain the Levine's Parking Lots at First Ward Park. The City is allowed to do it if it is for a public project, such as a park. We'll quadruple the size of the park and put up a big statue to John Mecklenburg, who killz Tories and doesn't afraid of anything. The streets in-between (8th, Brevard) will be partially pedestrianized.
16. Listen to constituents. Don't like my politics? Come find me in the fuckin' pit. I'll be at Snug Harbor and the Milestone. We pick everyone up, but I hope you can throw elbows.

Credit to some of my friends at the Charlotte Urbanists and Carolinas Association for Passenger Trains for some of these ideas.

Open to feedback, honestly at this point I'm seriously considering running for District 1 in 2027. Anyways I guess "Ask me Anything." I'll answer most of your comments tomorrow while cleaning out the Betta fish cups at work.

Disclaimer: I grew up in the 2000s so I'm edgy, and I said some fucked up shit as a conservative teenager/early 20s-er. It was Trump that made me say "something is wrong" and leave the Republican party. Now I'm a member of Democratic Socialists of America, but this is not in any way endorsed by them.

I normally get mine from William Booth Draper, but the spool I have has gone missing.

My state is one of the worst in the US for backyard breeding and shelter Euthanasia. Nobody cares about cats here, and a large percentage of people come in with a new puppy and their first words are "we're thinking about breeding her." I frequently argue with people over it because it's people like me working in rescue that then have to spend our hard earned money on their irresponsibility.

Unspayed or unneutered animals are more aggressive, make more of a mess because they're liable to spray while at petsmart, and frankly are a massive problem nationwide because people aren't responsible with their pet.

On top of that requiring only rabies vaccination isn't enough. At a minimum we should also require DHPP for dogs and FVRCP for cats.

./endrant

What is this thing? Located between the two Mk. 10 launchers.

https://preview.redd.it/ngkhzkc0inxg1.png?width=120&format=png&auto=webp&s=0353cbccbfa058bf4b4424dc9e7950ace2b07a6e

I have found only one diagram which claims it's a "harpoon" (and it's certainly not the missile).